Foiling Week 2019: S9 Camp report

Photo: Martina Orsini / Foiling Week. This year the Foiling Week regattas saw some recreational foilers racing together, the pioneer T Foil / Wand system S9 designed and built by Michele Petrucci and the platform that followed the S9 concept, the iFly by Michael Miller. Below report by Michele Petrucci, alter when received we’ll publish iFly camp report.

These platforms shared the basic double T Foil / wand system but their rigs are quite different. The S9 now features a standard mainsail and a jib, while the iFly has a DS main / soft wing alternative setup with no jib.

Foiling Week 2019 by Michele Petrucci: “Malcesine is an enchanting place located in Lake Garda that has always been considered the home of sailors in the area. This year the famous Foiling Week event was held, the S9 participates from the first edition.

The S9, an all-Italian project born in 2010 and the first of its kind, has showed great qualities right from the start with all the different wind intensities (from 6-20 knots) that characterized the different race days, great gaps between leaders and excellent upwind performance, very fast even in downwind.

A hull of only 13.5 feet with an excellent SCHRS rating equipped by a sail plan of mainsail and jib with proportionate dimensions makes the boat as reliable and safe as it is fast in all gaits, currently it appears to be the best performing foiling cat in the category of less than 17 feet.

These days characterized by wind of varying intensity were an excellent test bench: the boat proved superior to the competitors and with a wider range of use.

To the excellent performances we add the simplicity of management, as demonstrated by the fact that 3 of the 4 participants were all neophytes with very few hours of flight but they achieved excellent results in the standings especially in the 4-5- 6 races where the experience gained, in the previous races, has begun to bear fruit.

The final races results do not show us the reality of this race, as Teo Battista could only particiapate in 2 races (that he won) and the other S9 sailors were all newcomers, anyway congratulations to the winner Michael Miller (sailor/ builder of the iFly) and we hope to meet again next year for a new matchup.”–