69F EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
The 69F Class will organize the first 69F European Championship in 2023 and chooses to do so in the beautiful setting of Puntaldia, Sardinia, from September 17th to 24th, during the fifth and penultimate leg of the 2023 Algebris 69F Cup, the only open circuit for one-design, foiling monohull for crew in the world.
It is a natural step for the class, which has been on the international sailing scene since 2020 and has been organizing two successful circuits, the open circuit and the under-25 circuit – the Algebris 69F Cup and the Youth Foiling Gold Cup – in Europe and the United States since 2021. The time has therefore come for the seven-meter all-carbon monohull, which literally flies on water thanks to the use of foils, to organize its first continental championship, and it does so by starting in Europe where the number of participants has so far been greatest. 28 hulls have gone out of the boatyard since 2019, 12 of which are owned by the 69F company that makes them available to non-owners with the successful ‘Pay-per-Play’ formula, a kind of ‘turnkey’ rental, which allows foiling novices, to experience the new way of going to sea, to discover that it is not so different from what they already know and appreciate. Decided in 2020, this business approach allowed excellent numbers: 18 events with 235 races held last year alone, in which as many as 170 sailors participated.
“The time is ripe to organize the European 69F Championship,” says Silvia Sicouri, Class 69F President, “the Class is now known and appreciated both in America and on this side of the Atlantic, the numbers say that we are ready for the first continental championship and it will be a historic moment for the only one-design, foiling monohull class for crew, open to everyone. The solemnity of the occasion could not have had a more appropriate venue than Sardinia with Puntaldia and its beautiful Marina. We have already held two events on the crystal-clear waters just south of Olbia, and the excellent racing conditions combined with the excellent organization ashore and at sea made the decision a completely natural one. Thanks to Marie-Helene Polo and her team for enthusiastically accepting our proposal, and for their wonderful hospitality that we will once again enjoy at the Marina di Puntaldia.”
The European 69F season is now just around the corner, with the first Grand Prix, Algebris 69F Cup Valencia Mar, opening the series from April 25-30 in Valencia itself, home of the iconic 34th America’s Cup in 2007, and then continuing with five more stages, the penultimate of which, in Puntaldia, will coincide precisely with the first European 69F Class Championship.
The events of the Algebris 69F Cup will alternate with those of the 69F Youth Foiling Gold Cup, the circuit reserved for Under 25 sailors, which this year will feature several America’s Cup teams, who will use the circuit as an opportunity to train and select their crews to participate in the 2024 Youth America’s Cup; and the first Women Foiling Gold Cup regatta from August 28 to September 3.
