The Foil Weekly Roundup - 15 Dec '25

While the SailGP circus takes its winter break and the America's Cup teams hunker down in design offices, the racing never really stops. It just moves to different waters, different boats, and sometimes a different era entirely…

Biscayne Bay hosted the Louis Piana Cup this weekend, where 38 Etchells engaged in the kind of slow, tactical chess that foiling has all but been removed from the mainstream. No hydrofoils, no 60mph blasts across the harbour. Just three or four sailors per boat, reading the shifts, grinding out gains one boatlength at a time.

Barry Parkin – a two-time British Olympian and former world No.1 in the Soling – took the win, with four-time world champion Luke Lawrence and Jim Cunningham completing the podium. Names that might not trend on social media but command serious respect in keelboat circles. Further down, the depth of talent told its own story – Steve Benjamin, Olympic 470 silver medallist from 1984, finished tenth. Luis Doreste, Spain’s Finn gold medallist from those same LA Games, came eighteenth.

Forty years on, still racing, still competitive. It's a reminder that longevity in this sport isn't about chasing the newest technology – sometimes it's about mastering the fundamentals and never losing the hunger.

See which names you recognise in the results sheet here. Next up in the Etchells Biscayne Bay Series: the Sidney Doren Memorial Regatta, 10–11 January 2026.

More tactical keelboat racing, this time in the Bay of Palma. Round two of the Puerto Portals Dragon Winter Series drew 40 boats and three days of excellent conditions.

The Dragon class occupies similar territory to the Etchells: three-person crews, no frills, pure one-design competition where tight teamwork and smart decision-making separate the front of the fleet from the middle. The Dragon class has been racing since 1929 – the design essentially unchanged – and still boasts one of the strongest fleets in the world.

After seven races, Jan Eckert's Gingko Racing leads, with Ben Kolff's Jupiter and Michael Zankel's Easy completing the top three. The margins are narrow heading into the final round on 23-25 January. With Puerto Portals hosting the 2026 Dragon Gold Cup, teams are treating these winter races as serious preparation. Full results here.

The off-season reshuffle is underway in SailGP, and this week has seen some significant moves.

Stuart Bithell, the Olympic gold medallist who's been trimming the wing for Germany, heads to Emirates GBR for 2026. He'll replace Iain Jensen, who returns to Australia's Flying Roos to fill the seat vacated by Chris Draper. And Draper? He's joining Nathan Outteridge on the newly formed Swedish team, Artemis.

It's a chain reaction that impacts four of the league's most competitive boats, and the logic behind each move tells you something about team-building philosophies. Emirates GBR, fresh off their championship triumph, are doubling down on proven chemistry – Bithell and driver Dylan Fletcher won 49er gold together at Tokyo 2020, and the British team clearly values that kind of intuitive partnership.

These specialist-seat reshuffles rarely stop at one position. Expect more before next season kicks off.

The Youth Sailing World Championships began today in Vilamoura, Portugal, and will be running through Saturday 20 December. It’s essentially the U18 World Cup, where Olympic pathways start to look real and the next generation announces itself. The alumni list speaks for itself: Nathan Outteridge (29er, 2002), Martine Grael (420, 2009), Florián Trittel (29er, 2011), Max Maeder (Formula Kite, 2021-23). All Youth Worlds champions. All went on to Olympic medals or SailGP stardom – or both.

The regatta mixes formats across the classes. ILCA 6 and 420 run nine-race series, rewarding pure one-design grit and consistency. The 29er and Nacra 15 fleets push through 13 races of higher-tempo action. And for iQFOiL and Formula Kite, they face the most demanding schedule –18 races across the week, four per day early on before tapering to two on Friday ahead of Saturday's finish.

Vilamoura has already delivered proper winter swell and breeze, which should bring some compelling footage as well as results. Stream it all free via World Sailing TV on YouTube.