The Foil Weekly Wrap - 26 Jan '26

This week saw Thomas Coville's Sodebo smash the Jules Verne Trophy time while The Famous Project became the first all-female crew to sail nonstop around the world on a multihull. Elsewhere, the America's Cup finally announced match dates for 2027 (raising more questions than answers), Italy's young guns swept the board at the ILCA U21 Worlds, and a radical French design silenced the doubters in the RORC Transatlantic.

Within barely a day of each other, two crews crossed the Jules Verne finish line having both battled through Storm Ingrid. Thomas Coville's Sodebo Ultim 3 arrived first on Sunday morning, smashing the round-the-world record with 40 days, 10 hours and 45 minutes – nearly 13 hours faster than Francis Joyon's mark from 2017. The numbers are hard to wrap your head around: 28,315 miles at an average of 27.17 knots.

Then, around lunchtime today, eight women aboard IDEC Sport became the first all-female crew to complete a nonstop circumnavigation on a multihull. The Famous Project’s 57 days featured a mainsail torn from luff to leech, a dead daggerboard, failed autopilots, and Ingrid waiting in Biscay with 45-knot winds. By the end, co-skippers Alexia Barrier and Dee Caffari and crew were nursing their trimaran home on little more than a headsail and wing mast.

If Sodebo was a masterclass in speed, then The Famous Project was proof that sheer bloody-mindedness can get you around the planet.

The America's Cup organisers finally broke their silence last week, confirming that the AC38 match will begin on 10 July 2027 in Naples. It's the kind of announcement that, in any other sport, would have arrived months ago with a full calendar attached. Instead, we got a single date and plenty of ambiguity about what comes before it. The lack of forward planning stands in stark contrast to SailGP, where fans already know venue dates stretching beyond Season 6 into 7.

More pressing for athletes caught between the two circuits: the first preliminary regatta of AC38 is scheduled for 21-24 May 2026 in Sardinia. That's just a couple of weeks after SailGP visits Bermuda on 9-10 May and barely a week before the fleet reconvenes in New York on 30-31 May. The America's Cup has always operated on its own timeline, indifferent to what else might be happening in the sport. But with SailGP now attracting many of the same sailors – and paying them regularly – that indifference is starting to look like a strategic weakness. Which event will the top athletes prioritise when the schedules collide? We're about to find out.

Gold in the ILCA 7, gold in the ILCA 6, and gold in the Under-19. Italy's sailors claimed every title on offer at Marina Rubicón – a clean sweep that announced the Azzurri's next generation in emphatic fashion.

The men's ILCA 7 delivered the week's defining drama. Spain's Karol Krupski had led for days, but a disastrous 38th in the penultimate race blew the standings wide open. Antonio Pascali, sitting fourth heading into the finale, seized his moment, winning the race and the title in fading breeze under a black flag. In the women's ILCA 6, Ginevra Caracciolo finally broke her curse of three consecutive fourths, controlling the fleet throughout. Alessandro Cirinei completed the Italian sweep by claiming the Under-19 title ahead of Spain's Tim Lubat and Sergio García.

Sam Manuard's Mach 50 concept has been raising eyebrows since it first appeared – a scow bow with a canting keel isn't exactly conventional IRC thinking. But Palanad 4's overall victory in the RORC Transatlantic Race settles any lingering doubts about whether the radical concept could deliver under genuine offshore pressure. Antoine Magre and his crew, including designer Manuard himself, delivered a disciplined crossing from Lanzarote to Antigua that proved the boat's speed even on VMG downwind angles that don't necessarily play to its strengths.

The result sets up a fascinating RORC Caribbean 600 next month, where Palanad 4 will line up against Carkeek 50s, TP52s and Volvo 70s. The Transatlantic was proof of concept; the 600-miler will be the acid test against the established IRC heavyweights. For father-and-son team Olivier and Antoine Magre, it wasn’t just a victory but vindication of their shared gamble on something different.

F18 World Championships, Coogee, Australia (27 Jan – 3 Feb)

Hot on the heels of SailGP's Fremantle showdown, the F18 fleet descends on Coogee with the 'Freo Doctor' set to deliver fast and furious conditions each afternoon. A rare chance for the southern hemisphere to host the world's best catamaran sailors – and with SailGP still buzzing around Perth, the timing couldn't be better for showcasing Australian multihull sailing.

Oceanbridge Sail Auckland (29 Jan – 1 Feb)

New Zealand's premier youth and Olympic classes regatta returns to Torbay Sailing Club with 14 nations represented. The post-Paris cycle is gathering momentum, and this is where the next generation of Kiwi talent will be measured against international competition across everything from ILCAs to kites and wingfoil.

6th Lanzarote International Regatta (30 Jan – 5 Feb)

A packed week of Olympic class racing at Marina Rubicón, with the ILCA, 49er, 470 and Nacra 17 fleets all in action. Lanzarote has established itself as a key winter training hub, and with LA 2028 qualifiers on the horizon, national teams are already fine-tuning their programmes in the Canaries' steady trade winds.