2025 Foiling Awards winners announced

During the gala dinner—reserved for winners, institutions, partners, Media, and members of The Foiling Organization—TV journalist Bacci Del Buono hosted the evening from the stage of the atmospheric Sala delle Grida at Genova’s historic Palazzo della Borsa, transformed for the occasion by The Foiling Organization. He was joined on stage by Trieste sailor Greta Eline Poclen, whose sharp commentary and humour kept the audience engaged throughout the night.

The Forlanini overall prize named after Italian foiling pioneer Enrico Forlanini and reserved for the “winner of winners,” was awarded to French athlete Erwan Jauffroy, who had already secured the Male Sailor title for his solo “downwind” foiling board crossing from Toulon to Calvi—247 km in just 12 hours and 19 minutes.

This year’s jury, was made up of past Award winners, including Hattie Rogers, Luca Santella (Bluegame), Richard Forest (SEAir) and John Philps (The Hydrofoiler).

After being formally returned by last year’s winners (the WASZP Class organisers), the Forlanini trophy was presented to the French athlete by Lorenza Rosso, Representative of Genova City Council, Richard Forest of SEAir and Luca Rizzotti, President and Founder of The Foiling Organization.

Forlanini Award also marked a symbolic win for the French projects, which engaged in a thrilling head-to-head with their Italian counterparts throughout the competition.

In recognition of the 2024 America’s Cup wins by the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Women’s and Youth Teams, and Team Spain in the SailGP season, the Organising Committee presented a Special Award to Italian coach Simone Salvà.

Marta Maggetti, Olympic gold medallist in the iQFOiL class (absent on the night), was named Female Sailor (with the Male category going to Jauffroy), while Team Spain SailGP was voted best Foiling Team for their victorious 2024 season. The latest edition of the Vendée Globe was awarded Best Event.

The Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli America’s Cup Team collected two titles: best Commercial Vessel for its hydrogen-powered HSV, and Best One-Off for its spectacular AC75, recently seen in action in Barcelona.

The newly developed rudder for the WASZP class was voted best Innovation Technology, while the Politecnico di Milano Sailing Team earned the award for Sustainability. Spain’s Foiling Base in Cadiz was recognised as best Foiling Pathway of the year.

The Airfly foiling board by German brand Aerofoils won in the Boards & Water-toys category. The French BirdyFish-S took the prize for best Production Sailing Boat, while Team Gitana France’s Gitana 18 – with key design contributions from Guillaume Verdier – took the win in the Project category. The highly innovative Pegasus by foil.one topped the Production Motor Boats ranking, and the EF-24 CTV by Irish company Artemis won Commercial Project Award of this eighth edition.

This edition of the Foiling Awards took place as part of the World Foiling Congress 2025, promoted and organised by The Foiling Organization, which gathered the world’s leading foiling industry players in Genova.

Text and images courtesy of WeAreFoiling. To see the full list of winners and nominees, please visit WeAreFoiling.com.