The long journey to LA will start in Palermo, Sicily with the 2024 Nacra 17 European Championship. This romantic location is the home club of Italian coach Gabriele Bruni and is a wonderful spot for sailing and racing. The regatta will run from November 6-10, 2024 in a suburb of Palermo called Sferracavallo, Italy.
There are a lot of young Nacra 17 teams inspired by the shift to full foiling racing and are eager to get some racing in on the way to LA. The regatta is quite late in the season as so many Nacra 17 teams are involved with the youth America’s Cup, the Women’s America’s Cup, and the America’s Cup itself. With that racing concluding in October, and the sailing world will have been exposed to foiling match racing a huge volume of foiling sailboat racing in general.
The 2024 Europeans will mark a new era in Nacra 17 racing that more closely resembles the Sail GP and America’s Cup formats. The gold fleet racing will be in fleets of 20 boats, with races only 20 minutes long. These races will be windward-leeward, like normal. The twist comes at the beginning of each gold fleet day, as the fleet will split in half to race 2 flights of 10 boat races in the Sail GP format, including a reaching start.
The final twist concludes the regatta, where all 20 teams will complete a final race that will be fully umpired. After that race, the team finishing in third place will have won the bronze medal, and they, along with places 4-20, will be done their regatta. The top 2 teams will then match race for the gold, with the first-place team holding a 1-race advantage on the way to a first-to-win 2-match race. Teams will enter the starting area just like the America’s Cup, with the port entry team gaining early access to the starting box.
In addition to the new format, there will be plenty of social time in this idyllic location. The club has rooms and cottages for many sailors, and the sailors are invited to continue training at the club through the winter months if they wish.
For all the regatta details check out the website.
