The inaugural Ronstan Junior Foiling Cup™  was held over 23rd & 24th November 2024 at BYRA sailing club on Pittwater. Junior sailors aged 10-16 years old competed in 6 Nikki foiling dinghies. Each sailor competed in 5 races, in a round robin format with a final race to decide the winner.

The 19 participants came from as far afield as Noosa, Ballina, Canberra and several clubs around Sydney. Most were experienced in racing Optimist, Open Skiff, F11 and 13’ Skiffs but only one had any previous dinghy foiling experience. The average age was 13 years old, 42% were females, and various weights from 30-70kgs!

The Nikki’s were rigged and trolleyed to the knee deep water where instruction was given about launching and retrieving the boats.
The boats were then sailed to the course by the first group of sailors in displacement mode and as the wind picked up there was time for foiling practice.

There were plenty of spills and thrills at first during the training sessions and first few races. These boats are very forgiving, durable, unsinkable and easy to right & board from a capsize.

Incredibly, those skippers with good boat handling skills could get foiling within just 10 minutes and after just one hour on the water they very quickly became proficient at sustained flights across the bay. All entrants got flying, however it was clear that the natural ability of some was exceptional.
There was no on-water training or coaching involved as the boats are stable and easy to sail in displacement mode and foiling skills are picked up naturally very quickly.

Racing was on a triangular course with a reaching start. All 16 races were completed in a full range of wind conditions. Most races involved foiling in the gusts as well as some displacement sailing, so no waiting around waiting for wind to go racing!

Skippers exchanged boats from the lillypad attached to the start boat. This was simple and fun for the competitors with nearly 100 transfers conducted without assistance or incident. It also allowed all competitors to be on course with a front row seat to the racing and to learn from the techniques of others. The lillypad proved a huge success and is recommended to other clubs for such events.

The racing was both close and extremely exciting as the boats take off so easily. None of the top 6 finalists had ever foiled before, and put on a great show, foiling across the start and finish line at high speed!

Congratulations to all competitors who took part!

The Junior Foiling Cup™ series point score was tied after 6 races and was awarded on a countback.

🏆 Lachlan Jansen – sails Flying 11s and 13ft Skiffs
🥈 Sam Darbyshire – sails Optimist
🥉 Leon-Wei Petit – sails Open-Skiff

What’s Next?
The Nikki Sailing Association of Australia is holding further Junior Foiling Cup™ events Victoria, Australia and in other states around Australia soon.

Similar Junior Foiling Cup™ events are also proposed to be held various countries across several continents in North America, Europe, South America, New Zealand and others to be announced, culminating in a World class event in Europe at a place and date to be announced.

Keep up to date with all the action on the Junior Foiling Cup™ website and socials Junior Foiling Facebook and Junior Foiling Instagram.

Nikki class Junior Foiling racing will also be hosted at each of the coming Youth Sail events around Australia where you can bring your own Nikki or charter a boat for the event.
For more information for Junior Foiling Cup™ in Australia, Contact the Nikki Sailing Association