At Nutcase, we are pleased and proud to be chosen as the water helmet of choice for the Red Bull Foiling Generation series that has started to travel the world. Check out our water helmets here!
Extreme foiling is a relatively new sport – it is ultra-fast sailing (speeds in competitions may reach 45 knots or 50 mph) on high tech catamarans which, thanks to a large sail surface and curved hydrofoil fins, are able to spend a large amount of sail time skimming the water surface.
Two-time Olympic catamaran champions and all-around sailing heroes Hans Peter Steinacher and Roman Hagara are keen to bring extreme foiling to a new generation of talent, and the Red Bull Foiling Generation is their method of finding the best and brightest 16 to 20-year-old sailors who hope to make this emerging sport their career.
Foiling training in the UK
Red Bull Foiling Generation Fast Facts
• A new global sailing series and training open to talented sailors 16 – 20 years old
• Lead by two-time Olympians Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher
• Starting 2015 with seven training events in Japan, the UK, Italy, Sweden, France, Russia, Denmark
• Employs a new format for sailing races called the knockout
• Uses Flying Phantoms, ultra light foiling catamarans
• Gives young talent a chance to advance and compete in the 2017 Red Bull Youth America’s Cup
Austrians Steinacher and Hagara are travelling the world ’round to find their talented young sailors.
In each of the seven nations – Japan, the UK, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, France – the Red Bull Foiling Generation will visit in 2015, Steinacher and Hagara will host three-day training events to mentor and coach sailors who wish to try out extreme foiling on Red Bull 18-foot Flying Phantom catamarans.
Foiling requires sailors have excellent physical fitness and advanced sailing skills to quickly get up speed to lift the boats out of the water and onto the foils and to maintain that speed.
On the final day of each training there will be a competition: four boats per race with the two top boats going to a next round. In the ending final race of four boats the winner becomes the national champion.
Next year the champions will compete in a World Final, Steinacher said, which will likely take place in Abu Dhabi or Bermuda. He said he hopes to have 16 nations eventually competing including New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the US.
Nutcase Water Helmets have turned out to be great for the training events and races, Steinacher said, because the helmets fit well and are easily adaptable to various conditions. Our water helmets were hand-decorated specifically for the Red Bull Foiling Generation series, and in addition to the catchy graphics will include the flags of participating nations.
“They are very practical,” Steinacher said. “Some days sailors take the removable pads out and wear the helmets with their caps, and the next day they may come back with the pads in place to wear the helmet without a cap. That’s a good thing.”
Though the immediate goal is to train hydrofoil sailors for the World Final, the long term plan is to find youth who want to make this relatively new sport their career aspiration.
There is a progression from the competition of 16 to 20 year olds on to the possibility of sailing with the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup team and finally to the Red Bull Extreme Sailing group and Extreme Sailing series. The 72-foot hydrofoiling catamarans used in Extreme Sailing competition are expensive, difficult-to-sail boats.
Yet Steinacher and Hagara are convinced these light, fast sailing ships are a new extreme sport with a great future. Through our Red Bull partnership, Nutcase Water helmets will be along for the fast, fun ride.
All photos courtesy Red Bull Foiling Generation content pool.