Nicolas Goyard has won the second edition of the Lanzarote Foil Challenge that took place yesterday on the island of Lanzarote. The challenge, sailing for 9 hours on a windsurfing board covering over 200 kilometers without stops, a real challenge for even the best athletes in the world.

Windsurfing, regattas: The II Lanzarote Foil Challenge

The II Lanzarote Foil Challenge has been a great success with many participants. More than 20 athletes of 12 different nationalities went around the island of Lanzarote in the second edition of the first and only ultra-marathon regatta in the world. It took place in five different categories: Open Foil Pro, IQFoil male and female, Local and Kite Foil.

The race took place without any major incident and the challenge of sailing 200 kilometers in around 9 hours was met. The strong prevailing wind meant that during the race, some of the sailors reached speeds of up to 32 knots.

The race started at around 8.30h from the Pechiguera lighthouse to El Golfo, the first leg was won by the Italian Antonino Cangemi. At around 11.15h the second leg to La Santa finished with the victory of the Frenchman Nicolas Goyard. The island of La Graciosa was the destination of the third leg, where the Polish Pawel Tarnowski arrived first at around 13.00h. The winner of the fourth section finishing in Costa Teguise was Amado Vrieswijk, who repeated his victory in the fifth section to Playa Honda. The race finished in Marina Rubicón, with Nicolas Goyard coming in first.
All the stages were counted this year. In the final absolute classification, Frenchman Nicolas Goyard won the race, with Amado Vrieswijk from the Caribbean tightly in second place and Mateus Isaac from Brazil in third.

In the IQ Foil category, the winners were Mateus Isaac, Nicolo Renna and Luca di Tomassi.

The excellent performance of the only two female sailors in the IQ Foil category, Brazilian Giovanna Prada and German Lena Erdil, with the latter finishing the regatta, which should also be noted.

The prize in the Local category went to Esteban Nieto and the award for the youngest sailor went to the Italian Nicolo Renna.

There were only 4 retirements due to broken equipment and physical problems, and the Kite Foils sailed only a few sections due to the strong gusts of wind. Despite the tough conditions for them, Iker Martínez managed to reach La Santa, and Andrés Martínez and Cristóbal Gil sailed to Janubio and then joined the beach of Las Cucharas to finish the race.

The day ended with the prize-giving ceremony in the Marina Rubicón's captaincy square by Alfredo Mendoza, Sports Councillor of the Lanzarote Island Council; Gerardo Rodríguez, Sports Councillor of the Teguise Town Hall; José Juan Lorenzo, Manager of Promotur Turismo de Islas Canarias, and Rafael Lasso, Managing Director of Marina Rubicón.

The successful participation and organization of the II Lanzarote Foil Challenge, with the Los Charcos Windsurfing Club, Marina Rubicón, the Canary Islands Sailing Federation and the Real Club Náutico de Arrecife at the forefront, is once again evident and serves as an impetus to continue working on future editions that will lead the island of Lanzarote to become one of the best destinations for windsurfing. Not in vain, the island has been chosen by many athletes to train for international championships and for the next Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

The organizers are grateful for the help and collaboration of the main institutions such as Turismo de Islas Canarias, Canarias Avanza and FEDER, Cabildo de Lanzarote, Lanzarote a Unique Island and European Sport Destination, the Sports Department of the Cabildo de Lanzarote and the Sports Department of the Town Hall of Teguise.

The Lanzarote Foil Challenge closes its second edition hoping that every year this unique and extreme regatta in the world attracts more athletes and consolidates itself as an unconditional test within the circuit of international windsurfing championships. 

Nora Pérez (Lanzarote Foil Challenge Press Office)