Only 1 more week until the start of the F16 Europeans in Cesenatico Italy. 11 Falcon teams will be there and we would like to introduce them all to you. We have teams from Belgium (3), France (2), Switzerland (3), Germany (1), The Netherlands (1) and Australia (1). Mixed teams, 2 solo riders and an all-male and an all-female team, they are all in the mix.
Let’s start with the all-female team of Kim-Anne and Chiara. A new team to the boat, this all-female youth team will need to battle against other top youths! French Kim-Anne already sailed the Falcon at Eurocat Carnac this year. We are looking forward to seeing them on the water in Italy! They will have to work hard, especially on their language skills, Chiara is from the United Arab Emirates and does not speak French. Bonne chance! :-)
Geert Ruesink, from The Netherlands, has been to a lot of F16 events these last years, and will sail solo in Italy.
He took part in the very first “Global Challenge” organized in 2007 by the then
still very young F16 class and has been a big supporter of the class.
Ray and Lea (Switzerland) are new to the F16 scene. They bought a second hand Falcon
last year and have been training very hard to get to know the boat. They are
very enthusiastic to meet the other F16 sailors and have fun on and off the
water.
Floris and
Sonja are a Belgian mixed team. They used to sail an F18 but switched to F16
for the lighter weight and easier to handle on the beach. They love sailing and
spent a lot of their free time on the water. They are sailing with an American
sail number, but are well and truly Belgian; you can ask them anything about
Belgian beers :-)
Adrian and
Jesse are the current F16 World Champions. This Australian couple won the event
last year in Newport, Rhodes Island. Adrian is a sail maker and they will sail
their own set of sails. I am sure they will also bring the Aussie way of life
to this party in Italy.
Andreas (call
him Andi!) and Andrea are a Swiss couple and this is one of the first events
they will sail together. Last year they were going to sail the Europeans in Le
Touquet together, but right before the event Andrea broke her wrist. They are
very eager to show how it’s done Swiss style. On and off the water you will
hear Andi laughing and joking. But competition is competition. Don’t let him
beat you!
Jacques is another solo sailor. He is from France and he is always sailing
the Eurocat event in Carnac. Look out for the very nice design on the hull of
his Falcon, a true artist! And this time he will not be sailing solo because
his wife really wants to test their new jib J
Katrin and
Thomas are a German couple who have been sailing for a long time now. They used
to sail a Hobie FXOne and are now hooked on F16 sailing. Katrin is our first
female helm and she does a great job. We know for sure she will love the light
to medium wind in Italy :-)
Another Swiss
team: Daniel & Dominic, also quite new to the F16 scene. They love to push
it. We have sailed with them at Lake of Como this year, and the more wind the
better. In Italy, they will learn to love the medium wind too (unless we get
some thermal breeze?).
Belgium team
Aurélie and Morgan do not usually sail together, but when they do they rock!
They won silver at the Europeans in Travemunde in 2013 and Morgan is sailing an
Olympic campaign. Right now he is sailing the F17 Worlds in Aarhus, Denmark,
together with Carolijn Brouwer. Aurélie has been focusing on her studies this
year, but she will get back in the groove of sailing quickly.
Only one team
left and that’s us :-) No need to introduce us? We will be sailing together at
the Europeans and looking very much forward to it. Not only the sailing but
also the social program will be great.
We are very happy to be able to
introduce you these nice Falcon team riders and we hope you all have a great
time in Italy! For the ones stuck at home: follow us on Facebook for daily
reports. Event starts on July 20.
