The Italia Cup, hosted by the Fraglia Vela Malcesine is a highlight of the Garda A-Cat season, and this year is a great warm up for sailors looking towards the A-Cat European Championship 2026 Mar Menor. Chris Stock had fun on our behalf, and reports.
Five days of nothing but smiling faces wherever you looked: that’s probably the best way to sum up the 2026 Italia Cup on Lake Garda near Malcesine, including the preceding free training sessions. In previous years, too, the top-class A-Cat regattas hosted by Fraglia Vela Malcesine – whose club premises are located in near Navene – had been an absolute highlight of the regatta calendar. But this time, everything went particularly well: fantastic weather, a good sailing Ora wind of 6 to a maximum of 18 knots, a highly competent race committee and excellent organisation on land, including helpers at the slipway. Last but not least, the pasta party on Friday and the bruschetta party on Saturday, held right on the lakeshore in the beautiful early evening sunlight, were great social highlights.
A number of other factors also contributed to the event’s success: whereas last year 80 boats competed in the two disciplines – Open (foilers) and Classic (non-foilers) – this time there were just under 60. This meant there was less crowding, not only on land but, above all, on the water. Open and Classic share the course, with the Classic class starting eight minutes after the Open. This leads to a lot of oncoming traffic, sometimes with relative speeds of 35 knots or more. Just a moment’s inattention or sudden gusts requiring course corrections can quickly make some situations very tight. Too tight, as a major collision last year demonstrated.
But this time it was much more relaxed. This was partly due to the westerly influence of the Ora, which meant that the left-hand side near the shore didn’t have as much of an advantage as usual, and the fleet was spread out much more evenly across the lake. Tactically, this was also exciting, as sometimes the race went down the left-hand side as usual, but often also down the right or through the middle. Many positional shifts during a race were not down to pure boat speed, but to clever wind and fleet tactics. The mostly moderate, yet often rapidly changing wind speed of an average 12 knots also played its part in emphasising tactical aspects – at least for the Classics, which do not lose quite as many metres during manoeuvres. The Open class, on the other hand, were very careful not to fall off the foils when rounding the marks, and were therefore happy to take the odd detour.
The Open class field was the largest, with 38 boats. Alongside reigning world champion Kuba Surowic (POL), the start line featured numerous other top sailors from across Europe, notably local hero Lamberto Cesari (ITA). In terms of equipment, there was little new to report, with one exception: Exploder now produces rudders made from high-quality, ultra-rigid stainless steel in the lower section, similar to those used in the Moth class. The profile can therefore be very narrow both lengthwise and crosswise, resulting in correspondingly low drag, and steering precision is improved. According to reports from the sailors concerned, the advantages are not yet overwhelming, but development will not stand still.
In the Classics class, featuring 19 boats, the brand-new Classic 2026 model from the Polish Exploder shipyard caused quite a stir. This was less due to the numerous minor improvements to the trampoline, foils and so on, and more because of a modification of the hull’s underwater section towards the stern. What looks like a strange deformation to the untrained eye is intended to make skimming on the downwind leg easier. This refers to gliding on the rear section of the leeward hull, whilst the front half of the leeward hull is lifted out of the water by the lift from the C-daggerbords (the windward hull is completely in the air anyway). This skimming is not full foiling, which would be prohibited in races under the Classic rules, but it is nonetheless a highly efficient and permitted method of reaching the leeward mark quickly. Former world champion Gustavo Doreste (ESP) and Bruno Biedermann (SUI) demonstrated that this concept works.
In both classes, the strong competition led to close results. The podium remained up for grabs right up until the final race of the nine sailed. In the Open class, world champion Kuba Surowic has now met his match after a long period of dominance: Lamberto Cesari secured victory by a single point, thanks largely to his outstanding boat speed. His boat is optimised down to the last detail, and his sailing style can only be described as ‘Italian elegance’. Marco Anessi (ITA) took bronze, also an outstanding performance in a strong field.
In the Classics class, 2025 World Champion Gustavo Doreste narrowly edged out Italian Marco Radmann thanks to his tactical acumen. Enrique Cornejo took third place thanks to consistently strong performances. The top four finishers from Spain and Italy had trained throughout the winter on the Mediterranean off Barcelona and Calambrone respectively – a lead the other sailors were unable to close during the three days of racing.
Next year, the German championship will once again be held in Malcesine. Shhh, don’t tell anyone, but there’s a good chance it will be another dream event.
Christian Stock (GER 100)
