Argentina F18 fleet adds late-season regatta after renewed interest

An extra weekend regatta is not a throwaway item in Formula 18. In Argentina, it was a signal that the fleet still had enough energy, entries and club support to add one more race weekend after the main season had already wound down.

F18 Argentina gathered on May 2-3 for the late-season event after renewed interest sent secretary Alejandro Colombo and vice president Pablo Volker looking for a club willing to host it. That kind of scramble usually tells you more than a packed start line does: the class still has owners ready to rig, crews ready to travel and volunteers willing to make another weekend happen.

That matters in a class like Formula 18, where momentum is built at the grassroots. The formula was developed in 1993 by Olivier Bovyn and Pierre-Charles Barraud, became a Recognised Class in 1996 and an International Class in 2002. World Sailing’s class rules describe it as a non-foiling, restricted-development formula catamaran, a format that keeps the fleet on relatively even terms while still rewarding tuning, teamwork and speed. The class also works across two styles of racing that keep more sailors involved: around-the-buoy courses and distance raid racing.

The Argentine fleet’s willingness to add another event fits that model. It suggests a local scene with enough density to support more than a single championship weekend, and enough club backing to keep the calendar flexible when interest rises. For a performance catamaran class, that accessibility is crucial. If sailors know there is another shot at racing, even late in the season, they are more likely to stay engaged, keep boats moving and bring newer crews into the mix.

Argentina has already shown what that depth looks like on the water. The 2024 Argentine Nationals in Buenos Aires ran three races on Friday, four on Saturday and five on Sunday, a full schedule that showed the fleet could deliver steady racing across three days. The country also has top-end credibility: Pablo Volker and Federico Polimeni won the 2024 Formula 18 World Championship in Costa Brava, Spain.

US Sailing says major continental and world Formula 18 championships often draw about 100 to 160 boats, a reminder that this is a class built to scale. In Argentina, the late-season regatta pointed to the same thing at a smaller, local level: a class that is still active, still organizing and still worth keeping on the water.