Foiling Week returns to Lake Garda with nine-day 2026 program
Foiling Week's 2026 return to Malcesine packs WASZP, Moth and e-foil racing into nine days, with the Foiling Sport Congress turning Lake Garda into the sport's test lab.
Lake Garda is getting another full-scale foiling stress test. Foiling Week returns to Fraglia Vela Malcesine from June 27 to July 5, 2026, and the thirteenth edition looks less like a standalone regatta than a live preview of where the sport is headed next.
That shift has been building for years. The event started in Malcesine in 2014, expanded beyond Italy by 2016 with plans for a U.S. stop in Pensacola, Florida, and then moved up a level in 2021 when World Sailing granted it Special Event status. World Sailing said the move would help Foiling Week “grow, reach more people, and partner with international and national foiling programmes and pathways,” a line that captures exactly how the event has outgrown the old showcase model. It now sits in the same peer group as the America’s Cup, SailGP, The Ocean Race, the World Match Racing Tour, the PWA World Tour, the Star Sailors League and the GKA Kite World Tour.
The numbers from the last edition show why that status matters. Foiling Week 2024 drew more than 380 sailors, and 11 university teams took part in the Foiling SuMoth Challenge as the event leaned hard into youth sailing and sustainability. World Sailing vice president Yann Rocherieux also voiced satisfaction with the sustainability panel, another sign that the conversation in Malcesine now stretches beyond racing results and into how the sport builds its next generation.
The 2026 program pushes that same model even further. Racing classes on the schedule include WASZP, Switch, IODA, Birdyfish, ETF26 and Moth, while the Foiling Sport Congress 2026 is set for July 1 and 2, with a Wednesday block listed from 10 am to 5 pm. We Are Foiling head of performance Giulia Conti will be on site throughout the week, working directly with competitors in WASZP Fleet 8.2 on June 29, Switch on June 30, and Moth on July 3, 4 and 5. Alongside the racing, the calendar adds clinics, trial time and electric-foiling showcases, including solar boat racing, seated-board demos, Foil Drive exhibition racing, and world-cup-style events for SFT parawing, downwind, pump foil and e-foil disciplines.
That mix is the real story. Malcesine is no longer just hosting sailors who want a start line and a finish line. It is hosting the designers, class leaders, brands and curious newcomers who want to see which foiling ideas actually hold up when Lake Garda turns into the sport’s busiest laboratory.
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