Exactly one year after its competition début, here in Porto Cervo in September 2022, FlyingNikka will return to Sardinia to take part in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, the event organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, in partnership with the International Maxi Association, which brings together the largest and fastest regatta (and other) boats every year. An extraordinary setting for an event which represents a unique opportunity to see the Maxi Yachts and some of the world’s most famous sailors at work.
Racing for the Yacht Club Repubblica Marinara di Pisa and the Yacht Club Punta Ala, with the support of the sponsors TAG Heuer and Cetilar® (brand of the PharmaNutra pharmaceutical company), FlyingNikka – a “flying” single-hull just under 19 metres long, with T-foils, the evolution of the boats used in the last America’s Cup but designed for offshore regattas – will be racing in the Mini Maxi 0 class, along with the larger boats in the fleet, in a series of coastal races from Monday 4 to Saturday 9 September (with a break on Thursday). The FlyingNikka’s aim is to win the prize for the first boat to cross the finishing line in real time.
At the helm of the first full foiling Mini Maxi ever to be launched, built last year at the King Marine shipyard in Valencia based on a design by a team of designers led by the Irishman Mark Mills, the owner and skipper Roberto Lacorte, 55 years old, a successful businessman and the real driving force of this challenge.
“Maxi regattas are a must for FlyingNikka, even if the boat is designed for offshore racing, so longer sailing, and we aim to win in real time,” Lacorte explains. “This year the weather hasn’t been on our side during the regattas we have raced in, the wind was always very light, but sooner or later this trend has to change. And we hope it will next week in Costa Smeralda. Sailing with little wind, so in ‘displacement’ without flying, was in any case of great help, to understand the boat better and continue to improve her: in this sense, both the crew and the shore team have been exceptional.”
A crew made up of the Team Manager Alessio Razeto, Lorenzo Bressani, Enrico Zennaro, Andrea Fornaro, Lorenzo De Felice and Lacorte, a truly tried-and-tested line-up, which this year took FlyingNikka across the finishing line at the 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar and the Giraglia, having taken part in the Spring Regattas in Portofino last April.
As mentioned, the support of the partner TAG Heuer is fundamental: in this respect, during the races each team member wears a TAG Heuer Aquaracer Solargraph watch, a timepiece that represents the ultimate sporting performance and durability.
TAG Heuer’s partnership with FlyingNikka heralds the beginning of an exciting new chapter in the brand’s long history of collaborations with innovative, boundary-pushing individuals and organizations. By joining forces with FlyingNikka, TAG Heuer is not only reaffirming its passion for sailing but at the same time also its commitment to innovation, performance, and its never-ending quest for the pioneering mindset.
The other team partners of FlyingNikka are B&G for the on-board electronics, North Sails for the sails, Montura for the official clothing, and the yards in Punta Ala Costa Etrusca and Marina di Punta Ala in Tuscany, the team’s official base.
