After an intense test and training program between Valencia and Punta Ala, FlyingNikka is ready to make its race debut: the first full foiling sailboat in the Mini Maxi category will race in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo, scheduled from September 5th to 10th, with the organization of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.

This is the first competitive appointment for the Roberto Lacorte’s futuristic foil boat, built at King Marine shipyard in Valencia and designed by a team led by Irishman Mark Mills.

A special participation, considering the particular and technically unprecedented nature of FlyingNikka – which will be included in the newborn Mini Maxi 0 category, with an IRC certificate – addressed as a real “test event”, in a context where over 50 boats are expected.  

“We can’t wait to race in Porto Cervo, we came from several and intense training weeks and we will continue to train also in the second half of August”, said the owner-driver Roberto Lacorte, on board FlyingNikka with Team Manager Alessio Razeto, Lorenzo Bressani, Enrico Zennaro, Andrea Fornaro and Lorenzo De Felice. “It’s true that the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup will be a test event for us, because the division into class division based on the IRC certificate does not yet allow us to race directly with other Maxis, it will be an significant step. The weather conditions in North Sardinia are always demanding, so even if we are talking about coastal regattas and not the long offshore sailing for which FlyingNikka was born, it’s still a very interesting first test”.

Almost 19 meters, with two T-shaped foil arms, FlyingNikka is the evolution of the AC75 used in the last America’s Cup and is designed for long offshore sailing regattas.  

This is the first racer in the Mini Maxi Category that can sails in a full foil mode, the first example of a new generation of racing boats that aims at winning all the greatest, international classic regattas in real time, as well as “crashing” all distance records of the most important routes.

FlyingNikka main sponsor is Cetilar®, a brand of the pharmaceutical company PharmaNutra. Other partners are B&G for electronics, North Sails for sails, Montura for official clothing, Cantiere di Punta Ala Costa Etrusca and Marina di Punta Ala, headquarters of the team.