Once around Lanzarote in just one day - what sounds so simple seems like a mammoth task on closer inspection: 200 kilometres of course, strongly changing winds with local reinforcements and wind holes, waves, floating trip traps and never-ending bumps in one direction - these are just some of the challenges of the long-distance race. Nico Prien and several other foilers rose to the challenge at the third edition of the event.
You can find out how Nico Prien prepared for the race, what equipment he chose for the circumnavigation and what makes the Lanzarote Foil Challenge so fascinating in his 28-minute documentary. Very worth seeing!
Lanzarote Foil Challenge 2023 - Backgrounds
The third edition of the Lanzarote Foil Challenge was characterised by unstable weather conditions, which prompted the organisers to spread the regatta over two days. The race started on Thursday at around 12:00 noon in the Marina Rubicón on the east side of the island, heading south along El Golfo to La Santa. From there, they continued to Famara, where the drivers arrived at around 14:30.
Nico Prien and Frenchman Adrien Mestre finished this first part of the race level on points, followed by the Swede Hugo Sjöberg in the Open Pro category. In the iQFoil class, Poland's Pawel Tarnowski crossed the finish line first ahead of his compatriot Michal Polak, while third place went to Hungary's Máté Bors.
After a day's break, the regatta continued on Saturday in Famara, with significantly bigger waves and challenging conditions. From Famara, the race continued along the west coast towards La Graciosa, where Adrien Mestre was the first to arrive, followed by Nico Prien and Pawel Tarnowski. The fourth stage then ended in Costa Teguise, where Michal Polak was the first to arrive, followed by Tarnowski and Mestre. Tarnowski was also at the front at the finish line at Marina Rubicón.
The race aims to become part of a regatta series
The overall standings in the Open Pro category were as follows: Adrien Mestre in first place, followed by Nico Prien. Hugo Sjöberg secured third place. "We broke the record because we rode upwind most of the time," said the winner Adrien Mestre. "It was really fast and fun!"
Pawel Tarnowski won the iQFoil category ahead of Michal Polak and Máté Bors . "It was a super nice experience to sail around this beautiful island. We had stronger winds than we expected, which was great," said Pawel Tarnowski afterwards. Marion Mortefon won the women's race ahead of Anastasiya Valkevich from Poland.
At the award ceremony in the Marina Rubicon, the organisers of the Lanzarote Foil Challenge were completely satisfied with the third edition of the race - despite a rather small field with fewer racers than announced. They want to establish the event as a classification event within a regatta class in the future.
