Los Gallos’ home weekend in Valencia, and The Ocean Race Atlantic's biggest risk-takers - The Foil Podcast - Ep 36
The Foil PodcastShow Notes
Episode 36 of The Foil Podcast is live, and this week there’s a lot to cover – SailGP heading to Valencia for the first time, a full breakdown of Los Gallos' stellar season, The Ocean Race Atlantic underway, a title race shake-up in the TP52 Super Series after Lanzarote, and a shock finish at the ILCA 7 World Championships.
Neil Cole, Freddie Carr and Andy Rice open with Valencia – a city with serious America's Cup pedigree, host of the 2007 Cup and the 2010 Deed of Gift match – and work through why its reliable sea breeze could produce a tight, sea wall-hugging start box for SailGP this weekend.
From there it's a proper deep dive into Spain's home team, Los Gallos: the downwind speed nobody else can match, the crew combinations behind Diego Botín and Florian Trittel, a team culture built on equal pay and no egos, and the story of a turnaround from crisis to championship contenders under Tony Alcázar and Hamish Willcox. There's also a look at who's chasing Artemis for that grand final spot before switching to offshore racing.
The Ocean Race Atlantic fleet have just departed out of New York, with the guys weighing up the radical new-build Malizia 4 and DMG Mori against proven offshore campaigners – and what onboard steering wheels and Starlink reporting mean for the sport. The Foil's Lewis Smith then joins to unpack a dramatic Men's Laser [ILCA 7, if you must] World Championships finish in Dún Laoghaire, a new scoring format, and the build-up to the Women's Laser [ILCA 6] Worlds, including a comeback by Ireland's own Olympic silver medallist Annalise Murphy.
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00:00 Intro 03:11 SailGP heads to Valencia 08:43 Why Spain are so strong 28:41 The championship battle & Valencia predictions 34:16 The Ocean Race Atlantic Preview 43:16 New vs proven IMOCA designs 51:32 Who wins The Ocean Race Atlantic? 54:16 ILCA World Championships 1:07:28 TP52 Super Series championship shake-up
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