S.A.S Project

In September 2013 the Italian Moth Championship was held in Campione del Garda. At that event Luca Rizzotti was the president of the Italian Moth Class and had successfully organized a fundraising to help Acque Libere purchase an International 2.4 meter class boat. Antonello Tovo, president of Acque Libere and Luca’s old time friend came to the event to present the association programs and was awestruck by the moths he was seeing fly-by the spectators ribs: “You will foil, it will be possible!” Luca promised to his friend. The same weekend Foiling Week was conceived by Luca and Domenico, but that is another story.

Fast forward to year 2017 the promise was still in the air but the time was right to devise and develop a bold concept: a foiling boat that could be sailed together by sailors with and without disabilities. A boat that could demonstrate the core mission of Foiling Week, to make foiling safe, accessible and sustainable: S.A.S. Project was born.

We proposed the project to partners we believed would be aligned with the idea and it became a reality. The project was first mentioned at 2017 Garda Foiling Week during the conferences, one year later Bobby Kleinschmit (ETNZ foil designer also working with Guillaume Verdier) presented the boat design at Foiling Week forum 2018.

In February 2019 the fundraising for project S.A.S is launched at Foiling Awards in Milan together with Max Sirena from Luna Rossa Challenge.

The boat

Irus 5.50, designed by Guillame Verdier as «foil laboratory», then donated to Foiling Week to pursue the SAS Project.

Length 5.50 m
Width 2.3 m
Air Draft 10 m
Draft 1.4 m
Raw Hull 100 kg
Overall Weight 300 kg
Bulb 60 kg

SAS Project aim is #everyonecanfoil. Disabled sailors, beginners, weekend warriors and PRO can sail together and have the same emotions and same feelings

The program

The S.A.S. Project program is as follows

February 2019 – December 2019 : Complete design process, boat construction , fundraising worldwide tour ( dates and locations TBA)
January to March 2020 : boat testing and tuning together with Acque Libere
March 2020 to March 2021 : participation to Foiling Week events and other major foiling and non foiling events with open trials

Boat program partners

Guillaume Verdier is know as one of world foiling gurus, having designed a large number of foiling projects including the ETNZ foil package that won the AC in Bermuda.
http://www.guillaumeverdier.com/en/

Persico Marine is a world class marine boatyard , currently building Luna Rossa challenge boats for AC36 and the one design arms for all teams.
https://www.persicomarine.com/profile.html

Sport and sailing program partners

Movendo Technology is a biomedical company that has distinguished itself for using the most advanced robotic technology to produce effective rehabilitation and diagnostic tools that are easy to use and designed to improve patient treatment quality.
https://www.movendo.technology/

Acque Libere sports association promotes the sport of sailing making it available to everyone. From the moment of its birth, in 2013, they organize sailing school activities and regattas in a context of real inclusion among all people. The activity is mainly aimed at children and people with different types and levels of disability. They started with 2.4 mR class regattas to continue with special projects in which sailing is a support tool for rehabilitation activities. In this context Acque Libere had the opportunity to experience how the sport of sailing is able to motivate people to achieve very advanced rehabilitation goals. As part of the “Lifestyle, nutrition and sailing” project, dedicated to people with multiple sclerosis, they were able to observe through neuro-physiological monitoring how much a sport such as sailing can intervene in terms of motivation and increased effectiveness of rehabilitation.
Based on this experience the SAS project can represent an additional level of challenge capable of motivating many people to achieve their rehabilitation goals and change their lifestyle.
For further information click here
http://www.acque-libere.org/