In Sardinia, circular and low-impact solutions for water sports and sailing are being studied. The University of Cagliari, together with the UniCa Sailing Team, is working on the construction of an International Moth class boat, one of the most advanced foil dinghies in the world. The team will participate in the SuMoth Challenge, which is divided into three phases: design, production, and performance, followed by a regatta. The final phase will indeed see the teams compete to demonstrate the performance of their boats during the prestigious Foiling Week, held in Malcesine on Lake Garda, between June and July for over 10 years.
The team consists of dozens of students from the University of Cagliari, coming from various departments and divided into different sections, including the Design Team, Sensors, Social Media and Image, Shore Team, LCA and Materials, Marketing, and Communication. Leading the project are the scientific director, Flavio Stochino, the team manager and coach Gianmario Broccia, and the team captain and skipper Gabriele De Marco. MEDSEA supports the initiative as a media partner.
In the UniCa Sailing Team's shipyards, work is currently underway on a prototype boat made of eco-sustainable composite materials, excluding the use of carbon fiber and favoring innovative materials such as flax fiber and resins with a high bio component. The challenge is to create a foil dinghy that can "fly" over the water, a task that will test the engineering skills of the students and provide them with a platform to apply such knowledge to an extremely practical case.
The Foiling SuMoth Challenge is not just a competition but a laboratory of ideas for creating eco-sustainable boats, based on the "3R" principles: Reuse, Recycle, Reduce. "These values are at the heart of Foiling Week's commitment to accessibility and sustainability, principles that the UniCa Sailing Team fully intends to embrace and develop," declares Flavio Stochino, the project's scientific director.
Currently, the UniCa Sailing Team is finalizing all the design aspects of the boat that will be built in spring and at the same time is conducting a fruitful campaign to research sponsors and partners, aiming to spread the paradigms of this project to the public as widely as possible.
Meanwhile, training continues in preparation for the competition and water tests.
"We are thrilled to have the support of the MEDSEA Foundation, a collaboration born from the sharing of common values, dedicated to creating innovative solutions to promote the circular economy in Sardinia in the name of sport, research, and sustainability," conclude Gianmario Broccia and Gabriele De Marco.
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