Italy’s largest Expo for sea and wind action sports.
This year’s WindFestival will put on a show on Andora‘s new stage from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1. Following the end of the collaboration with Diano Marina, today we can happily announce the beginning of a new adventure in the beautiful city of Andora.
The WindFestival, Italy’s largest Expo dedicated to sea and wind action sports, in this twelfth edition will take place as always on the waterfront and the beach with regattas, competitions, inland excursions, introductory activity classes for novices, lessons with free equipment trials and classes with top professional sportsmen. This year’s WindFestival will again give ample space to adaptive disciplines within the Paralympic area.
Following the announcement, several administrations moved to sound out the possibility of moving the WindFestival to their cities, including Andora. The organizers of the WindFestival Valter Scotto e Andrea Ippolito by TF7 Open Sport A.S.D. have recently received proposals from Sardinia, where there had previously been a major event similar to the WindFestival, and from Tuscany, Emilia Romagna and Sicily, but unfortunately they could not consider them because of the logistical difficulties they would have involved. However, they thank all the entities that offered to bring WindFestival to their territories.
The Administration of Andora was quick and decisive in proving herself ready to welcome the WindFestival with open arms and to even more vigorously promote its area as a destination for the water sports and, in general, for the outdoor sports, demonstrating a long-term philosophy and vision projected on the tourist attendance of outdoor enthusiasts. Andora already has a strong vocation as a perfect location for surfing, windsurfing, kite, wing and sailing. WindFestival will be the event that will drive all this. An even richer edition is being worked on for the occasion, including a regatta “Defi Style“, the world’s largest regatta of windsurfing held in Gruissan, France, every year and the last stage of the Italian championship of WingFoil will also count as athletes’ qualification for the next Olympics.
Satisfaction was expressed by the mayor of Andora Mauro Demichelis and councilman in charge of sports Ilario Simonetta. “Sea- and inland-related outdoor activities are central to our goal of promoting Andora as a destination for sportsmen and women 365 days a year,” said Demichelis – Therefore, we have with great enthusiasm taken this opportunity that will allow us to expand the audience of sportsmen and women who already appreciate our coastline, our waves and the ideal weather conditions to practice sailing, windsurfing, foil, kite, sup, wingfoil and surfing. We would also like to increase knowledge of our hinterland suitable for trail as well as hiking. We see the WindFestival as a great opportunity for visibility.“
Ilario Simonetta stresses the importance of hosting activities that are preparatory to learning about sports. “There is an increasing awareness among tourists of all ages,” Simonetta explains. Involving young people in particular in the trials of all disciplines, thanks to trained instructors, means further promoting the sports movement and creating conditions for doing tourism, but also continuous activity throughout the year with Andoresian youth. Andora has ideal spaces and facilities to host the WindFestival as well as propensity toward sports that is in the DNA of a community that can boast as many as 27 amateur sports associations capable of achieving great results at the competitive level.”
The WindFestival 2023 edition is co-organized with the Municipality of Andora and sponsored by the Region of Liguria, Coni Regional Committee of Liguria and the Italian Paralympic Committee.
For information and registration: windfestival.it
E-mail: info@windfestival.it
