Amaala Yacht Club partners with We Are Foiling
Amaala Yacht Club is a private members’ yacht club located on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast
Amaala Yacht Club in Saudi Arabia has formed a long-term strategic partnership with We Are Foiling to attract the sport’s most innovative athletes and events.
Foiling is one of performance sailing’s fastest-growing disciplines. Amaala Yacht Club and We Are Foiling’s (an ecosystem of events and initiatives connected to foiling) idea is to position Amaala as a global reference destination for foiling sailing and high-performance watersports.
The agreement, covering the 2026 season and beyond, represents the first step in a broader collaboration connecting elite sport, innovation and destination development.
“Foiling represents the future of performance sailing – where sport, technology and design converge,” says Adrian Peet, general manager of Amaala Yacht Club – a private members’ yacht club located on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast, within the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Nature Reserve.
Connecting elite competition and destination building
“This partnership with The Foiling Organization is not about a single event or season, but about positioning Amaala as a long-term global hub for innovation-led sailing. By connecting elite competition, knowledge exchange and curated experiences, we are deliberately building an ecosystem that attracts the world’s leading sailors, designers and innovators to the Red Sea.”
As part of the partnership, Amaala Yacht Club will partner with the Foiling Awards, supporting the sailing categories female sailor, male sailor and foiling team of the IX edition. The Foiling Awards will culminate on 17 March 2026, in Genoa, Italy, during the World Foiling Congress (17-18 March).
In 2026, the partnership will include a dedicated prize experience at Amaala for selected Foiling Awards winners, including a one-week trip to Amaala for each winner. The cooperation will also extend to Foiling Week, the first and unique global event entirely dedicated to foiling boats, their sailors, designers and manufacturers, taking place from 27 June to 5 July in Malcesine, Lake Garda, Italy.
Building a global foiling ecosystem
“Events such as the Foiling Awards and Foiling Week were conceived to go beyond competition, acting as engines for destination building, innovation and community growth,” says Luca Rizzotti, head of We Are Foiling. “Partnering with Amaala reflects a long-term commitment to developing foiling as a driver of high-value, international destination marketing.”
Looking ahead, Amaala Yacht Club and We Are Foiling are looking to develop an invitational foiling sailing event at Amaala in December 2026. That’s being pitched as a high-level, invitation-only gathering. Event format, classes and participants will be revealed in the coming months.
The partnership sits within the wider We Are Foiling ecosystem, linking Foiling Awards, Foiling Week, and a global platform supporting long-term destination-building through sport. However, it unfolds against the ongoing scrutiny over human rights in Saudi Arabia, where international organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have raised concerns about issues such as freedom of expression, the treatment of activists and legal protections. As the kingdom invests heavily in sport and tourism as part of its economic diversification strategy, projects like Amaala are likely to attract both commercial interest and continued attention from observers assessing how large-scale international partnerships intersect with wider social and political reforms.
