Gold Fleet Progress and a Breakthrough Week for Makani Andrews at iQFOiL Europeans
The 2026 iQFOiL European Championships in Portimão represented another important step forward for the America One Racing Project Podium squad as Noah Lyons and Makani Andrews continued building toward the World Championships in Weymouth this August.
Over the past season, the focus inside the iQFOiL duo has been clear and consistent. Under the leadership of coach JuanMa Moreno, the emphasis has not been on chasing isolated race results or headline performances, but on building more complete athletes capable of performing over the course of entire championship regattas. The daily work has centered on technical refinement, smarter on-the-water decision-making, consistency, and the ability to execute under pressure against the deepest fleets in the world.
In iQFOiL, progress rarely comes all at once. The gains are often incremental and built over months of repetition, review, and trust in the process. Starts, transitions, risk assessment, and maintaining composure through changing conditions all become critical over the course of a long championship week. The Europeans provided strong evidence that the work being done inside the squad is translating into measurable performance.
A major highlight came from Makani Andrews, who competed in Gold Fleet for the first time at a championship of this level and earned his first-ever race victory against one of the strongest fleets in international iQFOiL racing. The result marked a significant step in Makani’s progression. Winning a race in the Gold Fleet requires much more than raw speed. It demands consistency and the ability to make clean decisions while racing against some of the most experienced sailors in the class. Over the last year, Makani has steadily developed those areas of his racing, and the result reflected both his growth as an athlete and the increasing reliability of his overall game. Perhaps most encouraging for the A1R coaching staff is that the performance validated what the group has been seeing in training for some time. Makani’s ceiling continues to rise, and his ability to compete confidently at the front of elite fleets is becoming increasingly sustainable and repeatable.
For Noah Lyons, the event also provided important takeaways as the team continues refining its preparation for Weymouth in August. Noah remains one of the fastest and most accomplished sailors in the fleet, and while the overall result fell short of expectations, there was valuable information gained throughout the week that will continue shaping the group’s preparation moving forward. There is also perspective within the result itself. A week that felt below standard still produced a finish around 17th overall in one of the deepest international fleets of the season. That says as much about the level Noah continues to compete at consistently as it does about the standards and expectations inside the A1R program. Noah is currently one of the top 10 iQFOiL athletes in the world.
As the focus now shifts toward the World Championships in Weymouth, the objective remains unchanged. Noah, Makani, and JuanMa continue to prioritize long-term development, accountability, consistency, and building performances capable of holding up under championship pressure. The European Championships reinforced that the foundation underneath the A1R iQFOiL squad continues to strengthen at exactly the right point in the season.
