Francesca Vincenti

Francesca Vincenti was born in Malta July 1, 1965. She was Malta's leading female windsurfer for over a decade. She dominated the Maltese waters and held the National Championship title from 1983 - 1986 She has been decorated as Malta's Sportswoman of the Year for 1985 and 1986 and remains the only woman in the history of sailing in Malta to have contributed to the growth of the sport on an international level. Francesca flew the Maltese colours by her consistency at World, European and Pre-Olympic championships by placing within the top 10 at all events.

Amongst her titles, Francesca won the 1985 pre-Olympic International Spa Regatta in Holland, which also made her Dutch National Champion; a feat that rocked the Nederlands Yachting Federation. She was crowned Mistral Freestyle World Champion in 1986, placed 3rd in the international Bermuda Cup in 1984, was 6th in the Sailboard World Championship 1983, held 3rd place in the Giro d'Italia 1983 & 1984 (a two week point-to-point long distance race around Italy). She clinched 6th in the 1984 Mistral Worlds' in Tunisia, 6th at the Mistral Women's Worlds 1986 La Rochelle France, and won the Silver Medal at the Mistral Open Europeans in the Isle of Wight in 1995.

Francesca featured heavily in the early years of the Sport when windsurfing was only just starting to be considered as an Olympic sailing sport. At that time, the class was only open for men. In fact, most of her racing years where spent challenging her male compatriots on a local and international level.

Francesca participated in the renowned Malta-Sicily windsurf race in 1988. The 60 mile long distance race across the Mediterranean Sea was one requiring exceptional stamina. Competitors faced anything from extreme variations in sea & weather conditions to unforgiving international marine traffic. The record remains that of 5hrs 56sec claimed by another accomplished Maltese boardsailor [http://www.maltarightnow.com/content/docs/Life%20&%20Style%20February.pdf Jean Paul Fleri Soler] in 1984. During the years she resided in the USA, she was considered to be one of the leading surfers on the East Coast in the Mistral Class, having held number one rank for that region for some time. She competed regularly in National qualifiers and events, thus staking her claim as one of the favorites at any top level meet. Francesca returned to Malta permanently in 1998 with her two daughters and retired from competitive surfing. She remains actively involved in this extreme sport for leisure only but still features in the promotion of Malta as an ideal [http://www.visitmalta.com destination] for this activity and all outdoor sport such as climbing, kayaking and trekking through her profession there. She is regularly invited to give her technical opinion on television, radio & interviews during high profile events such as the infamous International [http://www.rolexmiddlesearace.com/index.asp Rolex Middle Sea Race] Francesca Vincenti is also a respected actress (?)having already been cast in several theatrical [http://www.orestecalleja.com/Festa_bil-Bandieri_photo_gallery.htm drama] plays and comedies staged at the [http://www.teatrumanoel.com.mt Manoel Theatre] , [http://www.sjcav.org St James Cavalier] , the Salesian Theatre and the Malta Drama Festival.