World Champion
An early version of the Open Waterbike won the long distance regatta at the Human Powered Vehicle World Championship held in Interlaken, Swizerland, in 1999. That was rather unexpected, since the boat was designed for leisure and tourism rather than for racing.
What was even more unexpected was how far away (more than one kilometer) was the second boat when our waterbike crossed the finish line.
Many of the other boats were well known commercial boats modified in order to improve their performances. Please have a look at the arrival order here.
Human Powered Vehicle World Championship 1999
Long Distance Race, Single
| Rang | Startnr. | Crew | Team / Boot | Land | Zeit |
| Place | Race # | Team / Boat | Country | Time | |
| [h:mm:ss] | |||||
| 1 | 32 | Friul Waterbike Team | Talassociclo | ITA | 1:36:19 |
| 2 | 16 | Matthias Abuja | Spaider Männ | AUT | 1:45:51 |
| 3 | 27 | Thomas Rüegsegger | Bike Boat | SUI | 1:48:22 |
| 4 | 30 | Sam Meyer | Aero Bike Boat | SUI | 1:48:27 |
| 5 | 6 | Heinrich Rebmann | Seacycle | SUI | 1:48:35 |
| 6 | 26 | Peter Bretscher | Gridelli | SUI | 1:50:30 |
| 7 | 20 | Jochen Ewert | Wet Wing | GER | 1:50:32 |
| 8 | 25 | Robert Heinrich | Dr. Blasy Aquvelo | GER | 1:54:28 |
| 9 | 31 | Peter Linder | Velosurf | SUI | 1:56:35 |
| 10 | 5 | Urs Knöpfli | Surfbike Aquafun | SUI | 2:03:51 |
| 11 | 12 | Ingo-Kai Schoffer | FESTO-Profilsystem | GER | 2:04:07 |
| 12 | 3 | Lacrimini Paolo | Toffee III | ITA | 2:07:41 |
| 13 | 28 | Daniel Bögli | Handy Boat | SUI | 2:28:55 |
| 14 | 17 | Manfred Lüthi | Shuttle-Bike | SUI | 2:51:37 |
Our waterbike was then called 'Talassociclo', that is Sea Bicycle in Italian, and she was already an Open Waterbike, she was modular, we adopted a drive unit built by Free Enterprises in Indiana, USA, while most of the boat was built by Lamar in Italy.
In that competition we learned that we can make excellent boats.
In the following years we learned that the right way to build them is to work together.
Our boat is faster than mine.