by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 29 Oct 05:51 PDT 30 October 2019
Starboard iFoil – World Sailing Windsurf Evaluation Trials, Lago di Garda, Italy. September 29, 2019 © Jesus Renedo / Sailing Energy / World Sailing
Aaron McIntosh and Dorian van Rijsselberghe after winning the RS:X Mens Gold Medal, Rio Olympics, August 2016 © Richard Gladwell
America’s Cup Champion Glenn Ashby improving his foiling skills on a Windfoiler – Midwinter Series- Wakatere BC, July 2019 © Richard GladwellSometime next Thursday, in Bermuda, World Sailing’s Events Committee will decide on its Recommendation for the Windsurfing Equipment for the 2024 Olympic Regatta in Marseille.
The Recommendation will then be considered the Council of the World body, along with a Submission from the International RS:X class, the incumbent equipment/class for four Olympic Regattas from 2008-2020.
The tough decision represents a turn around in a situation that began at the Mid Year Meeting in London, when the Council refused to accept a recommendation from the Board of World Sailing to endorse the RS:X for its fifth Olympic Regatta.
Instead, it was directed that tenders for the Windsurfing Equipment should be re-issued and an Evaluation Trial held, in a similar way to that conducted for the Men’s and Women’s One Person dinghy, for which the Laser was re-selected from two options endorsed by the Equipment Committee.
For three successive years, the Equipment Committee had unsuccessfully made a recommendation to the Board for the replacement of the RS:X.
It now seems that the way is clear for a windfoiler to make its debut at the 2024 Olympic Regatta.
Three of the top four nations from the 2016 Olympics are backing the choice of the Starboard Windfoiler – a one-design, foiling that costs about €500 more than the RS:X, at €6830, but that price includes the carbon hydrofoil. A youth version with an aluminium foil is €4,300
The creator of the Starboard iFoil, Svein Rasmussen, was a Windsurfing World Champion(1983) on the Mistral board and represented Norway at the 1984 Olympics. He launched Starboard in 1994 after retiring from competitive windsurfing, and based the company in Thailand.
In a letter circulated ahead of Bermuda, to the National Associations which make up World Sailing, Rasmusen describes the Starboard iFoil as “an affordable one design, high performance foiling package able to compete in 5-35 knots with the option of multi-brand and multi-manufacturer participation.”
At the upper end of the wind range, competitors can opt to change-out the hydrofoil for a fin and covert the Board from a foiler to a more conservative planing board.
The development of the windfoiler has been driven out of Holland, arguably the world’s top windsurfing nation, and from New Zealand who dominated the Olympic windsurfing scene from 1984 to 2000, winning at least one medal in windsurfing at every Olympics in that period.
Aaron McIntosh (NZL), a Bronze medalist in the 2000 Olympics has been a windsurfing coach for the Netherlands starting at the 2012 Olympic regatta. His combination with Dorian van Rijsselberghe resulted in Gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Dutch sailors won Gold and Silver at the 2018 World Championships in the Men’s RS:X and Gold in the Women’s event.
Leading the charge away from their RS:X success story is a very bold move for the Dutch.
Remarkably the windfoiler concept has only been around for two years but has gained rapid acceptance from past and present windsurfers, young sailors and even those new to the sport, like America’s Cup champions Glenn Ashby and Ray Davies (NZL).
The driver for the New Zealand and Australian yachting federations has been the near-complete abandonment of traditional windsurfing at all levels. The first New Zealand windfoiler nationals held earlier in 2019 attracted a massive entry of 50 sailors, with the total number of active sailors put at 75 by Yachting New Zealand.
The windfoiler had its first international test at the end of May with an event as part of the Medemblik Regatta, in The Netherlands, which attracted 27 entries from eight nations. In Poland a month later the Formula Foil class Worlds drew a fleet of 57 sailors. McIntosh expects to see 200 sailors for the 2020 event.
The Evaluation Trial at Lake Garda, Italy, conducted by World Sailing, considered two foiling and three planing options by a well-credentialed team of 20 sailors from 18 nations. The five options were tested in winds from 5-25kts.
In contrast to the One Person Dinghy trial conducted in Valencia in March, the 20 sailor team was at a higher level of experience, with many being involved in 2020 Olympic windsurfing campaigns.
In their report on the Evaluation Trial, the Working Party noted that “at the trials, 17 of the 19 sailors preferred to select foiling equipment for 2024, and 16 of the 17 stated they would support a recommendation to foiling even if the equipment recommended was not their first choice.
Interestingly even the majority of current RS:X sailors favoured a shift from the RS:X to a foiling board by a margin of 41.3% to 36.9%, according to a World Sailing survey published in the report of the Working Party.
The Events Committee will make a recommendation on Thursday which will be considered by the Council of World Sailing the following day and a decision made.
If anointed for the 2024 Olympic Regatta will indeed close a chapter on the remarkable rise of not just a new class, but of a new concept in sailing.
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