The Geneva Wind Festival steps up to host first ever official EFPT foilstyle event
by EFPT 8 Aug 2021 08:15 BST
23-26 September 2021
This event will count into the new ranking © EFPT
We are thrilled to announce another addition to the 2021 tourcalendar: the Geneva (GVA) Wind Festival. This event will stage the first ever official EFPT foil freestyle competition in history with € 10.000,- up for grabs. The event will be open for men and women.
Fabien Cachin, general manager of the ‚Tropical ‚Corner center in Geneva, is organising the event together with Quentin Mayerat, founder of the Swiss Boards mag. Both are truly dedicated to windsurfing and watersports in general and want to raise their event to the next level by welcoming some of the best freestylers in the world and by hosting the new EFPT discipline.
We are beyond thrilled of being able to award the first ever EFPT foilstyle champion in Switzerland. Furthermore, this event will count into the new ranking, that will finally crown the best rider over all the EFPT disciplines (freestyle, tow-in and foilstyle), as the EFPT overall champion of 2021.
The event will take place from the 23rd - 26th of September at the Tropical Corner, originally a windsurfing school that has been founded 35 years ago and that has developed into a fantastic watersports center at Lac Leman in Geneva, which is known to be a multicultural and lively city. With this center being located in the heart of it, the public can stay very close to the action - something that is very important to the two main organisers Fabien and Quentin: they both want to promote windsurfing, encourage more people to get involved and also promote Switzerland and its role in watersports.
Tow-in
Apart from the official foilstyle competition, there will be a daily sundowner tow-in show. Additional to the winch, which is commonly used at the EFPT events, there will be a big powerboat-created wake for the riders to launch their moves off. This system has been already tested at the first ever GVA Wind Festival last year. Let the pictures speak for themselves.
Foil-cross
A few years ago, the EFPT started to bring back supercross at the EFPT in Lanzarote, purely as a show event. However, the feedback has been amazing from the start and the official incorporation of this discipline is still being discussed. Windsurf foiling and foilstyle has brought a lot of attention to the windsurfing sport, so we thought: why not think the concept of supercross further and introduce it to the foiling scene?
Just like the tow-in show at the GVA Wind Festival, the first ever foil-cross contest will be introduced as yet another show-discipline. The format will include two men heats on a downwind course, where certain foilstyle moves will have to be executed by the riders.
Rookie camp
Since the EFPT is now focusing more than ever on bringing new riders into the competition scene, another EFPT rookie camp will be staged two days prior to this event with the focus on foiling and foilstyle. Julian Wiemar will be headcoach of the clinic and will be joined by another professional rider, who is yet to be determined.
Registration
The registration for the event is now open, however the final confirmation will be announced three weeks before the event, due to the ongoing unforseeable developments of the Covid pandemic.
Pre-registration ends two weeks before the event for men and women. Only when the minimum required number of six female competitors has been reached, the event counts towards the official women's EFPT Foil Freestyle European Champion title. If the minimum number is not reached, the women can compete in the mens division.
Register for the GVA Wind Festival now
Further tour calendar updates 2021: cancellation DAM-X
Ongoing restrictions for traveling and daily life in general due to the Covid pandemic has led the organisers of the famous DAM-X to the decision of cancelling the event for a second year in a row. The DAM-X is one of the most popular events on the EFPT calendar, staged at the freestyle paradise Brouwersdam and marked the yearly EFPT finale from 2016 to 2019. For now we can only keep our fingers crossed for another great final showdown in the Netherlands in 2022.
Visit here for the updated tourcalendar of 2021 and more information about the events
Thank you for following and best regards,
The EFPT team.