2024 WingFoil Racing World Cup China Day 3
by Andy Rice 23 Aug 2024 16:13 BST
19-26 August 2024
Pump foiling on an Armstrong foil when the wind won't play - 2024 WingFoil Racing World Cup China, Day 3 © IWSA media / Robert Hajduk
Even if the wind refused to join in with the party, day three of WingFoil Racing World Cup China was still an opportunity for sharing great times and new ideas beneath the palm trees of Pingtan beach.
With 113 riders from various countries, continents and walks of life, a WingFoil Racing World Cup makes for a fascinating melting pot. Everyone shares the same passion for this fast-growing sport, but how they approach it and their reasons for doing it can be very different.
Meet the parents
For some of the older riders, the parents, it's an opportunity to join in on a shared enthusiasm for enjoying some warm-water sport. There are younger riders who are still getting to grips with the fundamentals of racing, and finding their learning curve skyrockets even faster than normal when they mix with the very best wingfoilers in the world.
The fastest man of the past two seasons has been the double World Champion Mathis Ghio from France. Anticipating a possible move to Olympic status a few years from now, the French Sailing Federation (FFV) is investing significantly in its best riders, Ghio included. The Italians have also been pushing hard into wingfoil racing, but now others are starting to challenge the French/ Italian dominance of recent seasons.
Aiming for pole position
Poland's Kamil Manowiecki is lying in second overall behind Ghio, and like Ghio is using one of the Ozone Fusion double-profile wings. The double-skin wings are proving to be very fast upwind and just as fast downwind is older-generation wings once the riders adapt their technique. Manowiecki recently spent two weeks in Portugal training with Ghio which he feels has helped close the gap on the fast Frenchman. "We learn a lot from working together and we are using the same wing but there are many things that we prefer to do differently," said Manowiecki.
"For example Mathis prefers much shorter harness lines and I prefer much longer lines, so that changes how we work with the wing. I like to work with the wing further away from me, but he has to have the wing close to his body so he doesn't allow the tip to touch the water. Then we have different foils, different boards, so there is a lot we are doing differently, but I'm kind of happy that we are both together on top [of the leaderboard]. I just hope that one day we can switch positions," smiled Manowiecki, ambition glinting in his eyes.
Armie manoeuvres
Armie Armstrong is loving his first time at a WingFoil Racing World Cup. The New Zealander is the founder of Armstrong, one of the pioneering brands of wingfoiling as well as a very strong presence in other watersports, surfing in particular.
"I'm not so much of a racer," he said. "At Armstrong we're really focused more on free ride and wave riding with our gear. But we've really supported the growth of the sport, especially in China. Our manufacturing base is here and we do a lot of testing, so I'm familiar with how many great locations there are for winging, including Pingtan Island. We've had some awesome racing here this week and it was just too good an opportunity to come and see what's happening in the wing race world. It's mind-blowing how the equipment's evolving, the riders' skill and just the event, the whole thing, it's been awesome."
Chinese on the rise
There is a huge number of Chinese riders competing on home waters this week, and a large proportion of them can be seen riding with the distinctive black-and-white-striped foils and wings made by Armstrong.
"Ten years ago, unless they were fishermen, Chinese people wouldn't even go in the ocean. But a few years back we passed out some gear to a number of sailing clubs just to help them out and see if there was any interest in wingfoiling. All of a sudden we've got a whole heap of local athletes competing at this event and two guys in the top 20, it's epic."
Armstrong refuses to take too much credit for any part he has played in the growth of wingfoiling in China, however. "When the Chinese decide to do something, they do it properly. They see it as a legitimate sport that they're backing in a serious way. They got 50 kids from all around the country and put them into an intensive camp with coaches, nutrition, trainers, the whole lot. Some of those kids just less than a year later, they're out here racing in the top 20 at this event, it's pretty cool."
Surfer's paradise
So irresistible has the appeal of wingfoiling been around the world that even the gnarliest of gnarly surfers has shown some affection for the new kid on the block. "Winging really has opened the minds of surfers," said Armstrong. "In the past, windsurfing and kitesurfing never really grabbed surfers. They kind of hated it. But with winging, for some reason the surf world has gravitated towards it, they're enjoying it. They see it as a total alternative for when it's windy and that's really helped the explosive growth of winging.
"There are so many facets to winging - racing is just one part of it. What's great is there are so many locations you can do it, on any body of water whether it's on big waves on the ocean or on flat-water lakes. I mean, it has such a wide reach it's really exciting to wonder where this sport might be 10 years from now."
Saturday sees the men's and women's fleets reorganised into Gold and Silver fleets for finals racing, an opportunity for the riders to take the fight to the current men's and women's leaders - respectively Mathis Ghio and Nia Suardiaz.
Results Men
1. Mathis Ghio, FRA - 4.5 pts
2. Kamil Manowiecki, POL - 5.0 pt
3. Francesco Cappuzzo, ITA - 5.5 pts
Results women
1. Nia Suardiaz, ESP - 5 pt
2. Maddalena Spanu, ITA - 6 pts
3. Karolina Kluszczynska, POL - 12 pts
More information and results at wingfoilracing.com/2024europeans