Let's start a "Foil contests" threads with a bit of self-promotion :-)

Beryl Besseau won the first european surf foil contest in Hossegor, with a production Gong foil... which he made himself, since his job at the Gong factory is to build them :-)
www.gong-galaxy.com/magazine/news/event-beryl-wins-the-first-foil/
Disclaimer: I am a Gong ambassador.
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In the SUP foil division, Julien Bouyer (pro Windsurfer, Naish foil) took the first place

I expect we'll see a lot of foil contest now but I wonder how it will be judged. Definitely need a maximum wave count in a heat heat plus is the pump back out getting multiple rides going to add to your score . If one rider links 3 waves how do you score that ? It will be Chaos for the judges to score as all riders could be riding at once even on the same wave. These are just a few of my thoughts happy to hear other peoples opinions for scoring points.

One rider per wave unless it's a split peak and only if you take off away from each other you can cutback and go the other way and then share the wave.

No multi rides unless you relink in the shore break but get extra points if you do pump back to the original take off point.

Half point deduction for each touch down , scoring focused up on the foil , but no deduction for pushing the board down off the foam ball.

Length of ride and moving the board up and down the face.

Getting shacked and making it very high points.

Sweeping cutbacks and off the top turns , staying in the critical part of the wave .

Cross overs with other riders.

High speed riding & airs , straps are fine but you score more for airs if you do it unstrapped ( like kite surfing rules )

No minimum board size and any type of foil.

Please add or take away keen to read your thoughts.

I think foil contests will not be all that different to any contest. Here's my 2 cents.

Firstly, the criteria.
- Difficulty of manouvers
- Cleanness of execution (this would include touch downs, i.e. a cut back with stable altitude would score higher than a cutback with a touch down, but if one is lame and the other is amazing, it may still override but needs to be scored with the thoughts that a perfect awesome one may be on the way).
- Wave selection and intensity (are moves done on a more critical part of the wave, was the wave bigger, faster etc..)

Secondly, right of way.
- Standard surf rules apply, inside has right of way including on link ups. If a link up is performed and positions rider in an inside peak position, they have right of way. This could get interesting as some will choose to take the crappy first wave to get up on the foil, then kick out and pump back out, inside and further out to a better wave for an earlier takeoff then achievable paddling in, or it could totally back fire and just waste your energy.
- Safe zones. As foiling covers so much ground, a designated paddle out zone would be smart. incoming competitors must not cross this path.
- Definitely only one foiler per wave! even on a split peak. it is too easy to cross sections and change peaks. First one on the wave (foiling) gets the wave.

Competition area.
- This needs to be huge! It is totally possible for a foiler to cover 500m on one ride. This is going to make judging hard, as judges will likely be engaged with a ride whilst another is under way. Possibly a secondary flag system which lets competitors know judging is underway on a ride, and it is possibly best to wait until they are done before engaging on a glide. This will bring the wave count down, and make for effective judging. A head judge would raise this flag. A ride can be taken by the waiting competitor, but judges are prompted to give the initial rider preference/priority (expressed again by the head judge). If a rider is choosing to pump back out without the intention of linking a ride, they need to signal by patting their head. If they do not signal this and pump out taking the judges attention intentionally, their score for this glide will be identified with a mark and possibly not counted (decision by the head judge) in the final tally.
- As above, no go zones must be clear. Paddle out zones etc...
- A clearing mark to paddle around (ideally in line with the paddle out zone to clear the peak. Competitors must paddle out and around a mark before engaging with the line up.

Equipment.
- All gear must be self powered without any assistance other than wave/swell energy.
- Wings and masts must not be able to pierce a tomato (i.e. not sharp).
- Tuning/replacing/changing during the heat is ok as long as the competitor removes them self from the water (be on shore).
- Helmets and impact (or Neoprene minimum) must be worn by all competitors.
- All boards must be leashed

Heats,
- Timing is 20 minutes
- 2 Foilers at a time unless the break offers enough space at which point a 3rd of 4th may be introduced provided the paddle back out will space them out enough. Contest Directors call.

Definitely need to find an area to ensure there is no other water users in the water.

Ride safe,

JB

Piros and JB, you raise very important points. In this respect, the Hossegor contest was clearly more an amateur get-together / demo day / awareness raising rather than an attempt at serious judging, as I expect most contests in the early stage of a new sport when often judges do not even practice the sport themselves.

I have no context experience, but my only input would be that it seems a criteria could also be the "eficiency" the rider can get from a wave: i.e. the amount of speed and acceleration he is able to extract from the wave: getting a lot of speed to carve a high speed banked turn from a weak wave would be worth more than just dropping straight ahead on the biggest wave of the day: it could thus be a criterion specific to the art of foiling.
But it should not take into account mucle power (pumping), just tapping the energy of the wave, so it could be too tricky to implement in practice.

Interesting discussion, let's hear more!

Jeez JB first point, agree to criteria.

Second point - Standard surf rules apply, inside has right of way including on link ups. Don't agree If a link up is performed and positions rider in an inside peak position, they have right of way. Don't agree Definitely only one foiler per wave! even on a split peak. it is too easy to cross sections and change peaks. First one on the wave (foiling) gets the wave. Agree I like your idea of head judge maybe even 2 to look over judges to make sure they didn't miss anything....... Totally Agree

Competition Area
That's all way too hard , whats wrong with paddling back out through competitors and why not have 2 buoys & flags marking left and right zones to stay in , go outside that you are outside contest area for those manoeuvres. Not into the patting of the head thing.

Equipment.
- All gear must be self powered without any assistance other than wave/swell energy..... Agree
- Wings and masts must not be able to pierce a tomato (i.e. not sharp). ....Don't agree, don't stop design performance
- Tuning/replacing/changing during the heat is ok as long as the competitor removes them self from the water (be on shore)......Agree
- Helmets and impact (or Neoprene minimum) must be worn by all competitors....... Don't Agree at all it will look like a kook fest
- All boards must be leashed 100%

Re Heats:- 2 in the water at once not practical takes too long ....all good input though thanks mate.

Colas hear what you are saying on a lot of amateurs foiling in contest and if you wound the clock back 6 months , I'd totally agree but now that edge I had on other riders is way gone and the level now is just insane. Simply getting up and flying for a 100m here now wouldn't score a point in a contest , that's why I brought up this judging criterion because of the floxam of young foilers in Aus busting big moves and pushing us all. Exciting times and with every session just raising the bar.

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Piros said..
Colas hear what you are saying on a lot of amateurs foiling in contest and if you wound the clock back 6 months , I'd totally agree

Yes, "early stages" depends on the location. The southwest of France is late to the game, I guess both from - unlike OZ - a lack of competitive culture, and the local tribalism that plague the surf industry here (The video of the event manages to never show anybody who is not friend to the organizer, even if they won first place :-) ). It is no wonder that French foil pionneers are located elsewhere than the "surf Mecca" in France.

It's 12 months a year here Colas and that's why we see next years models many months before Europe or the USA does on many brands.

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Piros said..

- Helmets and impact (or Neoprene minimum) must be worn by all competitors....... Don't Agree at all it will look like a kook fest

Wow. Really? I am more safety conscious than most and have accepted my permanent kook status in kiting, being the last guy in the crew to still wear a helmet. The rest stopped in a large part so they can have photos of themselves looking cool like the pros in the magazines.

in surfing a few people die every year from hitting reef or their own board in big waves and drowning, but it's pretty rare -- helmets got slightly more popular for a little while there, but now generally are too kooky to consider. Foiling seems a little different, especially in the early stages, but also later (as seen in the horrifying Wipeout video a few weeks ago). When it goes bad, it is so much more out of control and dangerous than regular surfing or sup'ing. I am just starting to advance into controlled riding and have been thinking of removing the helmet -- but then in a moment of not paying enough attention I turned too sharp, over-compensated, jack-knifed, and smashed my helmet onto the foil. Hard enough that I am reasonably sure I would have cracked my head open and possibly unconscious (read: worst case, drowned and dead) without the helmet. I'd like to write it off as a freak accident, but at this point it seems more like 10% likely than 0.1% likely. So I'll keep the helmet for a while yet. Once fully competent ... dunno. Is it worth looking kooky to lessen risk of low probability / high cost outcome? Do I really care if people think I look kooky?

Helmet culture is interesting: it wasn't that long ago in skiiing and biking that helmets were a non-starter. Now people will give you s**t for being a loser and a***ole if you don't have one on. Yet you'd be seen as an idiot if you wore one at the skatepark.

But I digress, topic was contests: my vote would be "couldn't care less". Though I like the idea of an "expression session" where a bunch of skilled riders show what they can do. Would be fun to watch that. Most of all I am hopeful to get at least one other SUP or surf foiler locally to share some stoke and so I am no longer "the only foil in the village". ;-)

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JB said..
- Helmets and impact (or Neoprene minimum) must be worn by all competitors.

Even without hitting the foil or board, we fall so fast and often from so high that yes, I agree that some torso protection (neoprene or impact vest) should be enforced.

On the helmet, I am not so sure. I wore one (a Gath) for 4 sessions while learning, but for other water sports where you fall at high speed (windsurfing, wakeboarding, waterskiing) people are sensitive to the fact that a helmet could increase the risk of a neck injury by adding bulk to the head.
I often get a sore neck after a hard fall in foiling.

So I would say that an ear drum protection should be mandatory (wide ear plugs - I always wear mine - or helmet), but the helmets to use should be the very light and thin ones used for waterskiing and wakeboarding, not the heavier ones designed to survive a head crash on the reef while surfing.

One could even imagine a helmet with a specific shape and texture (a kind of "golf ball skin"?) to minimize the "slap" against the water surface and help penetration and reduce strain on the neck.