This season's Australian Championship (racing) is being hosted by RQYS at Manly, Brisbane between January 31st & February 2nd 2020 and is sponsored by Starboard Foils. This is the 3rd Australian Windfoil Championship and the first to be held in Queensland.

The official website includes online entry, access to the Notice of Race and some useful club information ;

www.revolutionise.com.au/rqys/events/50028/

We are hoping for a good turn out of foil aficionados, including some hotshot kiwi racers. The freefoil division is perfect for foilers new to racing and/or racers new to foiling.

See you there

Where the 2020 National will be held:

Select to expand quote

bushfire said..
This season's Australian Championship (racing) is being hosted by RQYS at Manly, Brisbane between January 31st & February 2nd 2020 and is sponsored by Starboard Foils. This is the 3rd Australian Windfoil Championship and the first to be held in Queensland.

The official website includes online entry, access to the Notice of Race and some useful club information ;

www.revolutionise.com.au/rqys/events/50028/

We are hoping for a good turn out of foil aficionados, including some hotshot kiwi racers. The freefoil division is perfect for foilers new to racing and/or racers new to foiling.

See you there

Hope this isn't too terribly off-topic but - what are the parameters (sail size, course, etc) of the freefoil division? I didn't catch anything in the NOR. We are trying to encourage foilers locally to race and were looking for ideas.

Hi Paducah,
The freefoil division has the same equipment "restrictions" as the open division;

ATTACHMENT 3
EQUIPMENT RULES
Competitors are free to use any board with the only restriction being that a board shall not exceed a "beam" width of 1005mm.
All types of board are permitted -production boards and custom/prototype boards.
There is no restriction on the dimensions of the foil; only one foil set may be registered and used during the event.
One foil set is defined as: -1 mast -2 fuselages -2 pair of wings (2 front and 2 back)
Three(3)different sized sails can be registered and used during the event.
A sail may not exceed 10.0 sqm in area.

The freefoil division sail a "shortened" course - generally this means one lap of the course compared to 2 laps for the open division, but actual course details for the divisions are set by the RO on the day and explained at the briefing.

Select to expand quote

bushfire said..
Hi Paducah,
The freefoil division has the same equipment "restrictions" as the open division;

Many thanks. Best wishes for a successful Championship.

Are helmets compulsory?

Yep, interesting to know if they mandate the EN 1385 standard though?

Select to expand quote

bushfire said..
Hi Paducah,
The freefoil division has the same equipment "restrictions" as the open division;

ATTACHMENT 3
EQUIPMENT RULES
Competitors are free to use any board with the only restriction being that a board shall not exceed a "beam" width of 1005mm.
All types of board are permitted -production boards and custom/prototype boards.
There is no restriction on the dimensions of the foil; only one foil set may be registered and used during the event.
One foil set is defined as: -1 mast -2 fuselages -2 pair of wings (2 front and 2 back)
Three(3)different sized sails can be registered and used during the event.
A sail may not exceed 10.0 sqm in area.

The freefoil division sail a "shortened" course - generally this means one lap of the course compared to 2 laps for the open division, but actual course details for the divisions are set by the RO on the day and explained at the briefing.

Nice for us newbies to maybe have a go

Wouldn't it make more sense to limit sail size to say 8.0 and maybe only alloy(mast) foils in freefoil division . then a lot of those foilers might feel they have a chance

I have entered, should be fun

Select to expand quote

bc said..
Wouldn't it make more sense to limit sail size to say 8.0 and maybe only alloy(mast) foils in freefoil division . then a lot of those foilers might feel they have a chance

I believe there are purposely no real limits so no one is excluded no matter what gear. Going by previous events most people in the freefoil division typically didn't use sails large sails anyway, but I think it's important not to exclude someone that might have smaller old formula sails that wants to enter their first event? It also makes sense for someone who wants to get into racing to buy say a second hand carbon foil, but they may feel like the open division is a bit much straight up, should they be excluded from freefoil?

Ultimately the field spread will be huge even in the open division so I think it's up to the individual to pick the division that suits their skill level the best, regardless of gear. Just my thoughts.

Good to see the entries already starting, and a few internationals as well. :)))))

What's after gandmasters? I've heard Brendan is going to change categories after the 26th of this month.

You're lucky there's no red thumbs anymore Savina.

Select to expand quote

bc said..
Wouldn't it make more sense to limit sail size to say 8.0 and maybe only alloy(mast) foils in freefoil division . then a lot of those foilers might feel they have a chance

Exactly, why would I enter with my Slingshot Infinity when I would be up against someone who has a full race setup and wants to do one lap ? My personal opinion is free foil should only be open to non race foils. Just something to think about for future events. Good luck to everyone ??

It is the National Windfoil Championships and it's intended to be for competitive racing. Most of the top are former Formula, Raceboard or RXS top riders. The 'Freefoil' division is for those wanting to try competitive racing but may not have the experience yet for the main fleet. The term 'Freefoil' may be a fairly loose term but it has been used for the last two nationals to mean the second level of rider and to be all inclusive of foils and board. Recently 'Freefoil' has come to mean a more fun style of foiling and I think BC is right that eventually it could become a separate division. However, for this event 'Freefoil' is open to all those with top race foils or other and are keen to race but aren't yet ready for level 1. The two levels with one and two laps really help the start boat rack up the amount of races in each session as the top people aren't waiting too long for the others to finish. Hope this clears this up a bit and we hope to see you guys there.

Select to expand quote

Tinlyds said..

Exactly, why would I enter with my Slingshot Infinity when I would be up against someone who has a full race setup and wants to do one lap ? My personal opinion is free foil should only be open to non race foils. Just something to think about for future events. Good luck to everyone ??

Because you just want to have fun? You never know you might surprise yourself....but you'll never know if you never have a go. The problem is when you limit stuff it's a game of where do you limit it, what is allowable and that's a huge grey area that becomes a nightmare to enforce.

If someone really wants to sandbag the freefoil division and enter it on a full race kit and are well capable of sailing in the open fleet there is nothing really stopping them but everyone always knows what's up and it's not really in the spirit of that division.

Ultimately if you are interesting in racing you're probably going to get a full race foil setup and see where you stack up, yeah, nah?

Maybe in the future if we get really big numbers there might be a case for having divisions, you could have say a 'sligshot division' as they seem to be the most popular freefoil but with the current numbers that's not really a reality.

Registration done, I'm on the list

Select to expand quote

berowne said..

These signs have been up and down ever since I moved to Brissie 3 years ago. Never seen it and never had an issue.

RichardG from WA is late entry , he is bringing his LT

12 entries on there all ready. Pity it's not Kung Fu or something where being a Grand Master was actually respected.

Select to expand quote

AUS 814 said..
RichardG from WA is late entry , he is bringing his LT

Ha. LT is relatively too slow for this fleet. Good luck AUS 814.

12 entries amazing size fleet, I only counted 11 just now. Hope you can get many more. AUS 814 you should be entering ?

Sad this fleet size is still so small. Why is that ? Has AUS 814 entered ?

Select to expand quote

RichardG said..
Sad this fleet size is still so small. Why is that ? Has AUS 814 entered ?

Careful what you wish for Richard, lets be fair and give it another 2 years or so before you compare against the LT, given that I am in NSW and the event is in QLD plus I am working my chances of attending are zero. Hope that helps you in whatever way ?... Glad to know that you are thinking of me though

Select to expand quote

AUS 814 said..
Careful what you wish for Richard, lets be fair and give it another 2 years or so before you compare against the LT, given that I am in NSW and the event is in QLD plus I am working my chances of attending are zero. Hope that helps you in whatever way ?... Glad to know that you are thinking of me though

RichardG said..
Sad this fleet size is still so small. Why is that ? Has AUS 814 entered ?

Careful what you wish for Richard, lets be fair and give it another 2 years or so before you compare against the LT, given that I am in NSW and the event is in QLD plus I am working my chances of attending are zero. Hope that helps you in whatever way ?... Glad to know that you are thinking of me though

I hope you get many more entries. Sorry to hear you aren't attending. On fairness, this is the third or second nationals for the foils, as to which am I right ? I did not mention the LT but since you did I think the LT is on to the second nationals this year.

Promo Video for Downunder Pro

Select to expand quote

Mitch Pearson said..
Promo Video for Downunder Pro

Thanks! I live far away where it's been very cold and rainy and just watching that has boosted my spirits. Wishing best of luck for the event.

It's going to be competitive....