Windfoil one class:

https://www.windfoilone.com/wf1

The vision of Windfoil1 ("WF1") was to create an international windfoil racing class supported by and grown by the industry for the sailors. The primary purpose for the class is for it to be the Olympic discipline for 2024, but it is not the only purpose and the class will continue either way. The overarching goal is to simplify and unite. ?Underpinning the concept are basic guiding principles around price, universality, performance, industry backing and simplicity where possible. As such the class is proposed as a combination of one-design components and registered series production components.

In developing the WF1 rules, parameters and vision we have worked extensively with our founding industry partners. We are also grateful for the support from the Formula Foil Windsurfing Class, as well as the guidance from both RS:X sailors and sailors in the PWA. The WF1 "brain trust" includes Olympic Medalists Aaron McIntosh, Dorian van Rijsselberghe, and Nick Dempsey as well as America's Cup legend Glenn Ashby, who have all provided drive and guidance.

New things can be confusing, so we've tried to make it easy for you. Here's a quick summary of the the WF1 basics:??WF1 is a "Registered Series Production" Class for most main components, except for the Board which is one-designwith multiple licensed builders.
Registered Series Production essentially just means you can buy it off the shelf at a shop.The package is designed to be able to evolve to allow it to remain suitable for 2028, 2032 and beyond.Competitors are allowed to register 1x Board, 2x Sails, 1x Mast, 1x Boom, and 1x Foil so long as those components comply with Class Rules.

Sail sizes are 9.5 and 8.5 for Men, 8.5 and 7.5 for Women and Youth.We have developed revolutionary and dynamic racing formats and courses to bring the sport into the future.Our founding industry partners are Starboard, Severne, Phantom International, and Neilpryde*but there are dozens of brands with eligible class legal equipment already on the market.
*Neilpryde however supports RS:X for 2024

We believe the saying goes, behind every great elephant there lies a great engineer - or something like that. Well we have a team of great engineers. But we call them the braintrust, the dream-team, or simply just... The Team.
Whichever of those you prefer, that team includes:
?Antonio Cozzolino (NZL) - Chairperson, current RS:X and PWA sailor.
Dorian van Rijsselberghe (NED) - Olympic Gold Medalist 2012 and 2016.
Nick Dempsey (GBR) - Olympic Bronze Medalist 2004, Silver Medalist 2012 and 2016.
Aaron McIntosh (NZL) - Olympic Bronze Medalist 2000.
Glenn Ashby (AUS) - America's Cup Winner 2017, multiple World Champion and Olympic Silver Medalist.
Elliot Carney (GBR) - GBR RS:X Representative.

The main events where the equipment was tested / eligible to race and the countries represented in those events in 2019 were:New Zealand Windfoil Racing Series 2018/2019, consisting of 4 full length regattas;Medemblik Regatta 2019 Texel Waves Invitation GP 2019Formula Foil World Championships and the IFCA Foil World Championships 2019 (with the exception of the board which at the time was not yet registered).

With the exception of the Formula Foil World Championships where only Course Racing was used, and the IFCA Foil World Championship which are yet to take place, the other 6 regattas used all of the sub-formats outlined in the format section above.

The main events where the equipment will be eligible to race in 2020 are:?
Formula Foil World Championships 2020;
Formula Foil European Championships 2020;
New Zealand Windfoil Racing Series 2019/2020;
Medemblik Regatta 2020;
Texel Waves Festival 2020;
Australian Nationals 2020.


In selecting Olympic equipment in line with this tender, it important that a comparable foiling youth class is chosen as well. Excellent foiling/convertible equipment suitable for youth sailing is already available on the market. ?

The parameters for this equipment should be, broadly speaking: a similar board to the Olympic equipment but in more durable construction. The sail for boys and girls should be the 8.5 and 7.5 m2 with the accompanying mast from the Olympic package or alternatively one of the rigs from the Techno, meaning that children would only have to purchase a hull when moving from Techno to foiling. The boom and foil mast should be made from aluminium; and above all it should be very affordable. ??

Some brands currently produce equipment to these specifications and it is available through their worldwide distribution networks. The equipment is lower spec' than the proposed high performance Olympic equipment, meaning with will be safe for children to learn to race on, more affordable and more durable. The speeds will be lower, limited by slower foil designs and made from aluminium construction. To continue the metaphor from above, the youth class should be seen as comparable to the 29er, or 420.

Good to see a bit of continuity in the class, it's all over the place at the moment with pwa and formula foil etc. Interesting they are aiming at 95cm wide board and 8.5, 9.5 sails...95cm yeah ok but min 8.5 scares me as a little dude. I guess the range and tunability will just keep getting better, the 2nd gen severnes have a way better wind range than the gen1, particularly top end.

Interesting times and looks like a well organised team, good stuff

Sounds like it will cost a fortune if you have to buy every foil, board and sail on the market to work out which is the fastest...still Olympic sailing is always expensive but this will be more so ? They seem to suggest that the board will transition to one design but the other components not sure. I guess it will be exciting but will it mean clubs race these boards weekly all around Australia ? Will PWA sailors be banned from competition to lower competitive ball park costs & reduce the arms race ?

Clubs are already racing very similar gear. That's what's so good about it.

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RichardG said..
Sounds like it will cost a fortune if you have to buy every foil, board and sail on the market to work out which is the fastest...still Olympic sailing is always expensive but this will be more so ? They seem to suggest that the board will transition to one design but the other components not sure. I guess it will be exciting but will it mean clubs race these boards weekly all around Australia ? Will PWA sailors be banned from competition to lower competitive ball park costs & reduce the arms race ?

Why would you want to ban PWA sailors??

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AUS 814 said..

RichardG said..
Sounds like it will cost a fortune if you have to buy every foil, board and sail on the market to work out which is the fastest...still Olympic sailing is always expensive but this will be more so ? They seem to suggest that the board will transition to one design but the other components not sure. I guess it will be exciting but will it mean clubs race these boards weekly all around Australia ? Will PWA sailors be banned from competition to lower competitive ball park costs & reduce the arms race ?

Why would you want to ban PWA sailors??

Since it is not really one design, yet, it may be the case that PWA sailors will have an unfair advantage due to their equipment sponsorship. I don't know enough about the rules to understand the proposal. I personally don't care but those sailors pursuing the Olympic dream might actually face a disadvantage when compared to the PWA foiling sailor with his or her free issue gear. It might be a real problem for those wanting to pursue Olympic representation in Australia for example, where the hurdles are already significant; the fact in Rio there was no RSX representatives from Australia, illustrates that. Infact there are no RSX representatives in the Australian sailing team right now when I last looked.

Yeah don't see how that would work or why you would want to, they are the benchmark in performance and essentially drive all the development...for the major brands anyway.

It's going to be an arms race until the gear stabilises a bit as it's all so new, the development gains are already getting smaller. The only downside of going full one design is that it removes your ability to tweak your gear to suit your weight, particularly on the foil and sail side. IE a light person dragging a big wing through the water made to suit the 'average rider' is never going to be competitive once it's >12kts. Currently us lighter peeps can get away with less wing and this matches with the less power we can hold in the rig surprisingly well, giving overall pretty even performance if you tune it up right.

If they stick with aluminum masts, the fears of an arms race are a bit overstated, imho. An example is the first gen Starboard GT where the aluminum masted version was about 30% cheaper than the carbon with all else (fuse, wings, stab) being the same. A 100cm solid carbon shape done well is not cheap simply from a materials basis.

Things nobody asked me about so my opinion doesn't matter but for the sake of internet conversation:
If the sail sizes are simply a max, that's fine but if 9.5 is the only sail, the foil class will replace the Finn as the province of heavy weights. That's enormous in any blow. As a 75 kg guy - it's frightening in more that 13-14 knots.

I don't think they need to "white board" the board - I don't think boards make that big of a difference since in a foil race, 95% of the time, all it does is connect the various bits.

One thing we have learned from the PWA is that while certain brands keep rising to the top, different gear is capable of winning. Skill and rider weight for the conditions seem to be the deciding factors at the pointy end seeing how sailors like Thomas Goyard, Kieran Badloe, Gonzalo CH and AA do in different conditions. Looking at both the men and women, we see Loke, Phantom, Starboard and F4 foils all on the podium (and I'm probably leaving someone out). Just when a bunch of people pile onto a Starboard Foil, T. Goyard goes whizzing by on his Phantom.

There are more proposals...

"Formula Foil" which is a joint proposal from the Formula Windsurfing class + IFCA.
It is for:

1 board, 2 sails (max 100cm wide boards)
1 mast, 2 fuselage, 2 front wings and 2 back wings
"Production equipment" but open to all manufacturers (so this includes 91cm and 100cm boards).

Then I think there is the "iFoil" proposal from Starboard, which I haven't seen but I heard they were going to present something themselves (I guess a one-design setup of their current gear?).

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Paducah said..
If they stick with aluminum masts, the fears of an arms race are a bit overstated, imho. An example is the first gen Starboard GT where the aluminum masted version was about 30% cheaper than the carbon with all else (fuse, wings, stab) being the same. A 100cm solid carbon shape done well is not cheap simply from a materials basis.

Things nobody asked me about so my opinion doesn't matter but for the sake of internet conversation:
If the sail sizes are simply a max, that's fine but if 9.5 is the only sail, the foil class will replace the Finn as the province of heavy weights. That's enormous in any blow. As a 75 kg guy - it's frightening in more that 13-14 knots.

I don't think they need to "white board" the board - I don't think boards make that big of a difference since in a foil race, 95% of the time, all it does is connect the various bits.

One thing we have learned from the PWA is that while certain brands keep rising to the top, different gear is capable of winning. Skill and rider weight for the conditions seem to be the deciding factors at the pointy end seeing how sailors like Thomas Goyard, Kieran Badloe, Gonzalo CH and AA do in different conditions. Looking at both the men and women, we see Loke, Phantom, Starboard and F4 foils all on the podium (and I'm probably leaving someone out). Just when a bunch of people pile onto a Starboard Foil, T. Goyard goes whizzing by on his Phantom.

Sorry, just reread the web site. Men allowed both 9.5 and 8.5. Should be fine unless conditions are like Costa Brava That's probably a happy medium though for most cases at the elite level. Only one wing though on the foil - that seems a bit limiting when that's one of the cheaper pieces of kit overall.

I see that Phantom has joined the list of sponsoring manufacturers along with the usual suspects although Pryde has an asterisk that they are supporting the RX:X for '24

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Paducah said..

Paducah said..
If they stick with aluminum masts, the fears of an arms race are a bit overstated, imho. An example is the first gen Starboard GT where the aluminum masted version was about 30% cheaper than the carbon with all else (fuse, wings, stab) being the same. A 100cm solid carbon shape done well is not cheap simply from a materials basis.

Things nobody asked me about so my opinion doesn't matter but for the sake of internet conversation:
If the sail sizes are simply a max, that's fine but if 9.5 is the only sail, the foil class will replace the Finn as the province of heavy weights. That's enormous in any blow. As a 75 kg guy - it's frightening in more that 13-14 knots.

I don't think they need to "white board" the board - I don't think boards make that big of a difference since in a foil race, 95% of the time, all it does is connect the various bits.

One thing we have learned from the PWA is that while certain brands keep rising to the top, different gear is capable of winning. Skill and rider weight for the conditions seem to be the deciding factors at the pointy end seeing how sailors like Thomas Goyard, Kieran Badloe, Gonzalo CH and AA do in different conditions. Looking at both the men and women, we see Loke, Phantom, Starboard and F4 foils all on the podium (and I'm probably leaving someone out). Just when a bunch of people pile onto a Starboard Foil, T. Goyard goes whizzing by on his Phantom.

Sorry, just reread the web site. Men allowed both 9.5 and 8.5. Should be fine unless conditions are like Costa Brava That's probably a happy medium though for most cases at the elite level. Only one wing though on the foil - that seems a bit limiting when that's one of the cheaper pieces of kit overall.

I see that Phantom has joined the list of sponsoring manufacturers along with the usual suspects although Pryde has an asterisk that they are supporting the RX:X for '24

^^ Still faster than a Windsurfer LT...amirite

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CJW said..
^^ Still faster than a Windsurfer LT...amirite

I thought this was the appropriate forum Amirite

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windsufering said..

CJW said..
^^ Still faster than a Windsurfer LT...amirite

I thought this was the appropriate forum Amirite

YOU DIDN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION!

source: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/The-new-Windsurfer-LT-Reviewed-in-detail?page=18

windsufering, in this corner of the world, we have a sense of humor. Stick around. You might get used to it.

Nah mate I'm not like you slinging **** around on a forum I know nothing about !

Windsurfer Lt only needs one rig !

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windsufering said..
Nah mate I'm not like you slinging **** around on a forum I know nothing about !

Windsurfer Lt only needs one rig !

I never thought I'd see the day when XYZ wasn't most *whatever* thing around here. Oh well. Thanks for contributing your insights into the merits of the Windfoil One. Much appreciated. And, thanks for your continued interest in my posts - I get a kick out of that pic you posted above every time I see it. Oh, and you still haven't answered CJW's question - amirite?

Now back to our regular programming...

Is there room underneath for lower performance fleet maybe

smaller sails (maybe depend on weight)
two foils for different conditions (maybe lower tech Ali mast and non carbon foils) instead of bigger sails in light air maybe bigger foil fro early flight slower speed
production boards within size parameters

Just a thought

One thing on the sail size - it says a maximum of 9.5 and maximum of 8.5. That means as a smaller male you could register and 9.0 and 7.0, for example, if you wanted. You are just restricted by the one mast rule, so having a 9.5 and 6.5 might not be so easy.

From the website;

Sail - the sail sizes are:
one sail no bigger than 9.5 m2 and another no bigger than 8.5 m2 for men;??
one sail no bigger than 8.5 m2 and another no bigger than 7.5 m2 for women;?
one sail no bigger than 8.5m2 and another no bigger than 7.5 m2 for youth.

Yeah that's a transitional rule though until 2021. Once they come up with the proper class rule I suspect it will be a far more controlled 'one design' scenario. Maybe any manufacturer will be able to produce one though?

As long as the rigs have good adjustability it should be ok, the second gen foil sails are much better in that regard and should only improve.