BA Foiling Regatta Nov 2018

Two weekends ago we had a foiling regatta here in BA. Several Windsurf foilers, 4 Nacra F20s FCS , 2 FPs a couple of As and Kite foils. Course was set as a long distance from San Isidro to a buoy in front of Buenos Aires City. Winds were gusty from the South around 12-14 knots.

WindSurf foilers all had Starboard foils fitted in several Formula boards and majority of Severne sails. Basically are all using what first Windsurf Foil World Champ uses, Argie Gonzalo Costa Hoevel is a San Isidro waters all his friends buy from him.

The Nacra F20s all with factory standard mainsails and one of the FP with a brand new 1D DS. Best A-Cat was Brewin’s 2017 WC boat Exploder D3/Brewin boomless mainsail.

I couldn’t attend on family mattes but talked with friends racing.
First leg was upwind and windsurf foilers had an edge along the D3. But lulls here and there later let the F20 & F20   a better transition in floating mode.

With a quite open course, not many chances for 1 to 1 comparison but the word is the FP with DS had an advantage upwind over the F20s with standard ones. On speed and navigation the FP DS led after windward mark with a good gap, but having to cover either side of the wide open course he was later caught by the leading Nacra F20.
Nacra has launched their factory DS mainsail for the F20 past week, and surely many will upgrade.
The DS is a must these days if you pretend to perform and optimize.

Blue ribbon was for Bautista Saubidet, Windsurf Foil, the kid is a former Youth Olympic Gold Medalist  and local promise. Lucas Gonzalez Smith won on the Cats division on a Nacra F20 followed by Sergio Armesto (FP Standard main) and Ian Rodger (FP/ 1D DS),

Sergio Mehl on the D3 had great performance upwind, he even states he could match windsurf foilers, but downwind the F20s & FPs always have an edge over the As, more on a incosistent wind conditions where the A suffers on floating mode downwind.

Kite foilers were the fastest but as when they encountered lulls it is always game over for them, same if we had a Moth racing. Thus the great versatility of the F20/FPS/As and even windsurf foilers. Kites & Moth are 100% foiling machines with a small range , and zero performance in super light wind zones which the other machines can endure in a much better way.

Lets see coming races, if we have better  or more stable wind conditions. Upwind performance match between Windsurf foilers, As and F20/FPs are quite interesting to follow.
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