1st Windsurf Foil Arg Nats: Report & Results

Click images for Orig Size & Slideshow , more shots below report .

– The first ever Windsurf Foil Argentinean Nats were held past weekend at Barrio Náutico Adela, a promising project for sailors who like to sail flat waters and the country side as well. The project is been developed on a private Estancia or Finca (farm) located on a common scenery of the Argentine flat Pampas (about the most fertile land on Earth). Tobal Saubidet was our host and organized the event within his wind & kite school tobalkites.com.ar . Read on the Saubidet Family Squad on our previous post here.

The place is a real paradise for sailing, 200kms from Buenos Aires downtown and suburbs the place is your typical Argentine Estancia: herds of lambs grazing at the lake coast plus horses running free. The added ingredient for his usual ‘Gaucho’ landscape is that you have an actual sailing lake (lagoon) in front of the main house. There are plenty of water mirrors / basins in the area but not many Estancias have their own sailing facilities, thus making this one so special. 20kms to BA we have a public known lake & regatta club, Chascomus, where we already raced A-Cats and F18s too in the early days.

But this venue having rather private access makes the place an unique one. The event was held along the Moth fleet, both platforms seeking perfect flat waters, and although our massive Rio de la Plata offers great conditions year round, with many flat days, chop and waves are a constant too.

Wind in the area is granted average, being flat open land terrain country side there is nothing blocking when blowing from any direction (hundreds kms) .

Many participants arrived on Friday and got some perfect sunset rides in a moderated breeze.

I went to shoot photos and report mainly, as I’m still learning to Windfoil. Glad enough I decided to go. This past weekend we had some holidays so the road was gong to be filled. I woke up 5AM to bypass the masses and arrived around 8AM, wind blowing hard with stormy rains and gusts. Rather heavy conditions.

Luckily enough wind finally eased a bit and boards went out 2PM, around 15 to 20 knots gusts made tricky course for the inexperienced, but everyone managed to get around the course without much issues. In the second race one guy had a catapult and broke his mast, that was about the casualties for the day.

On the racing, the Saubidet young bros dominated at will, sailing side to side every race, Fran won 2 and Bauti 1. Followed by Julio Saubidet , Jose Diez and Raul Saubidet as their back guard.

The fleet went back to “shore” to eat some pasta and drink cold Heinekens provided by our host great host Tobal Saubidet. Meanwhile the Moths went out to race 4 consecutive races.

Around 5 pm boarders were sailing again, winds were dropping down with clearing skies. Two more races were scheduled, but only one completed in perfect conditions, which contrasted with the early harsh round.

The younger Saubidet, Fran, fled due to pending studies back in BA, leaving his eldeer bro Bauti to lead the fleet alone, same guard above followed with Julio standing out getting all seconds and showing his is the top guy of the rest of the fleet. Cause the kids are clearly in another International level as reported. Either way we are talking on +45 for Julito, Raul and other long time windsurfers now mastering the foiling mode.

The last race had a good start, but marginal conditions started to affect the rookies flights, thus it was decided to cancel the race to get back and rest for Sunday.

Now specialty drinks awaited on the Bar for the sailors, relaxed mood, great climate and a classical sunset scenery. The couple who runs the Estancia facilities started preparing the fire for the awaited Asado. First class meat and service once more along hilarious stories from the guys while racing abroad. Classy Argentine Asado Diner you need to experience once in a lifetime coupled with a tasty Arg Malbec.

After the asado fest I packed up camera stuff up and returned to BA as one of my kids was having his birthday next day.

For Sunday the guys reported a non stop racing day: 5 back to back courses completed, sharing alternat3 starts with the Moths. Bauti Saubidet won 3 and left early for the last two. Julio following in second place and winning remaining races to secure a second overall podium. Happy seeing him perform, he is putting much effort gathering the fleet, traveling to province events, setting up and trimming equipment for everyone and so one, your usual key guy that every Class needs.

Monday more racing was programmed but late winds forecast put an end to the event , as all take the advantage to return home before the masses got back to the road for the 3 day holidays ending.

Final Results. 19 Boards. :

-Pro Fleet:

1. Fran Saubidet
2. Julio Saubdet
3. José Diez

– Amateur Fleet

1. Lucas Gonzalez Smith (9th overall from 19)

Performance & Equipment

On performance, the gap was given by the kids skills having international youth windsurfing Pro level, a second group with long time Windsurfing background and foil hours, and a third starting out to fly. Important to note all were foiling no matter their level.

Starboard / Severne Fleet

Equipment were all Starboard foils mainly, top guys with the 1000mm wing and Severne Glide 2 sails. Basically what Gonza Costa Hoevel and Mateo Iachino have been racing lately. Boards a mix of PWA Starboards (91cm width) versions and a 200lts Ifoil, similar to the new Olympic package which is the IFoil 95, along 9mts Sail and a 900mm main wing for the foil. Coming weeks detailed info on the matter directly from Costa Hoevel with whom we are preparing a QA.

Other boards racing were legacy Formula and a couple of local made ones built specifically for foiling by our friend & shaper Matto Bonomi , excellent boards by the way, the owners were more than happy with it on the performance and cost.

Lone Ranger Exploder Foil / M8 Sail (by 1D)

My friend & F18/F20/GC32 sailor Lucas Gonzalez Smith, was the only one sailing the Exploder foil package with a 1000mm wing + 110mast. Lucas knew the work done by Jakub on the D3 Foiling A-Cat / F18 several World Titles so he trusted me on Jakub Windsurf foil development, done by the Polish yard along D3 Applied Techonologies.

Lucas was the less experienced in actual foiling hours along few Windsurfing racing background vs the rest of the guys say with a rather comfortable handling within the A & B fleets (Pro and Amateur). Either way he managed to survive the first races harsh conditions with downwinds handling in the gusts being the most hard part of the race for him,

Upwind the Exploder Foil and the new M8 9mts sail from Marton Balasz I lent to him worked really good, as his starts were not that perfect on the lack of hours, thus gaining ground once speeding up & airborne. Board he used is a standard 162lts Starboard, with a reinforced tuttle box.

Racing multibrand gives you plenty of alternatives to start entering Windsurf Foil regattas, legacy Formula boards, masts and sails are a great option also, initial investment is of course the Foil. You can get them from the super proven Starboard, Phantom (grabbed 2019 title) , now Exploder and many more.

Sails we also had a GA 8.8 Foiling sail (Gaastra) who looked super smooth, well it also won 2019 PWA title with Nicolas Goyard so its a proven weapon too (See PWA 2019 Title report here)

Windsurf Foil Dynamics

On the action, great fun watching & filming the Windfoilers in breeze. The lively unassisted dynamics, no wands or automatic trim a la Moth, were awesome (see Top mark roundings published on Monday).

I see a bright future for Windsurf Foil , the added impulse it will take now being confirmed as Olympic (Starboard IFoil package) its only more good news.

Renewing the interest for the long time sailors (we had a 65 yrs old sailor foiling super smooth) and the teenagers foiling alike it provides a perfect package, cost effective vs a foiling ACat or Moth and trip arrangements are also a plus. Also an excellent complement for us catsailors in terms of traveling, In end, myself and many catsailors come from Windsurfing backgrounds.

And as reported on my first ride out: www.catsailingnews.com/2019/09/windsurf-foil-easy-flights.html , it provides instant Flights for those who knows how to windsurf (medium level required to start ). Then racing Saubidet kids level its another matter…!

Bottom line: Having fun and pure excitement while Windsurf Foil is already present on your very first try.

As with any foiling sport, helmets, impact vest / buoyancy & protections are mandatory.

Give it a try, you wont regret it.