One Design Wing Foil Class - Does it make sense

History in the SUP Sport

We had a one design SUP Race Class years ago. Remember the Naish N1SCO, the Once Design Class launched in 2013 as a European Championships? Not many people do, because it did not go very far. (Click the link) In the very same year BIC tried the same. Read here. Both attempts to establish a One Design Class in the SUP Sport failed. The idea was to make the sport more accessible through a board class that is for everybody the same. In case of Naish the boards were inflatable and in BICs case people were racing on a 12’6″ ACE-TEC board.

Both initiatives did not last longer than 2 years and the world of SUP racing moved on. Already back then we all harbored the Olympic hope thinking that one day we be all racing on identical boards at the Olympics. Now 11 years later we are still hoping for the Olympics and have at least 8 more years time to think about the boards being used at a possible Olympic race.

Is Wing Foiling different?

Starboard and FreeWing just released their One Design Class X-15 and show cased it to a broader audience at the boot show in Düsseldorf. The idea is similar to the one one in SUP: Make competition more fair, bring more people to the sport and slow down the “arms race” in the sport.

The re-invention of foiling had definitely something todo with SUP, but with Wing Foiling we are now looking at a sailing sport. In sailing all Olympic Divisions are held on a One Design Class. With this thought in mind, Starboard went out and came up with just that: A full Wing Foil Set Up that caters towards different age groups and weight classes.

In this video we want to talk a bit about the broader picture of a Wing Foil One Design Class and respond to some comments that we received in our initial video.

Comments such as:

They dont want a “fair racing” experience. They want market monopoly and its gross… you cant say you came up with a “usual racing class”. Its literally just your set of gear, there is nothing special about it. Its like saying f one made the formula class which is just strikes and eagles…

please don’t do it. one design is just an attempt for a manufacturer to control a segment of the market. In the end it stifles innovation and makes the mass image of the sport less exciting. Imagine car racing with only Toyota Camarys. Just look back at Olympic windsurfing and what one design did to a fast growing exciting sport turning it into a canoe pumping challenge.

Do they have a point? Lets find out.