Insights into the young pump foil scene
The pump foil scene is growing rapidly – and Swiss athlete and doctor Sarah Spalinger, who recently won the Surf Foil Tour event at Lake Traunsee in Austria, is right in the middle of it. In this interview, she talks about her experiences at the race, the importance of a perfect start and focus, her foil setup from Indiana, the dynamics in the still small but passionate community and her personal goals. Between adrenaline, technology and pioneering spirit, Sarah provides exciting insights into a sport that is only just beginning to develop its full potential.
Aloha Sarah, you’ve been at the forefront of pump foiling for several years. The last time we saw each other was at the boot in Düsseldorf at the SFT (Surf Foil Tour) indoor foil race. Now there was another race, this time in Austria on Lake Traunsee. Congratulations on your victory. Can you tell us something about the event? Introduce us to the pump foil scene.
Thank you very much Mike! I’d love to – it’s incredibly exciting to be at the forefront of such a young and innovative sport. On the first day there were time trials for ranking and seeding, and then the first elimination races took place later in the afternoon, where we each sailed several laps around buoys.
In the late morning/early afternoon, the wind came up and wingfoil races took place at the same time. I enjoyed this time to do some wingfoiling myself. On the second day we also had to get up early and the women had a total of 7 races with different race courses.
To top it all off, there were half an hour wakefoil sessions in the evening. This was a dream for me, I love waves and was on the wave the whole time with Rob, the talented Indiana Ambassador. The boat went back and forth so that we could pump from the dock start into the wave – and had to avoid the falling foilers :).
Can you tell us something about your runs? What does it take to be one of the winners – apart from not falling into the water, of course?
So far, the SFT races have only featured speed competitions. This will certainly change in the future – freestyle competitions are already standard in Switzerland, which opens up a whole new and more realistic dimension of the sport.
The start is particularly important in speed races. If you mess it up, you don’t get a second chance. I knew that if I managed the start, I would win the race 90% of the time, as my setup is fast compared to the other women and I can accelerate well.
Nervousness is counterproductive both at the start and when riding – you need a cool head to carry out the movements powerfully, carefully and yet quickly. Fortunately, I was mostly successful, even though I am always very nervous. Once I looked at my competitor and unfortunately fell into the water just before the finish – that was a good lesson in focus.
As I had the fastest time in the timetrials, I was allowed to choose the starting position, which is a small advantage. And if you accelerate quickly and are first, you don’t have to ride in the turbulence that can arise behind the foils and lead to crashes. It’s another thing with the buoys: it takes skill to take a tight turn so that you don’t fall out of it, but it helps a lot to make up time.
Equipment is certainly also very important. Can you tell us something about your equipment and how it helped you to win?
It’s actually quite simple: the smaller the front wing, the faster, but the more difficult it is to launch. The pro men ride incredibly small front wings, but are also correspondingly light in weight
My front wing from Indiana is a good compromise: Condor S – relatively easy to launch, but super maneuverable in waves and turns (together with the new Condor S stabilizer, which I really like) – and relatively fast. The mast (75 cm drive) is pleasantly stiff. My board (Steeve Fleury Signature Board) has a lot of volume, not ideal for a race, but I use it on Lake Zurich when I’m foiling long distances and have to swim far back in case of doubt.
As with all grassroots events, the competition is certainly still very small, but strong. What is the composition of the field?
Exactly. You generally see two types of women in particular: Water women who are already successfully wingfoiling and practicing professional water sports. And then there are polysportive women like me, who have discovered pump foiling as a sport so that they can also surf in landlocked countries. This also explains why many good pumpfoilers come from European countries without access to the sea, such as Switzerland
The SFT was founded this year and has a good online presence. What is the situation on the ground and can you say anything about the future based on what the organizers are doing? Where is the journey going, or rather where should it go?
The last SFT event of this year took place at the beautiful Traunsee in Austria – a beautiful location with a lake surrounded by small mountain ranges. Like all events, this one was very cool and, in my opinion, the best organized. Extra launch docks were built for us so that four people could launch at the same time
In Sicily, for example, there was a floating dock that we built and fixed ourselves. I even dragged pallets, that was fun. The competition scene in this sport is still young and you can really see the development. Both the participants and the organizers are now like one big family – there are so many nice, exciting and cool people involved.
Let’s talk about travel: Sponsors are very important in sports and you’ve been with Indiana for a long time. Can you talk about your relationship with Indiana and their dedication to the sport?
Maurus Strobel, the CEO of Indiana, believed in me from the very beginning. I am extremely grateful for that. I believe that anything is possible if you believe in it. The cool thing about Indiana is that it’s a Swiss brand that I have close contact with. This allows me to give direct input for the development of foils and boards
Small spoiler: Something exciting is planned here. The brand has been involved in pump foiling from the very beginning and has already developed the foils incredibly. I can’t wait to see what else is in store.
How are you doing – what are your next goals in sport?
I got involved in these competitions by chance: Indiana signed me up for the competition in Düsseldorf and I only knew about it two weeks beforehand. My main goal is still to enjoy the sport and to develop personally.
I would also like to practice more cool tricks and be able to launch smaller foils with different launch techniques. If time allows – I work full-time as a doctor and have a passion for ski touring and bikepacking – I’m also looking forward to trying out wingfoiling, parawing and downwinching. I think that’s the ultimate feeling of freedom and adrenaline.
Thank you Sarah for your time – that was very interesting.
Indiana Condor Front Foil
With a wingspan of 1100 mm and a surface area of 1362 cm², the Condor S can be dock launched from any situation and delivers the perfect combination of safe lift and playful agility.