Wing Foil World Tour (GWA) Episode #8 - Recap of the Wave World Cup in Ibiraquera Brazil

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. Today we have the 8th episode of the Wing Foil World Tour Show with Tom Hartman.

[00:00:07] We recap their last wave spot in Brazil. We want to give a big congratulations to Cash and Elena for their big wins.

[00:00:16] Enjoy this sweet victory and the world titles. It's a great episode so I really do hope that you enjoy it.

[00:00:22] Now, we had some requests so we added some video footage of the event on the YouTube version of this episode.

[00:00:30] So make sure to hop over to our YouTube channel to watch it and make sure to subscribe.

[00:00:35] Last week we had Chris Musler from the We Are Foiling organization on the show.

[00:00:40] He was on to present the Foiling Week in Pensacola, Florida in February of this year.

[00:00:45] So make sure to give that episode a listen as well as that festival sounds pretty sweet and we can't wait to cover it.

[00:00:52] Now, I want to take this opportunity to thank our team for making this show a reality.

[00:00:57] We have Frank that helps out with media and consulting, Matthias on guest relations and Stefan on audio mastering.

[00:01:03] A big thank you guys as a lot of work goes into each and every episode.

[00:01:08] Next, I'd like to say a big thank you to our sponsors.

[00:01:12] Hop over to winglifepodcast.com to check out who is supporting us and making this show possible.

[00:01:19] We're going to give a shout out to Nor Foils.

[00:01:23] Thanks guys over there on the team.

[00:01:25] You guys have been incredibly supportive and thank you very much for keeping the lights on.

[00:01:30] And not much more I can say there.

[00:01:32] Thank you very much.

[00:01:33] So lastly, winter is coming and if you haven't decided where to go yet, come visit me in Laventana.

[00:01:39] I'm offering some lessons out here.

[00:01:41] I'd love to get some riding with you as well.

[00:01:44] I'm doing these five to six K downwinders as you may have seen on Instagram from the Latuna Beach area down to where Wyatt Miller's resort is.

[00:01:54] So come on down.

[00:01:55] Let's get some riding in.

[00:01:56] If you want to book lessons, send us an email at info at winglifepodcast.com and we'll get them scheduled.

[00:02:02] Now, I hope you enjoy this amazing show with Tom at the GWA.

[00:02:13] Welcome to the Wing Life Podcast, where we talk about wing foiling and the lifestyles of those who enjoy this great sport.

[00:02:21] I mean, I'm here in a small village called Maceo.

[00:02:23] It's actually a fun spot for winging with some waves too.

[00:02:27] I was out yesterday before sunset because we just arrived.

[00:02:31] But there is no phone signal in this village, nothing.

[00:02:34] So I'm only depending on the wife.

[00:02:37] I know they get no 4G, nothing here.

[00:02:39] So I'm only depending on the Wi-Fi of the house, but I think it's pretty decent.

[00:02:44] Yeah, you're looking, you're better than, actually, it's better than Mauritius so far.

[00:02:50] Yeah, I think so.

[00:02:51] Because my internet, I'm always where I need to work on the mobile data in Mauritius and it's not the best in my office there.

[00:02:59] But why are you guys there?

[00:03:01] Just kind of like a stepping stool up until you get to Jerry?

[00:03:07] Yeah, because I wanted to use this week now where I don't have an event this week to see a couple of new places that I haven't been yet.

[00:03:15] For potential also to ride it and also to see for potential events.

[00:03:18] So I'm now in Maceo, which is like a little bit further actually than Jerry.

[00:03:22] So I came from Fortaleza, Cauipe, past Jerry, and I'm like an hour and a half after Jerry further north.

[00:03:27] And tomorrow I'll go to Baja Grande, which is another two hours to the north.

[00:03:32] A couple of locations that are known, you know, people do wind sports there, but we might be looking at potential event locations for next year, you know, to get to some new spots.

[00:03:44] Now, just, do you have a driver to bring you around? Are you just rental car and kind of winging it through yourselves?

[00:03:51] Yeah, I'm here with, I'm moving around with one of our judges.

[00:03:57] And we have a rental car and equipment and we're just testing it, you know, these are all like places both of us never been before.

[00:04:07] So just trying to explore, but it's not unknown places.

[00:04:11] There are people that quite, as I said, I mean, yesterday on the water here, it's a really small village, 30, 40 people probably on the spot.

[00:04:20] You know, so yeah, there is a windsurf center, big one here with wing for the winter and the kite school as well.

[00:04:28] No, all, I mean, every village in the north of Brazil that's on the sea is basically a spot, you know, and people are all practiced there.

[00:04:36] And some, I wanted to go to this place because I wanted to see how good the waves are.

[00:04:41] And it's quite fun.

[00:04:43] And yeah, you have a lot of lagoons, you got some places where you have, I mean, it's not Mauritius, you know, it's not like four meter point break reef waves, but it's still on a foil.

[00:04:53] It's good fun.

[00:04:54] And the wind is super strong.

[00:04:55] I mean, I was maxed out on the 3.5 yesterday.

[00:04:58] And I could have been on the three meter easily.

[00:05:02] Oh, whoa, whoa.

[00:05:04] So you guys are there for a month, right?

[00:05:08] We are here since the middle of October and we still have two weeks to go, yeah.

[00:05:11] Okay.

[00:05:11] I'm going home on the 1st of December.

[00:05:15] Overall, have trips gone well?

[00:05:17] Yeah.

[00:05:18] All has gone well.

[00:05:19] I mean, you know, we've been running back to back events starting in Iberraqueira in the south of Brazil with the wave event, which was a combined wing foil and kite event.

[00:05:32] And it was a new location.

[00:05:34] It's not an unknown location.

[00:05:35] It's actually known as one of the best and most consistent wave spots in Brazil when it comes to wind sports.

[00:05:42] So wind surfing, kite surfing, and more and more winging too.

[00:05:46] The whole duotone team was actually down there for a photo shoot, you know, the wave team, wing foil wave team shooting after the event in those areas.

[00:05:57] And down in the south in Iberraqueira, it's not only one spot.

[00:05:59] There are plenty of spots.

[00:06:00] It's more known for surfing.

[00:06:01] You know, there's a lot of surfing going on down there.

[00:06:03] And the wind is not as consistent as up here.

[00:06:06] It's not the trade winds that blow every day.

[00:06:09] So you depend a bit on the weather systems.

[00:06:14] But it has, you know, quite regular winds and you have different directions.

[00:06:19] So it can come from the north.

[00:06:20] It can come from the south.

[00:06:21] And especially the spot in Iberraqueira where we've been is like, it's pretty special in a way that it's a point.

[00:06:30] It's a sand point with an island in front like this.

[00:06:33] And you got a left hand on one side of the point and the right hand on the other side of the point.

[00:06:38] And depending if you have the north or the south wind, you ride the left hand or the right hand.

[00:06:42] We had two setups for the event with two judge towers, one each side.

[00:06:45] They're like 500 meters apart from each other.

[00:06:49] And we run the first event was eight days.

[00:06:52] And the first six days we had north wind.

[00:06:53] So we were running on the left hand.

[00:06:55] And the last two days with south wind and we were running on the right hand.

[00:06:58] And so, yeah, that was actually a pretty cool setup.

[00:07:02] And the whole area down there is a lot more, you know, the weather is a lot cooler than here.

[00:07:11] You know, here up in Siara, it's 30, 32 degrees.

[00:07:14] The wind's blowing and the sun's burning every day.

[00:07:16] And down in the south, it's a way cooler climate.

[00:07:19] It's more tropical.

[00:07:20] It's really green.

[00:07:21] It's really jungle style.

[00:07:23] It rains in the night.

[00:07:26] It's like 18, 19 degrees.

[00:07:28] You need a wetsuit.

[00:07:29] The water is colder.

[00:07:30] So it's quite a different experience, let's say.

[00:07:36] And a lot of people don't even think that parts of Brazil look like that.

[00:07:40] So I like that personally, you know, being also in long pants and a hoodie sometimes.

[00:07:46] But it can change.

[00:07:47] The weather can be like 16, 17 degrees and then up to 30 the next day.

[00:07:51] So, you know, like you know this from Europe or from other areas where the weather can change quickly.

[00:07:58] And it's a lot more, I would say, it's less, a lot less touristic.

[00:08:02] So you don't see a lot of tourists.

[00:08:03] Most people you meet on the water are actually locals, are Brazilian people that kite or windfoil or windsurf.

[00:08:10] And surf, a lot of surfing.

[00:08:13] And there's a lot to do in that area in Iberaquera.

[00:08:15] You know, we were partnering, for example, there's a brand new wave garden.

[00:08:19] So they opened the Surfland Brazil in Garopada, which Garopada is the next village from Iberaquera.

[00:08:25] It's the home base of MoMAI, for those who know MoMAI, the wet-tune brand, the Brazilian wet-tune and clothing brand.

[00:08:33] It's pretty big.

[00:08:34] They have their headquarters down there.

[00:08:37] And in that area is also Surfland Brazil, which is a brand new wave garden project that we was partnering with the event.

[00:08:45] So we took the athletes there to have some surf sessions at the pool.

[00:08:49] And it's been pretty fun also for me.

[00:08:51] It was my first time surfing in a pool.

[00:08:54] And actually, I have never imagined that it's so much fun.

[00:09:00] And yeah, a lot of stuff to do.

[00:09:01] Wakeboard cable, like skydiving, a lot of things to do down there in a beautiful area with lagoons and lush tropical landscape.

[00:09:11] And I would say more European, Western atmosphere than up here in the north.

[00:09:22] More isolated where you are.

[00:09:26] Yeah, exactly.

[00:09:27] So it is definitely a place I want to return to.

[00:09:31] And I want to get back there.

[00:09:32] I don't know if you're going to do an event there again, but even if not, a place to explore many, many spots around that area in the south.

[00:09:43] How did the event go?

[00:09:46] Yeah, the event was good.

[00:09:48] As I explained, we had different conditions between...

[00:09:55] Yeah, let's say we had...

[00:09:58] We didn't get like a big, big day in terms of waves.

[00:10:02] So I would say head to overhead waves.

[00:10:08] But the wave is, there's a point which has an open running wave for like 200 meters and then it ends up into a beach break.

[00:10:18] The nice thing is on a foil, you can pick up the waves really far out and ride them for a long time.

[00:10:26] We had to mix it up a little bit between having not everyday winds to really run the event as quick as possible.

[00:10:36] So like in Dachla, we were running in an overlap system, the heat to save time.

[00:10:43] And yet it's really like that the setup was decent.

[00:10:46] We had a big charge tower, athlete zone, everything set up like with physiotherapists and Red Bull athletes area, catering tent, everything set up on the beach, which is not easy because it's a national park there.

[00:11:01] So you can't really build things a lot on the beach.

[00:11:04] But the organizer has done a pretty decent job on that side.

[00:11:08] And yeah, it was obviously at the last wave event of the season with, you know, the crowning of the world champion.

[00:11:16] So there was a lot on the line for the athletes.

[00:11:21] But coming, yeah, I mean, coming into the competition, it's been on the woman's side.

[00:11:29] I mean, Elena, she had two wins already, so she was in a pretty solid position.

[00:11:36] And for her, it was clear she doesn't even need to make the final probably to, you know, to be world champion.

[00:11:46] Like a quarterfinal finish was enough for her.

[00:11:50] So that was, say, an easy mission for the title.

[00:11:55] But she didn't win the event.

[00:11:57] You know, we had the, we had in on the woman's side was interesting because Nia had to travel late to the event because she was in another competition until the day actually before or actually the first day of the event.

[00:12:11] Oh, wow.

[00:12:12] And then jumped on a flight in Europe and made it with a bit delayed to the event, just making it in time for each.

[00:12:19] You basically arrived on the airport at like midnight in Florianopolis, had to drive down to Ibera Chiara, which is like a two hour drive.

[00:12:29] And came into the accommodation two, three in the morning and next day, seven in the morning, we had already skippers meeting for the day and she had to get on the water with a few hours of sleep.

[00:12:39] Oh, wow.

[00:12:40] Okay.

[00:12:42] So that was quite a challenge for her.

[00:12:44] But she, yeah, she performed well and also beat Elena and won the event and secured the win.

[00:12:52] She didn't claim the world title because she didn't win the other two events.

[00:12:56] But it was interesting to see it mixed up on the woman's side and that she is definitely, you know, Elena was dominating this season.

[00:13:03] But I think Nia obviously in freestyle and in slalom, she is hard to beat at this moment.

[00:13:10] And in wave, she still needs a bit of practice, but she's not far off from probably clinching a world title in wave in the future soon, I guess.

[00:13:18] Oh, that's going to be exciting for next year.

[00:13:21] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:13:22] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:13:22] Absolutely.

[00:13:22] She's still missing that.

[00:13:24] She's doing very well.

[00:13:24] She's improving a lot.

[00:13:27] But she's still missing that wave world title and I'm pretty sure she is.

[00:13:32] She's going to make it one day.

[00:13:34] And then on the man side, obviously, it was pretty interesting.

[00:13:38] We had a lot of the Maui boys coming into this event.

[00:13:40] Again, we had a huge number of people that wanted to compete in the event.

[00:13:44] Long waiting list.

[00:13:45] You know, video applications came in, but we had five or six boys from Maui.

[00:13:49] Again, competing here.

[00:13:51] That's awesome.

[00:13:52] And they were doing super well again.

[00:13:56] And yeah, here also, I mean, Marlo won the first event in Cape Verde with Cash in second place.

[00:14:03] And Cape Verde, it was Cash winning.

[00:14:08] And Marlo had a kind of a disappointing result for him, I think, in Dachla with going out against, I think it was Axel Gerard in the quarter.

[00:14:18] So, he only had a ninth place, which gave quite a solid lead for the title race.

[00:14:27] You know, more or less, it was only Marlo and Cash in the race for the men.

[00:14:33] And there was a few other options if both of them would lose in the first round.

[00:14:38] But that was rather unlikely.

[00:14:41] And yeah.

[00:14:43] And Cash lost as well and only finished on the fifth place.

[00:14:50] But this was enough for him because Marlo won the event and Cash in fifth, which gave him still enough lead because Marlo only had a ninth place in Dachla.

[00:15:05] So, Cash, I think, well deserved.

[00:15:08] I think everybody agrees that he deserves to have a world title this year.

[00:15:13] But it also shows that, you know, the level is so high and so dense and there are so many people and everybody can lose to everybody in the end.

[00:15:22] Or not to everybody, but maybe there are 10 people that can beat the best guy in the world in the right hit.

[00:15:30] That it's not going to be an easy mission for him in the future.

[00:15:33] I think I'm happy for him.

[00:15:35] He well deserved the world title this year.

[00:15:37] I think he was the most outstanding rider over the three competitions.

[00:15:40] It's not a question, but it's not that it is easy for him to claim it.

[00:15:46] I mean, Marlo and also the other boys are hot on his heels.

[00:15:51] And the next season is going to be an interesting one.

[00:15:56] And I think especially a couple of young faces that I see coming up now, like Leon Shi, like some boys from Maui, like Otis,

[00:16:04] Liam Corral from Maui, Axel Gerrard was riding super well.

[00:16:09] Yeah, I saw that.

[00:16:10] So watch out, watch out for these boys because I think next year we will see some more faces being in the mix for the title race.

[00:16:21] I'm sure about that.

[00:16:22] Okay, we'll have to see if you can go back to back.

[00:16:24] Yeah.

[00:16:27] It's going to be a tight one.

[00:16:29] Would it have made a difference if Malo obviously hadn't got hurt?

[00:16:32] Like how did that affect his, was he back to the same kind of level of riding this time?

[00:16:39] Did you find there's a bit of apprehension there?

[00:16:41] Well, he got injured in Puerto Ventura on the freestyle event.

[00:16:45] And then let's say lucky on his side, there was no competition until the beginning of October in Dachla.

[00:16:52] So he had two months, like more than two months, two and a half months to recover from the injury.

[00:16:57] And he did really well.

[00:17:00] For sure in Dachla, I think he was still a little bit affected by it.

[00:17:04] I think that was one of the reasons why he maybe didn't do that well.

[00:17:08] But I think also it's more of a mindset thing.

[00:17:12] I think he was in the right physical conditions.

[00:17:14] But if you just come from an injury, you might not be in the right mindset straight away to, you know, to win because you're not sure how much you can push.

[00:17:21] And maybe this affected his performance in Dachla where he lost in the quarterfinals.

[00:17:27] And here he was super confident.

[00:17:29] You know, he knew he has the level.

[00:17:30] He came early to train.

[00:17:32] He's always very prepared.

[00:17:33] He's a really professional athlete.

[00:17:36] And, yeah, and he's hungry for the wave title.

[00:17:40] I know this is, he has a freestyle title already.

[00:17:43] And he's got the things, you know, to win it.

[00:17:47] That's for sure.

[00:17:48] And he rips in all kinds of conditions, same as Cash and a lot of other guys.

[00:17:52] But I think, you know, the thing was here, we ran all the wing foot competition on the left-hander.

[00:17:58] The other two competitions were on the right-hander.

[00:18:01] So, it was good to see that mix.

[00:18:04] We had talked about that before, right?

[00:18:06] That you were hoping to be able to give a bit of variety for goofy and regular footers to see the differences.

[00:18:13] Yeah, exactly.

[00:18:14] Exactly.

[00:18:15] Yeah.

[00:18:16] Of course, it is, I don't know.

[00:18:20] I mean, it's just a different way of riding a wave.

[00:18:23] But obviously, a couple of maneuvers and tricks and things you can do in a wave are easier on the frontside.

[00:18:28] So, if all the competitions are on the same side, then it will favor guys that are goofy or regular, whoever has the frontside.

[00:18:38] So, having two events on the right-hander and one on the left-hander is making it more fair.

[00:18:45] Ideally, for next year, we would balance it out, you know, and have maybe four events where we have two and two.

[00:18:52] And then you can really see who's the best guy.

[00:18:55] But even, you know, guys like Cash and Malo and a lot of the others, they do really well on the backside as well.

[00:19:03] You know, it's just a different style.

[00:19:04] It's just a different way of riding a wave and different things you can do.

[00:19:11] So, we will also see next year, we had, you know, we've been discussing a lot with the athletes after the event, you know, for next season.

[00:19:19] And how the wave discipline should evolve and what can be changed, what can be improved, let's say.

[00:19:26] And we still have to finalize the rulebook for next year, but I see the majority of people involved, you know, seeing the development going also in the direction that next year in competition.

[00:19:40] It would be allowed to use the wing for airs, you know, because at the moment, the rules are like this, that you cannot use a wing during the air to keep it pure surfing.

[00:19:50] You can use the wing while riding and bottom turning and top turning on the wave and forward sliding and all these things.

[00:19:56] But you cannot do an aerial like windsurf style, you know.

[00:20:00] And, but we see, you know, when the guys are free riding, they love to do these things and they do a spectacular show.

[00:20:06] So, I think it's just a matter of how we will, if we do this, how it will be implemented.

[00:20:13] And this is still discussed between the rider committee and sports committee of the GWA and so on.

[00:20:18] The rulebook, now we have the next event next week and then we're going to update the rulebook for 2025 and we'll finalize things.

[00:20:25] But I see that going in that direction that probably we don't want to see an airfest.

[00:20:31] It shouldn't be another, you know, freestyle competition.

[00:20:36] Yeah, yeah.

[00:20:36] It should still be wave riding, but you should still allow people to express themselves and evoke their riding in a way they want to take it.

[00:20:49] And for sure, somebody who does pure surfing and doesn't do airs with the wing should still be able to wing, you know.

[00:20:55] That's why I say it shouldn't push in a direction that everybody agrees on that.

[00:20:58] And now it's all about like finding that section, doing the biggest air you can have and landing it in the wave to win or get a top score.

[00:21:07] The credit must still be doing radical turns and milking the wave, reading the wave and using it in a most critical way and not just about one maneuver.

[00:21:17] But we want to see that, you know, I think everybody wants to see what's possible.

[00:21:21] So yeah.

[00:21:23] Boy, I yeah, you could probably what?

[00:21:26] Probably see some fronts and some backs for sure.

[00:21:28] And a bunch of other stuff coming.

[00:21:29] Okay.

[00:21:30] So then you're just going to grade it accordingly then.

[00:21:32] So they might get 80% allocation to the wave and let's say 20% allocation to to jumps or something of that nature.

[00:21:39] Yeah, for example.

[00:21:41] Yeah, that it's limited to a certain percentage of the score, you know, but that you still get rewarded if you do it and you want to see it, but not being the main thing because it's not freestyle, you know, and we sure you still end and obviously it's a lot about how you do airs.

[00:21:56] You know, we saw that in dark where there are guys, some some guys that just go on the shoulder far away from the peak and pop out and do a 360.

[00:22:03] And this is freestyle.

[00:22:05] Yeah.

[00:22:06] And then there are guys that really like windsurf style bottom turn into the lip and get projected from the lip out in the air.

[00:22:12] And that's where you take the risk.

[00:22:14] And that's where the points are.

[00:22:15] And that's a complete different game.

[00:22:19] Yes, it is.

[00:22:22] Yes, it is.

[00:22:23] Okay.

[00:22:24] Oh, that's interesting.

[00:22:24] Any other kind of big changes or anything new coming for next year that you know of?

[00:22:29] Yeah, as I said, we've been all in all the disciplines, you know, be it free fly, be it surf freestyle.

[00:22:35] We've been now coming to the end of the season.

[00:22:38] As I said, now the wave season is closed.

[00:22:40] Next week, we are in Jerry Korkora for the surf freestyle and free fly finals.

[00:22:45] And then after that, we'll also have a meeting with all these of those riders to wrap up the season and see how we develop it.

[00:22:52] And I think we've definitely seen this in surf freestyle, you know, that now it's people are pushing for combos and really nice combos.

[00:23:01] And we see new moves because it was kind of stuck that there wasn't many new moves.

[00:23:05] Now, you know, we've got all this wing pass kind of kite or wakeboard related moves where you pass the bar behind your back.

[00:23:14] Now, most of the brands produce wings with booms that make these tricks more easy.

[00:23:22] So it's going in that direction.

[00:23:24] But I think for sure, in the end, what is I think the most impressive and it's not only the technicality is the height of the jumps, you know, and it's about going big and doing things massive before without kicker.

[00:23:42] And this always looks more impressive than a super technical trick that's low.

[00:23:49] And I think that's important.

[00:23:52] Sticking on waves, what do you think the craziest move you would anticipate seeing based on what you guys have seen so far in the freestyle and everybody training?

[00:24:04] Trick on the wave you're talking about?

[00:24:07] Yeah.

[00:24:08] Because you're not going to be able to pull a double back, right?

[00:24:10] And still land on that wave?

[00:24:11] Or do you think they would be able to?

[00:24:13] I don't think it's impossible.

[00:24:15] You know, I think maybe not next year, but I mean, if you see how high some of those guys go on the aerials, I wouldn't say it's impossible to do a double back flip.

[00:24:26] But yeah, I think that probably, yeah, rotations in the air, like really off the lip rotations that project you like bit like in windsurfing, you know, this is, I think what we could see.

[00:24:42] But at the moment, I just, I see guys doing massive airs.

[00:24:47] And also we had a discussion, obviously about, you know, in if, if the wing, if the use of the wing for airs will be allowed, it will favor, it will favor some riders that are on the front side, because you can use the wing better on the front side than on the back side.

[00:25:05] That's for sure.

[00:25:06] This gives a bit more of a gap.

[00:25:08] But I mean, also saying that.

[00:25:11] It will push people to, to, to be more inventive of using the, the wing on the back side too.

[00:25:16] And probably you're going to have riders starting to train switch and starting to ride waves on their bad side, you know, because then they can go front side.

[00:25:27] If you look at windsurfing or even kiting, I mean, top guys in windsurfing, you have to do it anyway.

[00:25:33] If you ride both sides, your good side and your bad side, you always ride front side.

[00:25:36] It's front side, it never rides on your back side.

[00:25:38] But if you look at kiting, for example, the top guys on side off conditions, they will always ride on their front side, even if it's, if it's their switch side.

[00:25:49] And just because you can do more.

[00:25:51] So, and I know some of the guys are training this already.

[00:25:54] And if I show on the foot, it's way harder than on the surfboard.

[00:25:58] But I think this is what we, we're going to see next year that probably, you know, people will train riding switch to be front side on, on the left or right hander.

[00:26:09] And this is super, this is super technical.

[00:26:12] Yeah.

[00:26:12] I think everybody who has tried these ones on a foil to put the wrong foot to the front, when riding a wave, I mean, on a straight line, everybody can do it.

[00:26:21] I think surfing a wave on a foil with your wrong foot on the front is not easy at all.

[00:26:28] No, even surfing swell here in Mexico and getting down into some less punishing baby waves.

[00:26:34] It's, it's still super challenging to do that.

[00:26:37] Yeah.

[00:26:38] And I can't imagine something of more critical, obviously they're going to put in a lot more time, but it's not easy to do.

[00:26:46] No, no, no, no.

[00:26:47] But it's possible.

[00:26:48] You know, it's just, I think so far there were not a lot of people training it.

[00:26:51] So having these rules maybe will push people starting to train switch.

[00:26:57] That's true.

[00:26:58] Well, you do become a more complete, complete rider.

[00:27:01] And it is giving, like, if you win a title where you have to ride switch two or three times, then yeah, you are a more complete, better rider for sure.

[00:27:14] Exactly.

[00:27:15] And let's see.

[00:27:16] All right.

[00:27:17] I know that some guys, I saw it, they are training this already and they do it actually quite well, but for sure it's not the same.

[00:27:24] I mean, when I started wing falling in the waves, I, because in Mauritius, I ride always on my backside.

[00:27:30] It's a left hand, I'm a regular.

[00:27:32] So I've been trying it a few times because I wanted to ride it front side, but I gave up on it.

[00:27:36] I couldn't.

[00:27:37] I couldn't.

[00:27:38] I, I, I, I,

[00:27:39] He gave up as a consequence or?

[00:27:41] It, it just felt awkward.

[00:27:43] Yeah.

[00:27:43] Well, maybe I have to train more on that side, but I really, I mean, I win, I win serve on my switch side a lot, but that's a whole different game.

[00:27:51] Being on a foil or on the wind support on your switch side.

[00:27:53] So that's very true.

[00:27:55] Even riding switch stance, like going into straight line is, is more awkward, but I've had to put a lot of time in for that, but I can't imagine.

[00:28:03] Well, whatever we got, we got a whole week of wind this week.

[00:28:06] So, and it's pretty gentle here so I can practice some more.

[00:28:10] Yeah.

[00:28:11] We're supposed to have good, like 20 to 25 knots today.

[00:28:13] So it should be nice.

[00:28:14] So that event went well.

[00:28:16] What was the atmosphere like when they saw Elena win or cash win?

[00:28:20] Um, how, how special was that being there and in that kind of energy in Brazil?

[00:28:26] Yeah.

[00:28:26] As I said, I think, I think looking at the whole season, nobody was disappointed.

[00:28:33] Nobody was sad that these two persons took the world titles.

[00:28:35] I think looking at the whole season, the whole GWA, the other athletes, and that's what I like about the athletes.

[00:28:43] You know, they are all really good friends and they are, nobody is, is jealous of the other one.

[00:28:51] For sure.

[00:28:52] Everybody wants to be judged the right way and wants it to be fair.

[00:28:55] And if somebody loses, although he thinks he has a good performance, he's not happy.

[00:29:01] But I think that everybody was really, really stoked for these two people to take the world title this year.

[00:29:09] Because looking back at the season and at the general picture, these two were pushing the hardest.

[00:29:14] You know, Elena was just, was just, yeah, outstanding in Cape Verde in these big waves.

[00:29:20] No fear, you know, and beating everybody.

[00:29:23] She did it again in Dachlan.

[00:29:25] So not the same kind of conditions, but still dominating it.

[00:29:29] And then he, she didn't win here, but getting the world title more than deserved.

[00:29:34] And I think Cash as well.

[00:29:37] I think that Malo and Cash, they're really good friends and they traveled together in Brazil as well and ride together.

[00:29:44] And Malo knew after his ninth place in Dachlan, he has not a big chance to win it anymore.

[00:29:53] So he didn't get into the event, I think, with the expectation to be a world champion at the end of the zone.

[00:29:59] And he was happy for Cash. Absolutely. I could see that.

[00:30:03] Well, the showmanship coming from both of them, how they interact with people, how they are on socials, how they are when you meet them in person.

[00:30:10] They're just, they're fantastic, wonderful young people.

[00:30:13] And it's awesome to see them help and push our sport and grow the GWA as well, right?

[00:30:18] Because you're getting all these cool personalities that are coming in that are very active in their communities, but they're also pretty humble.

[00:30:26] Like Cash is such a sweet kid.

[00:30:28] I was a, I haven't met Elena yet, but I did meet Cash at AWSI and yeah, just, just an awesome personality.

[00:30:37] Exactly kind of what the sport needs.

[00:30:38] I believe.

[00:30:39] Yeah, totally. Totally.

[00:30:41] I think, I think the whole Maui crew, you know, it's funny to see you in tour because you got this Maui crew, which are guys with not a lot of competition experience, you know, for them being on tour is a completely new thing.

[00:30:53] And you can see how stoked they are about it, you know, like getting out there and like being in the world stage and getting the attention and just having fun, you know?

[00:31:03] And for them, it's not so much about winning at the moment.

[00:31:05] I have the feeling it's just getting the experience and, you know, instead of riding because they ride, you know, those guys are some of the best in the world.

[00:31:13] They ride each day with each, with each other in Maui.

[00:31:15] And now they are with the rest of the world, best guys and girls and some of the best sports in the world in a competition environment.

[00:31:23] And yeah, they, a lot of them have to learn things, you know, because as I said, they don't have experience with competition that much. Most of them when they are young, but they're having a good time.

[00:31:36] And then you got, uh, obviously a big French crew, you know, we had a lot of Frenchies on tour, Mallow, the whole Gong team, the, but also the other brands, not only Gong, you know, they are, they are together and they, they are with Axel.

[00:31:50] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With Axel, um, Alan, uh, with, uh, you know, Benoit, uh, Tom Obert, uh, a lot of strong French writers that are also sticking together a lot.

[00:32:05] And I think that mixes is, is, is pretty fun to see because they, you know, they traveled the world together too, and they train together.

[00:32:15] And a lot of them are young as well. And they, they do their experiences now, but they come from a different background.

[00:32:21] You know, a lot of them did competition and maybe in other disciplines before, and they, they know a bit more how those things work, but it was the second year of the wave discipline.

[00:32:33] I know when we did 2023 was the first, uh, year of the wave discipline. Now it was a second year. So it's brand new. Still. We only crowned two world champions.

[00:32:42] There is still more to come. I think this discipline will still so, so many new faces and especially knowing how, yeah, it's so many new, like, as I told you on the other events, we have so many new people that sign up for events and they send video applications to get in.

[00:33:00] I mean, this is also one topic we discussed is we need to try to find a solution for the entry allocation. We have so many people that want to compete, but there's only 24 spots in the world cup per agenda.

[00:33:15] And it's really difficult, you know, to manage that in a fair way, because if we would say, okay, we go up to, we double it. We let 48 people compete. It means you need double the time to finish an event.

[00:33:27] And in Dachla and maybe even even a kid would not have been able to finish it unless you make the event three weeks long because you need to wait for the right conditions.

[00:33:38] So then obviously you can open it a little bit more. We do now, now it's working with video applications for new people to get in, but there's a lot of good people sending videos and it's really hard. And often you're like, wow, this guy rips, but we don't have to spot for him anymore because they're already better guys.

[00:33:55] And, you know, we were talking, how can we do this? How maybe we should start doing trials and before events, but then obviously it will favorite people that are living in the region where the trial is happening over people that need to travel far away.

[00:34:09] Yeah. It gets expensive.

[00:34:12] It gets expensive. And I don't know how many people would go for trials to an event, not knowing if they go into the main event or not, spending all the money.

[00:34:20] And then you can have qualifier events, but same, same thing, qualifier satellite events.

[00:34:25] No, not in the same event like the world cup, but then again, these favorites people that are where the events happening.

[00:34:30] So yeah, well, probably I think going in a direction that we open the starter field a little bit more, maybe not on 48, but maybe open it up to a couple more riders, which will extend the competition a bit longer.

[00:34:49] You know, like we do in surf freestyle, for example, we are having 28 where the top guys already, the top 16 already seated in round three.

[00:34:58] So the top 16 from the ranking don't even start in round one.

[00:35:02] They're already in round three.

[00:35:03] And then you got 12 people that are in round one where the best guys then join those 16.

[00:35:10] So the top eight of them like this, we could open it a little bit more with a couple more heats taking time, but it's probably doable.

[00:35:21] And this is, this is one big issue we have.

[00:35:23] I would say at the moment we have such a high demand of people that want to enter these wave events and yeah, it's, it's, it's maybe too elite at the moment.

[00:35:34] And there's not really other events where you can qualify for it.

[00:35:38] From an organizer's perspective, would it make, what benefit would they see with a few more people riding extended stays in their hotels, more people spending a bit of money in that city?

[00:35:50] Like from the person who's, let's say putting on that event, would they, would that be something that they would like to see?

[00:35:58] Even if it does get extended a little bit.

[00:36:01] Cause it does get more expensive, especially given the fact that you have now a team that has to stay there that much longer and has to survive that much longer.

[00:36:12] Exactly.

[00:36:12] That's the issue.

[00:36:13] We know if you extend an event every day puts on additional budget for the organizer and it's not that you actually win anything from it from an organizer perspective.

[00:36:24] It's not that because you run a trial or qualifier or have more dates, you're going to get more sponsorship or you're going to get more exposure.

[00:36:32] No, because in the end, the media and the sponsors are interested in the finals and they're interested who wins.

[00:36:38] And that's the people that they market.

[00:36:40] So on this side, it definitely is a disadvantage.

[00:36:43] It's just going to make it more expensive to the event, which means it makes it more hard to make it happen.

[00:36:48] We get it financed.

[00:36:49] And in the end for us to find organizers willing or able to put up such a budget to run it, the longer the event, the harder it is.

[00:36:58] And it's more expensive for the athletes too, because they need to stay out longer.

[00:37:02] Yeah, very true.

[00:37:03] Okay.

[00:37:03] So there's a lot of things that have to get taken into consideration.

[00:37:07] If you're one athlete looking to send in these applications and you're trying to figure out why it's not growing, there's a lot of moving pieces.

[00:37:16] Yeah.

[00:37:17] A lot of moving pieces.

[00:37:19] And we try to find the best possible solution to make it fair.

[00:37:25] I think it wouldn't be – I think having 24 people in a World Cup is totally fine.

[00:37:30] It's the World Cup.

[00:37:31] So it should be an elite group and it should be a goal for people that you want to belong to those top 24 in the world to be able to go there.

[00:37:39] You have to train.

[00:37:42] But there needs to be a qualifying structure in place to be able to get there.

[00:37:48] And that's the point, how it's going to be organized.

[00:37:51] You know, as I said, if there would be other events, wave events where people could go to and we say, well, the first three of this event get a wild cut, the first three of this event get a wild cut, and so on.

[00:38:01] But again, we'll favor people that live in that region.

[00:38:05] If you are from Maui, for example, or from Australia and there's no qualifier event, you will have a hard time to get into this.

[00:38:13] And right now, we can see with the video applications we do that we get people from all over the world, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, South America, and the best videos come in.

[00:38:26] So everybody has the same chance.

[00:38:28] Doesn't matter where you live, as long as you can have some videos.

[00:38:32] Do you think that running, let's say, like an un-televised cheaper event, but finding out where the majority, let's say if you have 50 people spread out in so many cities,

[00:38:46] would it be expensive for a local shop or a local community to run that event just quietly?

[00:38:53] Like we would do like a festival or something without TV broadcasting.

[00:38:57] You would just have maybe some friends doing your video application there.

[00:39:01] Because potentially that could open it up to a whole bunch of people in that area who would never even have a chance,

[00:39:06] but would want to come out and compete against their one good buddy like we would do with Max, for example.

[00:39:12] Like we would do a Toronto-based thing.

[00:39:15] We know Max is going on to win, but we would all just rip around together.

[00:39:18] So that kind of thing, do you think that would bring in the community and then grow, connect a little bit more?

[00:39:25] And it wouldn't necessarily be that expensive.

[00:39:29] No, no, exactly.

[00:39:30] I mean, it can be.

[00:39:31] It doesn't mean that the satellite or qualifier events need to be run by us at GWA.

[00:39:35] No.

[00:39:35] This can be operated by other organizers on a much cheaper budget.

[00:39:42] But at the moment, I'm happy to receive some requests from out there.

[00:39:48] There is nobody who runs a pure wave, as I know of, to run a pure wave event that we could use.

[00:39:56] Most of them are like surf freestyle formats.

[00:40:00] But we are talking a pure surfing discipline.

[00:40:02] There's not that many spots where you can do it.

[00:40:03] But if there are events, that's definitely to consider, to sanction them as qualifiers for the World Cup.

[00:40:09] No problem with that.

[00:40:11] Okay.

[00:40:12] No, it's just something.

[00:40:14] Hit me up.

[00:40:15] If you do a wave event, please send me a message.

[00:40:17] We'll talk about it.

[00:40:19] You never know, right?

[00:40:20] Like all we're looking to do is connect the community as much with athletes as possible.

[00:40:25] And you might get one or two come out of that.

[00:40:28] So that's exciting.

[00:40:29] Anything else to wrap up the wave event for this year?

[00:40:32] Anything else you guys are thinking of changing?

[00:40:35] Pros and cons of what you've seen?

[00:40:39] No, I think we've said everything.

[00:40:42] As I said, entry allocation, the judging criteria.

[00:40:50] I don't think anything else at the moment needs to be changed.

[00:40:53] I think everybody is happy the way it's developing and know the spots we go.

[00:40:57] For sure, adding more events, maybe at least four, so that you can have one discard.

[00:41:02] When you make one mistake, you can discard it.

[00:41:04] We'll make it more fair.

[00:41:07] But we always said when you started a discipline, we want to take this discipline to wave dedicated

[00:41:13] sports.

[00:41:14] So we don't want to run this discipline in sports where it's surf freestyle conditions.

[00:41:18] We want to have pure surfing conditions.

[00:41:20] And that makes it obviously a bit harder and more limited to find spots.

[00:41:25] And these events usually take more time because you need the elements of waves and wind and light.

[00:41:33] What about Chikama?

[00:41:37] Chikama would be awesome.

[00:41:38] But then you need to find people who are on site organizing this.

[00:41:42] Very true.

[00:41:43] Yeah.

[00:41:44] So we depend.

[00:41:45] There are a lot of good places.

[00:41:46] I could tell you where we should do it.

[00:41:48] Yeah.

[00:41:48] But it still needs people who execute the event there.

[00:41:51] And we cannot do that.

[00:41:52] We need always partners on site who get the permits, who organize the logistics, and also

[00:41:58] the funding for the event.

[00:41:59] And the event is not funded from outside.

[00:42:02] So the fundings need to come from the place that runs the event.

[00:42:07] And there are many, many places where I could imagine it would be awesome to do.

[00:42:11] But we don't have a person or the funding to get it moving.

[00:42:17] Fair enough.

[00:42:17] Well, and so now you're scouting for a couple of new locations, which is always fun.

[00:42:23] Working on your double backflip.

[00:42:24] I can see that.

[00:42:25] We saw that in your socials last week.

[00:42:27] Very impressive.

[00:42:31] And then you're heading out to Jerry for that last event, which is on my bucket list of

[00:42:38] places to go.

[00:42:39] So we're looking forward to seeing that because that place looks sensational.

[00:42:43] I'm excited for that one already.

[00:42:45] I mean, we have been out in Jerry two weeks ago as we had run a kite figure event and already,

[00:42:50] you know, looking at how we set up the wingfoil and everything.

[00:42:53] And it's a place that is growing and growing with wingfoiling here at the moment.

[00:42:57] But, you know, there's here in Brazil, North Brazil, it has a lot of spots.

[00:43:00] I just explained it.

[00:43:01] And some are more suitable for the one sport than the other.

[00:43:06] And, you know, there are spots with the flat lagoons where you see a lot of caedas.

[00:43:10] I mean, you know, Brazil here in the north, like on the sea, it's quite choppy.

[00:43:14] It's not a place that's ideal for beginners in winging to get started.

[00:43:17] So most beginners are in the lagoons.

[00:43:19] But there are not many lagoons that are deep enough to go with the foil.

[00:43:22] So Kauipe, a couple of other lagoons, you see wingfoilers, beginner wingfoilers.

[00:43:27] And then most of the other wingfoilers already have, yeah, a decent level, an intermediate level, let's say.

[00:43:35] And then you got those spots for wingfoiling that are popular.

[00:43:38] Like Parakuru is like a wingfoil hotspot.

[00:43:40] That was probably the most popular place for wingfoiling here at the moment

[00:43:43] because there's a big wingfoil center and they're pushing that, promoting that spot.

[00:43:47] So, but also Jerry. Jerry always used to be, you know, first of all, in Jerry, it's not allowed to kite.

[00:43:53] So there are no kiders.

[00:43:56] And the, so the spot was discovered by windsurfers back in the days, in the 80s or 90s.

[00:44:04] It's a small village, which has a very special charm.

[00:44:08] I mean, it's one of my favorite places, just as a, not from the spot itself,

[00:44:12] but just as a place, as a village to be.

[00:44:15] It has, it's a place where it's not allowed to drive cars.

[00:44:20] There are no streets in the whole town and everything is sand roads.

[00:44:22] So if you are able, you cannot even, there's not even a road that gets you to the village.

[00:44:27] So either you have a four by four and you can drive up the beach to get there,

[00:44:31] or you need to park your car outside in the next town in Jijoka

[00:44:34] and then get a shuttle with a four by four to get into Jerry Corcoran.

[00:44:38] So in the town, basically nobody has a car to drive around privately.

[00:44:42] I mean, commercial cars like baggy shuttle services, plenty.

[00:44:46] They are allowed to go.

[00:44:47] So it is, and it developed from a small isolated fisherman village on a sand dune

[00:44:54] into this really hip place that now it has an airport even close by.

[00:45:01] So there are daily couple of flights per day from Sao Paulo and Rio up to Jerry.

[00:45:06] So on the weekends, it fills up with people.

[00:45:09] It got, you know, lots of parties and clubs going on.

[00:45:12] It got a really big, like amazing restaurants.

[00:45:16] It's something for everybody, not only for people who love sports.

[00:45:19] It's just a good place with small shops,

[00:45:22] just a really entertaining place to hang out and really fun and has a very special vibe.

[00:45:27] So that's why I'm very stoked to go there and show this to the world,

[00:45:32] show this to the tour and show this to a lot of athletes.

[00:45:35] And the spot being originally dominated by windsurfers gets more and more wing foilers

[00:45:40] because actually it is more suitable for wing foiling than for wing.

[00:45:43] You know, it's a wave spot.

[00:45:45] It has a wave that rolls in, but it's not a big wave.

[00:45:49] It's, you know, one to max two meters high wave on a good day,

[00:45:54] but it's very rare with not a lot of power, but really fun on the foil.

[00:45:59] It's not really, I would say, the most exciting one to windsurf on it.

[00:46:04] It's a good spot to jump for windsurfing because the wind's strong.

[00:46:07] It's a lot of 30 knots days there most of the time.

[00:46:10] Wow.

[00:46:11] But it's pumping, you know, it's your own small gear.

[00:46:14] But in terms of wave riding on windsurfing, it's compared, you know,

[00:46:18] powerful waves is not the same.

[00:46:19] But on a foil where you are able to ride those, let's say,

[00:46:23] less powerful waves on a higher aspect,

[00:46:27] it can be a really, really fun spot because the wave is really long.

[00:46:33] And for wing foilers, it's getting more and more popular.

[00:46:36] The scent was there, more and more, you know,

[00:46:38] moving towards wing foiling and lessons and rentals.

[00:46:42] So it's getting one of those hot spots for wing foiling in Brazil, definitely.

[00:46:48] But compared to Paracuru, it is a much bigger village with a lot more going on.

[00:46:53] And that's important too.

[00:46:54] I mean, tourists don't want to go only on the water.

[00:46:57] It's not like here where I'm right now in Maceo,

[00:46:59] the spot is similar to Jerry with some, you know,

[00:47:01] smaller waves that are fun to ride on the foil.

[00:47:03] But it's a really small place.

[00:47:05] It's two rows of houses and the spot, and that's it.

[00:47:08] Like maybe six, seven, eight restaurants, and that's where you are.

[00:47:13] It's maybe not a place where, you know, everybody would spend a month.

[00:47:17] Very true.

[00:47:19] Yeah, yeah.

[00:47:19] But Jerry has a lot more to offer.

[00:47:22] So I think going there with the tour and promoting it

[00:47:28] and showing it to the world is going to give a good boost,

[00:47:33] I think, on the wing foiling side for that village.

[00:47:35] And in my opinion, it's a place that also should be a regular tour

[00:47:42] because of that.

[00:47:43] It is one of those hubs where wing foiling is getting maybe the main sport

[00:47:48] very soon.

[00:47:49] That's going to be exciting.

[00:47:50] We're looking forward to seeing that and getting some updates from you

[00:47:53] from there.

[00:47:55] But hey, Tom, thanks for coming on.

[00:47:57] Thanks for chatting with us.

[00:47:58] Enjoy your searching today.

[00:48:01] And have you had some acai bowls and all that kind of good food?

[00:48:04] Obviously, right?

[00:48:06] Daily.

[00:48:07] Daily.

[00:48:08] One acai per day must be.

[00:48:11] Actually, I didn't have one yesterday.

[00:48:14] I don't have to go for one today.

[00:48:15] Go to shop.

[00:48:16] As I said, where I'm here right now, there's not much,

[00:48:18] but there's actually one acai place.

[00:48:20] I was closed yesterday when I went.

[00:48:22] So today I'll be in time.

[00:48:23] Send some pictures.

[00:48:24] We're jealous.

[00:48:27] We'll talk to you soon.

[00:48:28] But yeah, thanks for joining us.

[00:48:31] Absolutely.

[00:48:31] And I'm looking forward to reports from the final in Jerry Corcoran.

[00:48:35] We'll catch up afterwards.

[00:48:36] And I hope you guys are watching.

[00:48:39] We're going to have it live streamed.

[00:48:40] So don't miss the action.

[00:48:42] Sounds good.

[00:48:43] Thanks for joining us, everybody.