Wing Foil World Tour (GWA) Episode #9 - Recap of Jericoacoara Brazil

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. Today we have our ninth episode of the GWA Show with Tom Hartman.

[00:00:07] We recap their event in Jeri, Brazil, which looks like an amazing place for wingfoiling, windsurfing and water sports.

[00:00:14] And we introduce their 2025 season, which has a couple new tour stops and a couple cool new locations.

[00:00:21] It's a great episode, we really do hope you enjoy it. Last week we had Lucas Schuler on the show.

[00:00:27] If you've ever seen a video of a guy bungee foiling, like I mentioned last week, on a river with raging current that has a couple million views, it was probably his video.

[00:00:38] He is the creator of Foil Only, a very popular Instagram channel that spreads the stoke of foiling without the use of bikini shots.

[00:00:47] He joined us on the show to talk about why he started this channel, his family life and much more. So I really do hope that you enjoy that episode as well.

[00:00:55] Now, I want to take this opportunity to thank our team for making this show possible.

[00:01:00] We have Frank that helps with media and consulting, Matthias on guest relations and Stefan on audio mastering.

[00:01:07] A big thank you guys as a lot of work goes into each and every episode and we couldn't do it without you.

[00:01:13] Next, I'd like to say a big thank you to our sponsors. We have North Foils.

[00:01:17] So I've been riding the SAF range here in La Ventana, absolutely loving it.

[00:01:21] If you want to find out who else is sponsoring us, make sure to check out winglifepodcast.com.

[00:01:26] You know we have expenses. So if you guys want to support us in any way, hop over to winglifepodcast.com as well and click on support us.

[00:01:35] You can donate a few dollars. You can jump on a monthly subscription.

[00:01:39] This allows us to pay the bills and to keep creating some good content for you.

[00:01:44] Lastly, winter is coming and if you haven't decided where to go yet, you can come out to La Ventana.

[00:01:50] I'm offering some wing foil lessons out here, but we will also be going to Bonaire May 4th, 10th.

[00:01:57] I think you'll enjoy that trip. So now, I hope you enjoy the show.

[00:02:07] Welcome to the Wing Life Podcast, where we talk about wing foiling and the lifestyles of those who enjoy this great sport.

[00:02:15] Whereabouts are you now?

[00:02:18] I'm in Qatar.

[00:02:22] We have our last kind of end of the season here in Qatar.

[00:02:27] So I'm still here till Saturday.

[00:02:33] And that's why I'm here in my hotel room now.

[00:02:38] Yeah, we had a trip to Doha today.

[00:02:40] We already finished the competition already on the first day.

[00:02:44] So now we're kind of just trying to find ways to...

[00:02:49] I mean, I got a lot of work.

[00:02:51] It's not for me that much, but for the athletes to keep them entertained for a few more days

[00:02:54] because the prize giving is on Saturday and the world champion crowning.

[00:02:59] And then Sunday, I'm heading to Abu Dhabi.

[00:03:02] I have a meeting in Abu Dhabi for a world tour event next year also with wing foiling.

[00:03:07] Oh, really?

[00:03:08] And yeah, we just...

[00:03:11] I might have seen already we already published the calendar, the provision of calendar for 2025.

[00:03:17] And we are supposed to go to Abu Dhabi in April.

[00:03:21] So yeah, I'll head over to Abu Dhabi, which is just an hour from here.

[00:03:26] The UAE and then Tuesday, I'll be back in Mauritius hopefully for a little bit longer.

[00:03:33] The last couple of months, I've not been home much.

[00:03:37] So yeah, you finally get to spend some time at home.

[00:03:41] That'll be nice for you.

[00:03:43] Holy wow, Abu Dhabi looks...

[00:03:46] That looks like a pretty interesting spot to have an event.

[00:03:50] No, it is.

[00:03:51] I've been there two years ago and I checked the place.

[00:03:56] And it's...

[00:03:56] Yeah, I mean, here in the Gulf region, in the Persian Gulf region, it's actually...

[00:04:04] I mean, Qatar here is one of the windier places.

[00:04:08] But Abu Dhabi in the UAE is probably the best place.

[00:04:14] I mean, none of these places is strong wind, you know, in the Gulf here.

[00:04:17] But Dubai is pretty much the lightest, I would say.

[00:04:23] Lightest wind.

[00:04:24] Although there's a lot of people that wingfoil and kite in Dubai.

[00:04:27] I mean, they have a big community.

[00:04:29] But lots of...

[00:04:30] Now wingfoiling getting a lot bigger in Dubai because obviously you can do it in lighter winds

[00:04:35] and you have a lot of days with like 12, 10, 12 knots in Dubai, you know, on a six meter

[00:04:39] wing you can go.

[00:04:43] But kiting on a twin tip without a foil is a bit harder.

[00:04:47] So...

[00:04:48] Yeah, but wingfoiling is growing.

[00:04:50] I mean, here in Qatar, wingfoiling is not so big yet.

[00:04:55] But that's mainly, I think, down to the spot because that's where...

[00:04:59] The spot where we are now for the kite surfing is actually amazing when it comes to the facilities.

[00:05:05] You know, the...

[00:05:06] It's a hotel just built for kite surfing on a spot with a lagoon, flat water.

[00:05:11] We have...

[00:05:14] We have...

[00:05:15] Yeah, everything.

[00:05:17] I mean, the setup couldn't be better for an event here than it is.

[00:05:21] But it is...

[00:05:23] The lagoon is too shallow for foils.

[00:05:25] Like on a high tide, you get maybe like this.

[00:05:28] And most of the time, it's mid or low tide less.

[00:05:30] So you cannot foil inside the lagoon really.

[00:05:34] Maybe for one, two hours a day.

[00:05:36] That'd be good kiting though.

[00:05:38] That'd be sensational for flat water beginners or everything.

[00:05:43] Oh, it's a great spot.

[00:05:44] It's not the place where it's windy every day.

[00:05:47] But it's definitely...

[00:05:50] You know, they just opened it two, two and a half years ago.

[00:05:55] And that's also how our...

[00:05:58] You know, Qatar Airways is also our tour sponsor for the Kite World Tour.

[00:06:02] So that was one of the reasons they wanted to partner with the GKA was to promote this spot and this place.

[00:06:08] Because, I mean, I also had no idea you can kite in Qatar before we started this partnership.

[00:06:15] And now I've been here five, six times.

[00:06:17] And yeah, they have a big...

[00:06:19] I mean, they have...

[00:06:19] Qatar is not huge.

[00:06:21] You know, they have...

[00:06:21] I think Qatar is maybe 800,000 inhabitants.

[00:06:25] It's a small country.

[00:06:25] But there's 1,000 people that can't serve here.

[00:06:28] It's a lot.

[00:06:30] All right.

[00:06:31] So for those who might not know where that is, that's what tucked right next to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates right here.

[00:06:41] Okay.

[00:06:42] Yeah.

[00:06:43] There's a little island as well right beside it, right?

[00:06:45] Is it Bahrain or something?

[00:06:47] B-A-H-R-A-I-N?

[00:06:48] Bahrain.

[00:06:48] Yeah.

[00:06:49] Bahrain, yeah.

[00:06:51] That's also similar when we are here in the north of Qatar.

[00:06:54] So Doha is a little bit more in the south.

[00:06:56] And where I'm here, that's Fuerid Kite Beach.

[00:06:58] It's about an hour north of Doha.

[00:07:00] Not on the north tip of Qatar, but rather in the north.

[00:07:04] And the stream that comes from the Gulf, the wind stream, like basically touches...

[00:07:08] Comes from the north from Kuwait and then comes down Bahrain, north of Qatar and then Abu Dhabi.

[00:07:17] Supposedly the windier regions.

[00:07:19] How is traveling over there?

[00:07:21] Like I know people have been a little scared of traveling over there.

[00:07:25] Have you found it to be anything out of the ordinary or overall pretty safe, pretty enjoyable?

[00:07:30] No, very safe.

[00:07:33] Very...

[00:07:34] No, no.

[00:07:36] It's...

[00:07:36] I mean, these are some of the safest countries in the world.

[00:07:39] Like here, you can...

[00:07:40] You don't need to be worried about anything when it comes to crime.

[00:07:44] You know, the laws are so strict that nobody...

[00:07:47] I mean, that's why so many...

[00:07:49] I think one of the reasons why so many rich people also like to move to that region.

[00:07:53] But first of all, it's most of the countries are tax-free.

[00:07:57] And if you have a lot of money, you don't need to be worried that you don't feel safe here.

[00:08:04] You know, that's why I think one of the second reasons why so many millionaires and billionaires

[00:08:09] moved to Dubai or Emirates in general and Saudi.

[00:08:13] And I would say the Emirates, like Dubai and Abu Dhabi now following up as most developed.

[00:08:20] You know, they were the first ones really pushing in that direction.

[00:08:23] And Saudi is coming also now.

[00:08:26] I mean, they want Western lifestyle, very open to Western commodities.

[00:08:36] And Qatar is right in the middle, I would say.

[00:08:38] Qatar is very well developed, but also still keeps a lot of the traditional,

[00:08:43] the part as well, which is what I like, you know.

[00:08:46] But it's a lot smaller than...

[00:08:47] I mean, Doha is smaller than Dubai quite a bit.

[00:08:51] Dubai is huge.

[00:08:53] You got so many countries over in that side, right?

[00:08:55] And so much access to water, if you look at the map.

[00:08:59] I can't imagine how many beautiful spots and cool different spots there would be.

[00:09:04] Even tucked in.

[00:09:05] Like, have you guys ever did anything in the Red Sea?

[00:09:08] Like tucked up against Egypt or like below Yemen, like the Gulf of...

[00:09:12] What is that?

[00:09:13] Aden or something?

[00:09:14] Aqaba.

[00:09:15] Yeah.

[00:09:16] Ah, down there.

[00:09:18] Now we did...

[00:09:19] Yeah, two years ago we did an event in Neom, Saudi Arabia, which is on the northern part of Saudi Arabia,

[00:09:27] the Gulf of Aqaba, just facing Egypt on the other side.

[00:09:30] Like 100 kilometers down south from the border of Jordan, Jordan to Saudi.

[00:09:37] And that was one of the most interesting events I did, I think, in my life.

[00:09:41] It was in the middle of nowhere, more or less.

[00:09:46] They just built a village.

[00:09:49] They literally built a village for one week of running the event and then took everything down after the event again.

[00:09:56] Because we went there.

[00:09:57] We did an event in Neom in 2022.

[00:10:01] And I flew there to, you know, have a look at the location.

[00:10:04] And basically with the guys for two days, we were just driving a 4x4 through the desert and looking for spots where we can do the event.

[00:10:12] And once we decided, well, we're going to do it there, it was just a lagoon.

[00:10:16] And the next house was an hour and a half away from there.

[00:10:19] Wow.

[00:10:21] And then I said, well, this is the right place.

[00:10:24] It looked good with the wind.

[00:10:24] It was nice flat water.

[00:10:25] It was really good conditions.

[00:10:26] And it's a very windy part.

[00:10:28] I mean, this part of the Gulf of Aqaba facing Egypt is way more windy than this side of the Persian Gulf.

[00:10:35] And there it's like 25, 30 knots every morning.

[00:10:38] The wind always starts in the night, blows in the morning, like you have sunrise wind.

[00:10:42] And then between 12 and 3 in the afternoon, it dies off completely when it starts to get too hot.

[00:10:47] It's thermal.

[00:10:47] But it's really strong thermal.

[00:10:49] It's literally 25, 30 knots every day in the morning for six, seven hours.

[00:10:58] And then I came back six months later when we were on the event and they built the whole village around this spot that we were exploring before.

[00:11:06] We have accommodation for 400 people and a huge setup, like really.

[00:11:12] And very, very professional.

[00:11:14] Just did it for a week for the event.

[00:11:16] And after that, they took everything away again.

[00:11:21] Interesting.

[00:11:21] Wow.

[00:11:22] Yeah, it's always a part of the world that I wanted to go see.

[00:11:25] But it's cool to kind of get a little insights and behind the scenes.

[00:11:28] And it's neat as well that you get to, I guess, part of your job, right, is to go scope out and check out new places and stay in that kind of thing.

[00:11:38] Yeah.

[00:11:38] Yeah, definitely.

[00:11:41] Yeah.

[00:12:05] Yeah, definitely.

[00:12:08] Even if you haven't been there.

[00:12:09] But if it's places where it's like, what the heck?

[00:12:11] I don't know if it's even windy there.

[00:12:13] And you better go yourself and check it out before you set up a World Cup event.

[00:12:18] True.

[00:12:18] In a place.

[00:12:19] True.

[00:12:20] You're bringing around a bunch of kids and stuff.

[00:12:22] You want to make sure that place is what it is.

[00:12:26] Yeah.

[00:12:27] All right.

[00:12:28] So that's cool then.

[00:12:29] So you're finally going to get home a little bit.

[00:12:30] How are the conditions looking like back on your home island?

[00:12:33] Yeah, good.

[00:12:34] I think next week we're going to get some swell.

[00:12:36] We're hopefully going to get some wind.

[00:12:37] I mean, it's not the main season now.

[00:12:39] December is like rather the off season, but conditions are looking fairly nice.

[00:12:44] It's not that wavy usually this time of the year, but I see some swells coming in.

[00:12:49] And I'm looking forward to ride a bit myself.

[00:12:53] That's fair.

[00:12:53] Sure.

[00:12:53] And you just wrapped up your last event.

[00:12:56] So how does that feel to get to relax just a smidge?

[00:12:59] Yeah, no, it feels great.

[00:13:01] I think it's been a long season and not an easy season either.

[00:13:06] But I think we had a couple of exciting locations, some new places.

[00:13:13] And especially the last two events in Brazil were in new spots in Ibarraquera for the waves.

[00:13:18] We already talked about it in the last episode.

[00:13:20] And now we were in Jericho Acora in the north of Brazil, which is a place that's really booming with wing foiling.

[00:13:32] It's a village that's been discovered on the water sports site by wind surfers back in the 90s probably.

[00:13:41] It's been a small village without any normal road to access it.

[00:13:46] You know, it's only sand, so only 4x4s can get there.

[00:13:51] And yeah, it's still like that.

[00:13:54] But it's a lot bigger now.

[00:13:56] But still, there is no asphalt road to get to the village.

[00:13:59] So you need to have a 4x4 car to get there.

[00:14:02] And it's been a fisherman village in one of the most windy regions, I would say, in Brazil, on the north of Fortaleza and the coast of Seattle.

[00:14:15] Between July, August and December, it's pretty much 25, 30 knots more or less every day.

[00:14:24] And this place also has some waves because it's in a bay where waves wrap around.

[00:14:29] So there's people that's actually for surf foiling, it's a paradise.

[00:14:33] You can surf foil every day.

[00:14:35] If you get a little bit bigger waves, it's a super long right hand of 400 or 500 meters that runs all the way in the bay.

[00:14:42] But it is not like a place that gets a lot of swells.

[00:14:47] So most of the time, it's rather small.

[00:14:50] And yeah, I think back in the 90s, windsurfers discovered this place.

[00:14:54] And it got really popular with windsurfing.

[00:14:58] It's a place where it's not allowed to kite.

[00:15:00] So it's not really the most popular place for kiting in Jerry itself.

[00:15:05] Although a lot of kitesurfers stay in Jerry and then move to other spots around the area.

[00:15:12] Just because Jerry Coacora is a very special place.

[00:15:16] As I said, there's no asphalt road in the village.

[00:15:19] So all roads inside are sand.

[00:15:21] You're walking.

[00:15:22] You never need shoes.

[00:15:23] You basically walk in the sand wherever you go.

[00:15:27] But now it really developed a lot with tourism and not only water sport tourism.

[00:15:32] So now there's an airport an hour away that's open since a year.

[00:15:36] So you have people flying in from Sao Paulo, from Rio.

[00:15:41] There are three flights a day.

[00:15:43] And they're coming in for the weekend just to party and have a good time.

[00:15:46] So there's a lot of good hotels now.

[00:15:50] But not big.

[00:15:52] You know, like smaller boutique-style hotels.

[00:15:55] Really good restaurants.

[00:15:57] Good places to party.

[00:15:59] And yeah, and that has a very special vibe, Jerry Coacora.

[00:16:04] And the conditions are really nice for wing foiling.

[00:16:08] And that's why wing foiling was booming there a lot.

[00:16:10] Because you have these surf foilable waves that most of the time I would say to ride them on a windsurf.

[00:16:17] But they are rather, it's not impossible, but they are rather soft.

[00:16:20] But on a foil, they're really fun.

[00:16:23] So yeah, winging is growing a lot there.

[00:16:25] And it's definitely one of the wing foiling hot spots in Brazil.

[00:16:30] And bringing the tour there was a great addition.

[00:16:34] You know, I think everybody loved it.

[00:16:38] They loved Jerry just for the vibe and the people.

[00:16:41] But also the competition.

[00:16:42] You go there and it's sunny.

[00:16:43] It's windy every day.

[00:16:44] And basically you can, you know, on the main spot, there's three spots in Jerry more or less.

[00:16:51] But the main spot that's in front of the village, you ride your wave.

[00:16:53] And at the end of the wave, you just end up on the beach, put your gear down, walk five meters to the beach bar and take a caipirinha in your hand.

[00:17:03] Sounds rough.

[00:17:04] Sounds tough.

[00:17:06] Exactly.

[00:17:06] So there are not many places where you can do that in Brazil.

[00:17:10] And that's, yeah, that's why I think everybody loves this place.

[00:17:15] And, yeah, we run the final of the surf freestyle and the free fly slalom tour there.

[00:17:24] The waves were decided before already in Iberrakela.

[00:17:29] And we had, we run in two different spots.

[00:17:34] So the free fly was in the bay, basically, doing the free fly slalom downwind format.

[00:17:41] And then the surf freestyle was a bit on the upwind beach where it's a bit more onshore with kickers and right side kickers to jump.

[00:17:50] So, yeah, so we had two venues.

[00:17:52] We run first the free fly slalom and then the surf freestyle on the other spot.

[00:17:55] But everything we've been walking distance from the town.

[00:18:02] So you don't need a car, bicycle, I guess, fat tire bike or something?

[00:18:06] Or is it too sandy for a bike?

[00:18:09] Yeah, you can see a few around, but actually not that much.

[00:18:13] I think it's a place, the normal taxis to move around are boogies, typically Brazilian boogies.

[00:18:21] So you can pay a buggy ride and get out of the village.

[00:18:25] But, you know, once you arrive in Jerry, there's no need for transportation.

[00:18:28] You walk everywhere.

[00:18:30] Oh, wow.

[00:18:31] That's cool.

[00:18:31] Only if you want to go out.

[00:18:33] I mean, a lot of people in Brazil also do downwinders.

[00:18:35] So either they start in Praia, which is a couple of kilometers upwind of Jerry.

[00:18:40] And they get a shuttle up to Praia and then get on the water and downwind from there.

[00:18:45] Or they start in Jerry and go further downwind.

[00:18:49] The next place then is Guriu.

[00:18:53] So like 10K, 10, 12K.

[00:18:57] And then get a shuttle right back from Guriu.

[00:18:59] So you have both options.

[00:19:02] How do the conditions line up for you guys?

[00:19:04] Yeah, it's been said.

[00:19:07] It's a place that's pretty much the same all the days.

[00:19:11] You know, you get 25 plus 30 knots.

[00:19:16] Every day, usually the wind kicks in around 10 and then gets really stable by midday 12.

[00:19:26] And, yeah, we had – we choose to run first a free fly slalom competition because it was easier with the logistics.

[00:19:35] And it was just in front of the hotel where we were all staying.

[00:19:39] And then we went on the other side of the village to run a surf freestyle event in onshore conditions outside for jumping.

[00:19:50] We had – it was really interesting, I think, competition-wise.

[00:19:54] There was a lot of new faces in this event.

[00:19:57] I was really happy to see a strong fleet of girls.

[00:20:00] I think this was one of the most impressive parts for me that we had some new girls on tour.

[00:20:05] And in general, the level of girls has risen a lot in freestyle.

[00:20:10] Yeah.

[00:20:11] We even had six participants out of my home country, of Austria, which was the first time I've seen that.

[00:20:18] No way.

[00:20:18] Three of them made it to the final even.

[00:20:22] Wow.

[00:20:22] So we had, you know, Viola, who already competes on the tour since a year in the girls' division.

[00:20:31] And then we had the two brothers, Alex and Thomas, Aher, who made plays one and two in the freestyle

[00:20:38] and showed everybody where the level is right now.

[00:20:44] Now, these boys have been pushing a lot, you know, the last month, the last year.

[00:20:50] And I was really happy to see them finally getting a result.

[00:20:55] And I think everybody was really happy for them because they know that the boys deserve it.

[00:21:00] So they're chomping on Chris's heels, I guess.

[00:21:03] Everybody is.

[00:21:04] Oh, yeah.

[00:21:05] Chris is going to be having a hard time next year.

[00:21:08] That's for sure.

[00:21:09] I mean, on the surf freestyle side, the titles were already decided before Brazil because we have four events this year,

[00:21:18] which means there's one discard.

[00:21:20] And Chris and also Nia had both won all three events before Jerry.

[00:21:26] So it meant that there was no way they could lose the title anymore because even they have a bad result,

[00:21:32] like Chris didn't win, no.

[00:21:34] He can discard the result and have three first places.

[00:21:39] So they already secured their titles in Fuerteventura.

[00:21:43] And so that was clear.

[00:21:45] But yeah, for next year, as I said,

[00:21:48] I think there is a couple of new young faces that are to watch out for.

[00:21:53] And it's going to be an interesting one for the freestyle title next year.

[00:21:58] The free fly slot of discipline, I think, was also quite interesting with the format that we run.

[00:22:06] Where, you know, we have the qualifications and then you have the final elimination where it's a knockout system.

[00:22:13] So even if you don't perform on top, but you make it in the top eight just to qualify for this final elimination,

[00:22:21] and then you have a couple of heats in this top eight, you can still win the competition.

[00:22:27] And that keeps it exciting until the last heat.

[00:22:31] And again, Francesco Capuzzo showed his best performance in the finals,

[00:22:37] even though I think he entered in third or fourth place in the final elimination.

[00:22:41] In the end, he qualified for the final heat and he won the final heat and took the win.

[00:22:47] And also the world championship title.

[00:22:50] He didn't took the win of the event.

[00:22:53] That was Oscar.

[00:22:54] But he finished in second place, which was in front of Julian Ratotti,

[00:23:02] who was the other world title contender and claimed another world title for him.

[00:23:08] Looking at how it was last year to this year, are you still seeing leaps and bounds in both freestyle and racing?

[00:23:21] You mean in the progression?

[00:23:24] Yeah, exactly.

[00:23:26] Yeah.

[00:23:27] No, I mean in freestyle definitely.

[00:23:31] I think it still hasn't stopped the progression in this discipline,

[00:23:35] and it's crazy to see what kind of new maneuvers.

[00:23:39] There is no event where you don't see at least one or two new moves,

[00:23:43] innovation tricks that haven't been on the trick list before.

[00:23:47] Not every event has 10 new moves, but every event has a couple of new moves.

[00:23:51] But especially I think the execution and in conditions like in Jerry where it's windy, you get kickers.

[00:23:57] I was impressed how big everybody was going on the tricks and how safely landed.

[00:24:05] I mean, there's one thing is to do all these tricks in two, three meters, four meters high.

[00:24:11] But if you go seven, eight meters and try to land them, it's a whole different game.

[00:24:16] And these young boys and girls that are pushing right now in the discipline,

[00:24:22] it was impressive to see, definitely.

[00:24:26] And on the free fly side as well, I mean, it's a lot of equipment development too.

[00:24:32] And we had on the free fly side also, yeah, I mean, not completely new courses,

[00:24:40] but of course we adopt our courses to the conditions.

[00:24:47] And yeah, we're trying to be creative and always find a new formats,

[00:24:55] new course formats that we can test so it doesn't get boring.

[00:24:59] Yeah, it keeps not only the audience interested, but the kids push in.

[00:25:04] And what about like gear development this year?

[00:25:07] Have you seen that has done a significant amount to help in freestyle,

[00:25:13] but then also help in that free fly racing component?

[00:25:16] I think we left off.

[00:25:18] I was curious about like equipment and foil development is obviously from the consumer side of things.

[00:25:25] Brands are just pushing more and more and more new development.

[00:25:28] Are you seeing those developments incrementally helping, let's say,

[00:25:35] increase speeds or more stability on the free fly and for pumping, all that kind of stuff?

[00:25:40] Or are the athletes themselves actually just getting better and better and better?

[00:25:45] It's always interesting because I talked to the guy from foil only, Lucas,

[00:25:52] and we were joking around, obviously.

[00:25:54] But if you give me a Ferrari and if you give a professional driver a Civic,

[00:25:58] this professional driver is still going to kick my ass.

[00:26:02] So like, are we saying, you know what I mean?

[00:26:04] Like is gear progressing as fast as they're saying is progressing?

[00:26:08] Or are these athletes training and putting in so much time and just naturally gifted

[00:26:12] that they're taking this sport continuously pushing it?

[00:26:16] Yeah, I think it's a mix of both.

[00:26:19] Definitely the equipment keeps still developing.

[00:26:21] I don't think it does as big steps as it used to do two years ago.

[00:26:26] Two, three years ago, we saw definitely quicker steps in development and adapting to the formats.

[00:26:34] I think now the equipment is well-tuned already.

[00:26:37] But of course, it keeps always improving, especially in terms of materials and the free fly side.

[00:26:44] I mean, there are people using double foil wings,

[00:26:51] which I don't think have a huge advantage on the formats that we are running.

[00:26:56] I think they more have advantages in the course racing format

[00:26:59] because they have amazing upwind ability.

[00:27:01] But as our courses are not really focused on a lot of upwind sections,

[00:27:08] these kind of wings are not a huge advantage in my opinion.

[00:27:11] You don't see a lot of people using them.

[00:27:13] But of course, you want something light for the pump

[00:27:16] and you want to be able for something that's stable, that's flip.

[00:27:22] I think in terms of speed and power and stability, for sure, you see different boom.

[00:27:32] I think a lot of wings go now back to the booms, not only for the freestylers.

[00:27:36] I see also people on slalom racing on booms because you can more or less hold or grab the wing

[00:27:44] wherever you want and put it in perfect position.

[00:27:48] For sure, in the surf freestyle, wings with booms are what we see this season.

[00:27:54] Otherwise, handle passes are way harder and one-handed tricks are way harder.

[00:28:01] We see on the racing side what has changed, I would say, on the free fly side is more the boards.

[00:28:07] I see a lot less people competing on short freestyle-orientated boards.

[00:28:15] There are people that have, for slalom, use different boards that are more mid-length boards,

[00:28:22] more narrow, more long, because on the touchdowns and restarting them is easier.

[00:28:31] And you can be positioned rather in the center of the board.

[00:28:39] I see that a lot of the free fly people are also using quite some volume.

[00:28:46] So in case they need to restart again, they can do this very quick,

[00:28:50] rather than having a small board that is hard to restart in light wind.

[00:28:56] Yeah, on freestyle, I think everything is still too short, short boards with less wing weight.

[00:29:03] And on the foil side, for sure, they go small to have enough speed for takeoff.

[00:29:09] But that's not been something really new.

[00:29:11] I mean, you can see a lot of the World Cup athletes using small, high-aspect foil,

[00:29:21] six, seven hundred, eight hundred, because they still provide the glide, but have enough speed.

[00:29:30] So they have a good combination, but they are a little more technically to ride.

[00:29:34] So I would say they are not ideal for beginners to intermediate.

[00:29:37] This is true for people who have a bit more experience to ride them,

[00:29:40] because you always need to keep a good speed.

[00:29:44] But in the end, I think also in freestyle, you know, the more easy something is to use for anybody,

[00:29:51] the more easy is to land your tricks.

[00:29:53] So I don't see really, especially in freestyle, that the pro athletes use really different equipment

[00:30:01] than any average wing foil I would use for waves or freestyle or freeride.

[00:30:08] But it's pretty similar.

[00:30:10] But the skills, for sure, that's where it improves.

[00:30:14] And I think that's where the skill level in free fly obviously gets better.

[00:30:20] The start gets better.

[00:30:21] You know, people are more tactically better in racing.

[00:30:27] Obviously, you need to know how to drive and tack quick.

[00:30:32] And then the free fly part section, where you're not allowed to use the wing,

[00:30:36] it's the most technical part.

[00:30:38] You can see differences of people which are more skilled than they either overtake on the free fly part.

[00:30:45] And in freestyle, surf freestyle, it is, yeah, it's the young generation that's pushing hard

[00:30:53] and being creative, innovating moves or even perfecting and going higher on the moves that already exist.

[00:30:59] I think there, I don't see the progression stopping anytime soon in the freestyle discipline for sure.

[00:31:08] Yeah, I'm curious to see what next year is going to look like.

[00:31:13] How's that training and planning for next year going?

[00:31:17] Yeah, we have just launched our provisional calendar for 2025 last week.

[00:31:24] So, you know, the tour dates for next week or next year are online.

[00:31:30] Of course, this is not all set in stone yet.

[00:31:32] I mean, we expect still changes.

[00:31:35] You know, some of them might not happen in the end because we don't have them confirmed yet.

[00:31:41] And some other events that are not on the calendar yet might still be added

[00:31:45] because we are in too early stage to put them on the calendar.

[00:31:49] But it's going to be a similar mix.

[00:31:51] We're going to, you know, it's going to be interesting in the beginning of the year.

[00:31:55] We're going to kick off with an indoor event in a pool.

[00:31:57] This is going to be a world's first thing.

[00:32:00] It's going to be a wingfoil indoor invitational with wind machines at the boat show in Düsseldorf, Germany.

[00:32:08] In January, which is the biggest boat tour in the world with 160,000 spectators or people visiting.

[00:32:15] I mean, we'll not have 160,000 people around the pool, I guess.

[00:32:18] But visiting the boat tour in general.

[00:32:21] It's been a big happening for the whole water sports industry since many, many years.

[00:32:27] And yeah, bringing the GWA Wingfoil World Tour that is next year is going to be definitely a highlight of the season.

[00:32:34] We don't know yet.

[00:32:35] I mean, the pool was tested by guys like Bartz Müller and other people that were weakfoiling there.

[00:32:40] It's not a huge pool.

[00:32:44] I mean, 60 meters long.

[00:32:45] It's big enough to do something, but it's not obviously comparable to spots that we have on the ocean.

[00:32:53] So we're going to run a bit of a different format there.

[00:32:55] I mean, because they're not able to have four or five, six people at the same time in the pool with the wind machines.

[00:33:01] They're going to take too much wind.

[00:33:03] It's going to be more like a timed race where we send the riders one by one in the course with a bit more like a ski race with a timing barrier that's going to be taken.

[00:33:13] And you have split times and you have a big screen.

[00:33:16] It's going to be a good show, I think, for the people that's going to be at the boat show watching.

[00:33:22] So this is an invitational event only.

[00:33:25] So it's not going to count towards the slalom rankings as we don't have the capacity to have everybody compete there who wants to.

[00:33:35] It's going to be limited to a smaller group of invited riders.

[00:33:39] And then, yeah, we have Cape Verde again on the calendar for the waves starting in February.

[00:33:46] That's always a highlight of the season.

[00:33:47] And then already we have two events scheduled in the Middle East that we're coming up with in Saudi Arabia and Jeddah and in Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates, which are going to be interesting destinations as well because we see this region is also growing with windfoiling.

[00:34:08] It's not like a strong wind region.

[00:34:10] So foiling disciplines are ideal.

[00:34:12] And if you look at Dubai and other places in the Gulf region, windfoiling is definitely arriving here as well.

[00:34:21] And, yeah, I think these events can give a good push to this region and the community to boost the number of active windfoilers, hopefully.

[00:34:35] And then we go to Loikat right after.

[00:34:38] So April looks pretty busy with Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Loikat.

[00:34:46] Yeah, then we have an event scheduled in Mexico in May.

[00:34:51] That's what's going to happen.

[00:34:53] It's in Cancun, yeah, at Cancun region.

[00:34:59] Which is not confirmed yet.

[00:35:01] We hope it's going to come real.

[00:35:04] But that would be a new country to add to the world tour as well.

[00:35:10] And then, yeah, we have a new place for the world, for the youth world championship.

[00:35:15] We're going to be in Costa Brava next year.

[00:35:17] We keep it in Spain, but it's on the mainland in Spain, which is a great place for foiling.

[00:35:23] It's a lighter wind destination, but it has daily thermal winds.

[00:35:26] It's a lot more central than La Palma, where we did the youth world championship the last two years.

[00:35:32] So we expect it to be more busy even, although we had already a lot of people at La Palma and the Canary Islands.

[00:35:38] After that, we're going to go to Canary Islands again with Fuerteventura.

[00:35:45] And, yeah, we have Dafa and then Tarifa, Brazil.

[00:35:51] But, as I said, there's a few more in negotiation right now.

[00:35:55] They will not see them on the calendar, but as soon as they get realistic to happen, we'll let everybody know.

[00:36:04] Oh, so additional ones that are not currently on the website, let's say TPC?

[00:36:08] Yeah, you can see on the website at the moment all the events on TPC, just because there's still details to confirm.

[00:36:15] But all of them you see on the website are very realistic to happen.

[00:36:19] Some of them might not happen in the end, but the majority of them, we expect them to go on or to go ahead.

[00:36:27] But as I said, there's a couple more that are not on this list yet that could still be added.

[00:36:35] Not too bad.

[00:36:36] That looks pretty cool.

[00:36:37] A couple new places.

[00:36:38] I think that'll be really fun to see how they go.

[00:36:43] How busy was the youth last year?

[00:36:47] Is that why the place changes?

[00:36:50] The conditions, or is it more accessible?

[00:36:54] No, it's just that we want to make a change.

[00:36:58] You know, I think we don't want to run it all the time in the same place.

[00:37:02] At the moment, we definitely want to keep it in Europe because it's the biggest community here.

[00:37:09] And one of the reasons also was that that place, I think, maybe not only the conditions, because La Palma had very good conditions, but the whole setup in Costa Brava is a bit easier.

[00:37:20] As I said, it's easy to reach by car.

[00:37:22] You don't need to take a flight.

[00:37:25] Or you can take a flight.

[00:37:26] You fly into Barcelona.

[00:37:27] It's about two hours by car.

[00:37:30] So that's easier than going to Canary Islands.

[00:37:32] But there is, for many places in Europe, you can reach it by car in a couple of hours.

[00:37:37] It's going to be located in a big campsite that are used to host events in the past.

[00:37:42] I've been working there with some people on events in the past.

[00:37:45] It's a campsite for around 10,000 people.

[00:37:47] It's very family-orientated.

[00:37:50] So if you come there, because most of the time, the youth comes with the family.

[00:37:54] They don't come alone.

[00:37:56] It is probably a most suitable place to accommodate everybody.

[00:38:01] And yeah, it's a very experienced organizer, too.

[00:38:04] So we're really looking forward to this one.

[00:38:06] And let's see how many people sign up.

[00:38:08] But we had, I think, around 16 La Palma.

[00:38:11] So I wouldn't be surprised if we get 80 or 100 next year in Costa Brava.

[00:38:17] It'd be fun to watch, too, see what those little things are putting out.

[00:38:22] Well, the level this year was not much off the World Tour, I have to say.

[00:38:29] I think a lot of the youth tour, you can compete if you are maximum 18 years old or younger.

[00:38:37] And as you know, a lot of our top athletes are having this age.

[00:38:40] So the final heats are not much different on the level, I would say.

[00:38:47] How young can they be to enter that?

[00:38:52] Well, there is, on the youth, as you know, in the World Cup, we have an age limit is 14.

[00:38:56] In the youth, there is no age limit on the bottom.

[00:39:01] But you have different age categories.

[00:39:03] So you have three age categories, which is under 19, so under 16, and under 14.

[00:39:13] And then under 14 means, yeah, anything under 14.

[00:39:17] So even if you're 8, 9 years old, you can compete.

[00:39:20] Most are not that young.

[00:39:22] I would say they're more like 11, 12, 13.

[00:39:24] But that's young enough, I think.

[00:39:26] So it's like the farm team, Dan.

[00:39:28] Yeah, that would be pretty cool to see.

[00:39:31] Oh, that's awesome.

[00:39:33] Oh, I thought you were going to jump in.

[00:39:36] No.

[00:39:37] I thought you were going to jump in.

[00:39:39] Sorry, I gave you a big over.

[00:39:42] All right.

[00:39:43] No, I'm looking forward to seeing the Saudi Arabia and the Abu Dhabi.

[00:39:49] I think that is going to be something really cool to have on that world stage like that.

[00:39:56] I think that's going to be pretty cool.

[00:39:57] And the Germany, first one as well, the indoor pool.

[00:40:00] I think that's going to be sick.

[00:40:01] Yeah.

[00:40:02] All that stuff works out.

[00:40:05] I'm really excited about Germany as well.

[00:40:08] You know, we will test it now for the first time.

[00:40:11] I think it's mainly we want to put on a good show, you know, for the people and expose also the sport of wingfoiling with the best athletes to a broader audience.

[00:40:19] You know, there's a lot of people that come to this boat show that don't wingfoil.

[00:40:23] You know, having a competition in the pool, you cannot be any closer to the action.

[00:40:29] You know, you basically as a spectator, you're five meters away from the guys driving around the buoy or doing jumps.

[00:40:37] And the pool is the reason why we decided not to run any freestyle there is because the pool is obviously a bit shallow.

[00:40:44] So, if we would try to run freestyle, you would either have to use very, very short masts or we would risk maybe that the pool gets damaged.

[00:40:54] So, we decided to keep it for slalom at the moment.

[00:40:59] But let's see, you know, if it really works out well, maybe in the year after we can also do something with freestyle there.

[00:41:07] Maybe not a different way of freestyle, you know, like carving maneuvers rather than jumps.

[00:41:13] But it's going to be an exciting show, I think.

[00:41:16] Yeah, we want to build it as a bit different format.

[00:41:21] And a lot of brands have stands in the boat show as well.

[00:41:27] So, you can see a lot of the new equipment there.

[00:41:31] There will be other sports in the pool too.

[00:41:33] So, it will be wingfoiling.

[00:41:35] We're going to have pumpfoiling.

[00:41:37] We're going to have skimboarding, wakeboarding.

[00:41:40] The whole show goes over two weeks.

[00:41:42] And then in the second week, there will be also windsurfing and stand-up paddling.

[00:41:47] Yeah.

[00:41:49] It's fully timed the whole day.

[00:41:54] It's only a three-day event.

[00:41:55] The first day is just training.

[00:41:57] And then you have Saturday and Sunday with a competition where from morning till evening,

[00:42:01] the pool is basically booked every hour with a different sport.

[00:42:05] Dr. Sam, Frank and Mano over there, maybe they can check that.

[00:42:09] So, it looks far for me.

[00:42:10] Oh, yeah.

[00:42:10] But I think it's right in their backyard.

[00:42:14] It's not far for them.

[00:42:15] Yeah.

[00:42:15] For sure, they should come and see.

[00:42:20] Yeah.

[00:42:20] We'll see how it works in the indoor.

[00:42:22] You know, and back in the days, as I remember, I competed myself once in windsurfing at an

[00:42:26] indoor event.

[00:42:27] And it's been not so much my thing.

[00:42:30] I'm probably too heavy for it.

[00:42:31] But it's still been a great experience.

[00:42:33] But these indoor events in the past, you know, back in the 90s in windsurfing, Paris,

[00:42:41] Paris, Paris, that were huge events.

[00:42:45] You know, with 20,000, 30,000 people in the stadium watching indoor windsurfing.

[00:42:51] And let's see.

[00:42:53] Let's see if we can go down the same road.

[00:42:56] You know, somewhere we need to start it.

[00:43:01] 30,000 to watch windsurfing.

[00:43:03] That's sweet.

[00:43:04] Yeah, right.

[00:43:05] I never thought that.

[00:43:06] Well, I guess they went to that day.

[00:43:08] Yeah.

[00:43:09] The last indoor event in windsurfing that happened actually was in Poland in a soccer stadium

[00:43:14] with a capacity of 60,000.

[00:43:17] But the pool was a lot bigger than what we have now in the boat.

[00:43:21] That 60 meters sounds a lot, but it's not that much if you think about it.

[00:43:26] You need to actually perform on a wingfoil in there.

[00:43:29] The pool in Bercy was more than 100 meters.

[00:43:32] And stronger wind machines.

[00:43:34] Wind machines were producing 30 knots.

[00:43:37] The ones we have in Germany are not that strong, but we don't need it for wingfoiling.

[00:43:42] I think we can do it.

[00:43:43] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:43:45] Oh, sweet.

[00:43:45] Well, hey, I'm happy that this season went as well as it did.

[00:43:49] Got to see some exciting action.

[00:43:51] And got a lot of people out on the water there.

[00:43:54] And next year, it looks like it's just going to be as much fun.

[00:43:57] So I'm glad things are going well for that start of that season.

[00:44:02] And so you guys get a bit of time off now.

[00:44:04] I know you're going to wrap up that last event you mentioned.

[00:44:07] And then hopefully a little vacation or something.

[00:44:11] A little vacation back home, I guess.

[00:44:14] Yeah.

[00:44:14] I just want to spend some time home.

[00:44:17] Not traveling anywhere.

[00:44:19] It's been enough miles on the airplane the last couple of months.

[00:44:23] I can imagine.

[00:44:25] I can imagine.

[00:44:26] All right.

[00:44:27] Well, hey, Tom.

[00:44:27] Thanks for wrapping up this season of the Wingfoil World Tour Show with yourself.

[00:44:34] And looking forward to seeing what we can do next year.

[00:44:37] And yeah.

[00:44:38] Anyways, get some weights.

[00:44:39] Get some rest.

[00:44:40] Get some push-ups in.

[00:44:42] We'll be all set for next year.

[00:44:44] All right.

[00:44:45] Yeah.

[00:44:45] It's been a good season.

[00:44:46] And thanks for following up.

[00:44:48] And keeping the world informed about our events.

[00:44:52] And yeah.

[00:44:53] We keep it growing.

[00:44:56] So hopefully next year, new locations.

[00:45:01] New faces on tour.

[00:45:02] And yeah.

[00:45:05] We're going to see where 2025 is going to take the sport.

[00:45:09] All right, everybody.

[00:45:10] Thanks for joining us.

[00:45:11] Make sure to check out all the content that's coming out on the GWA YouTube, Instagram, and everything.

[00:45:17] And we're looking forward to seeing you guys all next year for another series.

[00:45:22] Awesome.

[00:45:24] Thank you.