The beginning of March saw the first event Foil event held in both Australia and the world, in SUP and Surf. The event held at Currumbin, Gold Coast Australia, The event organised by Takuma Concept ran as part of the 12 towers ocean paddle festival. With small onshore winds and a 50 cm gentle wave the conditions were ideal for the inaugural Takuma Foil Muster competition. TotalSUP talks to Hugo Donse from Takuma Concept about idea behind the worlds 1st ever foil competition!
Takuma Concept decided to create the event to gather together all the guys and girls who ride foils. We wanted to showcase what foiling is and to get people out on the water having fun. Choosing to run alongside the 12 Towers event was a no brainer, as it is one of the leading and most progressive events in Australia. Many of the top Australian and international riders were at the 12 Towers to compete, and therefore could compete at the foil muster event at the same time!
Photo Credit: Chris Clarke
We at Takuma Concept decided to host the event as a free riding session, this is because foiling is still a young sport, but is also progressing super fast so we felt it was important for riders to spend as much time on the water, instead of standing on the beach waiting for a surf heat. We felt that this concept really worked and got the best out of the foils. We decided to separate the Surf Foil from SUP foil, as they are two different styles of riding. We did have an issue with the swell, it was a bit average but that happens at every event, however the guys riding the foils made the most of the conditions and made it look really good. Going forward for future events we will adapt the format to incorporate the change of skill level in the riders as the sport continues to evolves. Our goal is also to have a downwind race if the conditions allow us.
Photo Credit: Chris Clarke
Everyone rode really well considering the conditions, it was a great showcase for foiling. Matt Levings had a super aggressive session on his shortboard, whilst James Casey had super long rides and was pumping all the way back out to the break which was about 200m! Bernd showcased a super smooth and flowy session, Finally both Dale and Rob also took some super smooth rides, achieving really long rides on their SUP. You could see all the guys on the foils were having a lot of fun on the water.
Official results SUP :
1 st Dale Chapman
2 nd Rob Gitto
3 rd Hugo Donse
SURF :
1 st Matt Levings
2 nd James Casey
3 rd Bernd Roediger
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