2017 Hydrofoil Pro Tour

8/6/2017 Report
-Eric Due, editor

Absolutely perfect racing conditions on the bay today! The sun is out, the wind is up, and the racing is off the charts fast. Going into the day Nico Parlier, France, is pretty solidly taking the win based on points and amazing consistency. Axel Mazella, France, and Johnny Heineken, San Francisco, USA, are in a hot battle for second and third separated by just a couple points. Fourth through sixth is hotly contested by Olly Bridge, Great Britain, Joey Pasquali, San Francisco, USA, and Riccardo Lecesse, Italy. Daniela Moroz, San Francisco, USA, ripped her way around the course finishing 17th out of 46 overall and the only female competitor.

Nico hammered in a few more bullets today and then seemed to take things a little more conservatively for the last couple heats finishing solidly first overall. Axel and Johnny battled it out throughout the super windy conditions. Each saw drama on the water. Crashes, near misses, and just staying alive on the super fast downwind legs meant one mistake and points would rip past you. Each battled hard and Axel managed to just hold on to second with one point separating third to Johnny over the thirteen total races.

he battles continued throughout the fleet with fourth through sixth hotly contested. Olly is on fire today pulling in a couple thirds to extend his hold on fourth place. Joey Pasquali put in an incredible last heat in the strong winds to finish second, jumping him into fifth overall. Rounding out the battle is Riccardo who despite having his foil damaged yesterday, managed to borrow and hold on to sixth overall. Watching, competing, and covering the event has been amazing to witness these kiters rip off the start line, race towards the beach, and somehow mostly miss each other in the trickiest port/starboard tacking first jibe. The windward rounding sees racers accelerate from 25 knots to 40 plus knots almost instantly as they dive their kites. Truly spectacular racing to be a part as well as watch.

The San Francisco Hydrofoil Pro Tour finishes up today marking the half way point in the International tour. The next event is in Fehrman, Germany August 19th to the 23rd. Point D’Esny, Mauritius on September 19th to 22nd and finals in Sydney, Australia on November 8th to 12th. This is the hottest wind powered racing on the planet. If you are in these locations. Spread the word. Go on down to the event and check it out! A huge thanks to all the sponsors, volunteers, racers, families, and especially the St. Francis Yacht Club and racing office for putting together another stellar event.

Location: Crissy Field
Hosted by: St. Francis Yacht Club