The Point7 Story

Sehr gutes Interview - mit gewissen Wiederholungen.

Hatte ich schon im abonnierten englischen Windsurf-Magazin gelesen.

"Fin or foil: Unfortunately, there is always the personal ego to say what is better according to personal interest and this has made a huge confusion. Our sport is amazing for the different disciplines it offers. There is freestyle, wave, slalom and the new discipline, foil. It is super simple to divide. Innovation brings more costs, more skills and a selection of people who will go that direction. So, we should never forget what works, thinking that something new is the future. In this case foil is just a new discipline. We saw that by mixing fin and foil the people who race has halved, if not more. The iQFOiL Olympics has lots of participants, but that is a different world and is just like the Bic Techno was. We need to be careful in what we say and decide for our sport.

Disciplines: Windsurfing is with the fin. Wind foiling is with the foil. Two different disciplines for racing that can’t be mixed. It’s like Moto GP (fin) and F1 (foil). Sure, one will be faster on the course, but that does not mean that the slower one should add two wheels to the bike. That would be the biggest mistake. The core market is windsurfing and will never die. Foiling has existed for ten years. Development has brought foiling to be sailable also in high winds, therefore it would not be fair to limit foil to light winds, and it is also not fair to oblige people to race on foil if they don’t want to foil or be forced to buy expensive foils. So, for racing I would keep it separate and push both fin and foil to the max. For the market, the best is to give choice to do what everyone wishes. I personally windsurf, and wind foil only for testing, but I’m not able to go strong wind foiling. I live in a place where I can be on the fin each day, and I like the physical part to be on the fin. Foil is more about balance and focus. I hope the direction of racing goes for splitting the disciplines; 99% of the industry believes the same. I just hope we can also start a new class for the youth for both fin and foil. Something for the kids who have no interest in the Olympic class but are interested in a professional career which would lead to IFCA and PWA. The industry is talking about it. It could be remarkably interesting as we would be able to sponsor and support it, something that we can’t do now with iQFOiL, also the iQFOiL class is expensive for parents.

Passion: Taty Frans did the sport he likes. I admire him because he showed a real passion for racing and for windsurfing. He knew from the start in Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria this year, that he would not win as the foil on the course has a higher average speed, but he still went to the events. He proved the point that fin and foil can’t be mixed. Like Taty there were many others who were on fin.

... So, splitting will come naturally in the future, ... It was more proof that shows where the core market is."

Ich fand das Interview gut. Wenn man Andrea mal in Malcesine sieht, spürt man auch seine Begeisterung. Ich habe dort mal einen Lattenspanner am Segel verloren, schnell Andrea angesprochen und sofort Ersatz aus seinem Van bekommen. Ein passionierter Windsurfer durch und durch.