France 2025

But back to  the downwind. A few days into the event, it became clear we would be going for a lighter wind run. But thanks to a reasonable fetch, and knowing Fred, I still had hope of decent bumps for a good race. The original plan was to run a 40km race, but due to the light wind this unfortunately wasn’t possible and the fallback was a run just over just shy of 30km with the race director holding the option to shorten the run if the last part of the run was flat. The goal was to start in the bumps and finish in the bumps. Everything about this event was meticulously planned, it was clearly explained in the briefing (one of the best and most concise race briefings I’ve attended) and Fred’s ability to adapt on the fly as per the information clearly shared in the briefing ensured a quality race. 

Photo Credits: Les Ailes de St Tropez (@lesailessainttropez)

On race day, we arrived early at the yacht club, ready to load up on Fred’s command, waiting for the wind to turn slightly. To get to the start we all piled into the ribs and headed out (an impressive sight) to the start of the race where we nervously screwed on what we hoped would be the right foil for the flatter windswell that was running through the smaller (light) wind bumps. My foil choice was a new race proto from Code, which I had only flat started and ridden a previous version of in Hawaii, so safe to say my nerves were high. But once up, I was at ease, the foil could hang with the faster swells and was just about manageable on the smaller wind bumps. This was the kind of run where a small foil would let you sit with the swells, a big foil would let you sit on the small bumps, but the middle size would have you work yourself to death unable to go with the swells, or sit on the small wind bumps. I managed to settle into a good rhythm, making a slight line mistake meaning my adjustment cost me a couple places, but all in all I was pretty happy with my run finishing in 14th place in a pretty stacked field.

Photo Credits: Les Ailes de St Tropez (@lesailessainttropez)

The start - I got a really good start! But that was down to a really interesting start sequence (why I’ve left it for last). I will say this kind of start can only be done if you have the ability to create two lines (so sufficient buoys, or boats). But effectively we had two lines; a “pre line” and the start line. Time wise, we got a 6min flag, 3min flag and a 1min flag. Up until the 1min flag, no one was allowed to pass the “pre line”. Once the 1min flag went up, we were allowed to pass the pre line and approach the start line. This could be seated, kneeling or standing - the only rule was: “you cannot pass the start line”. If you passed the start line early, there was a time penalty added to your time. Having the approach to the start line allowed the race officials to have better oversight as to who was or wasn’t ahead of the line. With the clear time indicators and the ability to be standing approaching the start line, it was possible to therefore time your paddle up to be on foil pretty much as, or just after, the gun went off. I believe I was on foil within 3 strokes of the start signal, which was the best start I've ever had I think! It would be cool to see if the various events end up standardising on a start of downwind SUP foil racing, or if it will remain a "event specific" item. Either way I'm not fussed, so long as race briefings clearly explain what is required from the riders. 

Crozon: Crozon Foil Festival

The St Tropez event culminated on Sunday evening with the pump foil finals in the harbour of St Tropez followed by the prize giving ceremony and drinks. This meant we had Sunday and Monday to drive the 1400km to our next stop for the Crozon Foil Festival. I love this event and this is my third year doing it. The addition of the Surf foil and Pump foil contests really add another dimension to it and brings in a really mixed group of riders. This year there was the addition of an Elite division for the DW. Those in the elite division had a bigger event window (like St Tropez this was 6 days) and raced in two races with the overall DW standings being the total of your two times. As we left St Tropez we were hearing rumours of a light wind run being planned for Tuesday (unfavourable forecasts….again) and so we made sure to get there on time to have enough time to look at the run. With easterly winds (offshore), the run was going to be a bay run heading out of the bay, with a pretty short fetch. We actually got to Crozon in time to do a test run in extremely light winds - and with the 1250 to rest my legs it was actually pretty doable. The forecast for the next day was a bit better, so I had hopes for a decent run…..

When we got to the start of the run (shortened from the planned 25 to 15km due to lighter than expected wind) everyone's heart sank. It seemed like the wind was lower than forecast without too many bumps to be seen. It still seemed better than my practice run, so I confidently put my 1250R on. This turned out to be a bad call, because as I walked down to the water after checking in the wind turned out and I really started to wish I had taken the smaller foil that was in my board bag. I probably had time, but with how fast bumps can also disappear on a short fetch run, the fact it was a bay run with slow bumps and the fact it was a short run I decided to accept my poor choice, reasoning that it was better to complete the run with a poor placing but most likely not too big a time gap to the front, than to risk having a shocker and compromising my total time if the wind was to drop. Unfortunately for me the wind stayed solid pretty much for the duration of the race, dying about 30min after we all finished. In hindsight, the 1250R really wasn’t a suitable call, and even a big R like the 960R would have been a more appropriate call (could have probably just run my race foil from St Tropez...), even for the wind dropping out scenario, given how short the run was. The result of my poor choice was a 26th place - however for the reasons I listed before, this only gave me a 7min gap to first. Having seen on the forecast for later in the week that there was potentially an ocean run to be had for race 2, and the confidence I had in my foil from St Tropez I hoped I’d be able to do some damage recovery for race 2.

Photo Credits: Loic Olivier (@loicolivierphoto)

However, before race 2 there was the small matter of the Surf Foil contest and the Dockstart contest. I didn’t take part in the surf foil contest as I’m really not a good enough surf foiler. So I watched from the side lines whilst enjoying the surf myself (2 glorious days of prone foiling on the Code 810X). But it was super inspirational to see the level that guys like Luke Atkinson, Cash Berzolla and actually the entire fleet are foiling at, and made me want to try and prone foil a bit more again. Like last year, the dockstart event was super exciting with 4 man heats and a course with tight turns that could make or break your run. I made it through to the third round before being knocked out on a photo finish. Though had I made it through to the quarter finals I would have probably been knocked out anyways. The set up was awesome, with the pier curving around the course, forming a sort of stadium and it was amazing to see how it packed out with spectators who came to see the racing.

So race 2. Exactly what I had hoped for. Not too strong winds with a ground swell running into the bay and a solid run distance (30km). This run (from Port de Brezellez) into the end of the bay of Douarnenez is a run we've always scored outside of the contest (in 50+ knots two years ago, and 30 knots last year) but have unfortunately not been able to race it as the conditions were never favourable in the race window. It's one of my favourite runs I've ever done, with one of the most scenic entries to the water, so I was frothing when I heard that Amaury wanted to race this run! With a strange forecast (South winds and lots of rain, turning to the west wind we needed for the run in the afternoon) we piled into the bus to head to the start early, to be ready for the wind to turn. It was pissing it down when we got there, the straight offshore south winds didn't fill us with confidence as there were no wind bumps yet but we could see the ground swell rolling (1-1.5m ish with a 9-10s period) and so all that was left was to hope for the wind to turn. Since there was a ground swell I opted for the same foil I had in St Tropez, the proto type race foil, knowing it had a good low end for the paddle up and would give me a better shot at keeping up with the ground swells. 

Photo Credits: Jeanne des Valieres (@jeanne_dval)

Pretty much bang on the forecast, the rain passed, the wind turned and before we knew it we were being told to hurry up, finish screwing out foils together and to head down to the water forming a big conga line of foilers heading down the single file stairs to the water. The start was already relatively late (wind turned at 1400) and Amaury didn't want delay the evening's prize giving ceremony being that it was the last day. 

I was at the front of the line and once in the water, it was a pretty surreal sight seeing so many foilers coming down the stairs and then congregating in the little bay out of the wind. Excitement was rising amongst the fleet as we say bumps starting to form, whitecaps starting to appear and the visibility clearing up. Once everyone was in the water, it was a quick paddle out to the start line and away we went (this start was like most of the other races. Seated start with a flag I think 4 or 6 minutes out, then a 1min flag before the start horn and flag being dropped). I had one of the worst starts I've ever had, for some reason falling after standing up twice for honestly no good reason that I can think of. Nonetheless, third time was a charm and I got away fairly quickly compared to a lot of the fleet. I also saw a lot of riders heading right with the bumps, but having plotted the course on my watch I knew that I had to go left for the shortest line and settled into a rhythm. As I picked up each ground swell I passed riders who'd had better starts and those that had gone right. My foil choice was validated quite a few times as I passed riders who were pumping to stay on the ground swells as I just sat on them relatively comfortably. Due to the run entering a bay, my strategy was to work as little as possible at the start and maximise the swells and their speed whilst they had the most energy before they got smaller and weaker deeper in the bay where I hoped to then be able to tap into the slightly more formed wind bumps (with the wind swinging just before the start, the fetch for the wind bumps was pretty small, with maybe 30min of wind / build up prior to the start), saving my energy for the middle third onwards. The middle part of the run was pretty tricky with the wind bumps not as well formed, and the ground swell becoming a bit harder to tap into, with often the best option being to just pump forwards until you got something to tap into, but all in all my strategy held up well and I was able to move between wind bumps and swells and keep a good rhythm the entire race eventually coming in in 12th place. Time wise I was really happy with the gap I was able to put on a good number of those who finished ahead of me in race 1 and my performance in race 2 put me in 15th overall which is a result I'm delighted with due to how stacked the field is and the depth of competition. It's also my best Crozon result (24th in 2023, 29th in 2024) and hopefully something I can hopefully continue to improve on!

I must say a huge thank you to everyone who made these events such a success. The event organizers (Fred and Amuary), their teams behind the scenes, the media teams and of course the riders. It's always a pleasure to get to foil with your friends as part of these events and I love how they are evolving and growing as the sport matures. Secondly a huge thanks as always to the brands that support me with such great gear - Appletree Surfboards and Code Foils and lastly the biggest thank you to Freddie and the dogs for putting up with my foil racing bender and supporting me in these events!

As always, feel free to message me with questions, comments - especially if you're keen to give one of these races a crack in the future and have any questions regarding preparing for them.