Why do (don't) you race?

Why do you Race?

So why do I race?

I mean it's not like I'm going to make the Australian Olympic team or compete in the PWA?
It!


The short answer is because I share a passion with friends, but also because racing is a great way to improve my technique, see which aspects of my sailing can be improved by watching those better than me, to trade gear and shot the breeze.

I windsurfed for 30 years before racing and to be honest I regret those years a little! I had my friends that I sailed with and against but never formal racing. But that changed when I started foiling. I blogged about my first 20 or so Windfoil sessions because it was such a new form of the sport. and my 13th session was racing at a national championships on Botany Bay in the free foil class!

During that race I was thoroughly overpowered in a big southerly with 20 knot winds and 1+!m swell running along the runway stone wall. my 5m wave sail barely sheeted in as the 8-9m formula foil crew powered past fully committed.

While at the regatta I got to talk to everyone and ask questions, get answers and listen to the skills and technique tips that I'm still trying to apply to my sailing years later.

The various state and national events are a great way to socialise with people who have a similar interest. Where else can you go and chat with 20+ people who know and love to Windsurf/foil for hours or days at a time?

The away events are good for people of all ages to. single, couples, encumbered with kids it really doesn't matter as the events are always at iconic holiday destinations and someone else there will often have similar aged kids.

But the biggest reason above all, well for me at least, is to learn! Every Regatta or big race I've been to I have learned at least one new technique, skill or detail.

At my first nationals it was how to deal with strong winds and control. At the second it was upwind angles and stability (and the importance of cam rotation. Urgh!).
This year, just last month on formula foil gear I learned a better light wind pumping technique and another weekend at a slalom race I learned how to gybe my 560 then 400 F4 foils better. (after the first few races were I stuffed a few up!). So even though I won a couple of races I still left the event with more skill than I arrived!

It doesn't matter if you're up the front competing for a bullet (windsurf speak for a race win - especially a final), mid-pack racing someone on totally different equipment or back at the rear of the fleet fighting to avoid the wooden spoon!

Racing a set course makes you focus on your technique as demanded by the buoys. not gybing when you want but when you have to. Not waiting for a gust to pump but pumping regardless because the race starts in 30 seconds and you need to be up and away now!

Tacking 3 times because the land feature is blocking the wind and to be competitive you have to stay in the wind line, and so you have to tack faster. or sail through more swell than you would choose, and maybe even gybe in swell at the mark before reaching a flatter spot on the far side of the bay. All these skills make you faster but also a better sailor so when you go out for a free ride you can enjoy the conditions more and survive anything nature throws your way.

So join a club and race. There are a handful of windsurfing and wing foiling friendly clubs across NSW that will welcome new members for regular racing. Sure it might cost you a few hundred bucks a year but it is typically less than a few % of the price of the gear you're riding. Spend a little at a club and give back to the community. Share the passion, race and most importantly, brag about your day with mates at the beach or clubhouse after.

The only other thing to add. if you know an event is coming up and you can't compete for whatever reason, small injury, hungover, damaged gear,. then please volunteer! These races are reliant on volunteers and we always need someone to help. Be it you or a friend or family member. Jobs include laying marks, timing race starts, waving a flag, writing down sail numbers or even taking photos. So please volunteer and the race organisers will find a job you can help with!


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Love to but racing no long exists in Victoria except with Wally's. WA was a hoot last year with lots of events and many competing on free ride stuff

Amen, Brother Berowne. I make many of the same points locally. I'm not fast. Compared to the young pups on the foil scene, I'm a doddering old man half their speed. But, every time I go, they graciously share their knowledge and experience and I come away just a bit better. I then take those lessons and share them with my freeriding friends and we all get better, more confident and can sail in a wider variety of conditions.

I was also lucky enough to participate in a mini local version of Le Defi and it was an amazing experience. I was in the middle of the pack which meant 90 faster than me and 90 slower. But I passed a few and didn't get passed by many. That felt cool.

Lastly, I've made some great friends, a couple of which are also seabreeze denizens. Had I just stayed home, I'd have missed out on some really fun times and conversations.

I get that it's not for everyone. I think some of it is the fear that we might suck. I've heard it more than a few times, "I'm not very good." I know the feeling. But I've come in last a few times and, honestly, nobody gives a *. They're just happy you are out there with them.

It helped me to improve my skills which improved more in one year than 10 years of freeriding before.

The racing gear is only required if you want to be "the best of the best of the best"
I race on a Rocket and Ezzi Cheetah, Severne Turbo, Ezzy Lion. Nothing special.

Not much waiting at the beach either. Slalom races are usually multiple races in one afternoon. Get to the finish line,and immediately turn back up wind. Takes a while to get back.
By the time you are back, you welcome a 10m break.

I remember waiting a long time at the beach for a Lancelin Marathon to start, but no one stopped me from doing some freeriding while waiting.

It's usually a social event in WA. People get together for fun and bragging rights. Gone are the days of big prize money.

I like to choose when I sail overpowered in chop.
I like to use medium boards (90ltre) and racing tends to push people to use big boards in chop to even out patchy wind and keep going through the gybes.
I want to work on my gybing at my own speed and not get any more bad habits just trying to survive in overpowered conditions in big chop.
I used to like the gps segments but it's all slalom these days and generally the conditions favour foils.
These days I just want to have fun!

Berowne, to win some more races perhaps you need to be reunited with that starboard formula board, "the claw". It made its way somehow to canberra, took hits in a hail storm, was about to go in a skip bin, but then we had that little thing called covid lockdown. So with not much to do at the time, "the claw" got a refurb for no real good reason!

As a pre-school windsurfer, 3 years only, and being isolated from other sailors, i turned up to my first race event at Myall Shores and had a great time.
I did not put the effort in to figure out what was going on and did not prepare in time to get organized or register properly. But i was stoked to see and talk to a bunch of sailors in a beautiful camp spot.
Nice to meet you Berowne.
All were legends and it was good to put faces to names i'd heard about many times online.
Everyone was cool. I am a introverted person, mostly sticking to myself and enjoying my own space, but i liked being there and talking to sailors.
There was no heavy race vibe that i was aware of.
Before figuring out what was happening, I rigged and went out. Other sailors were out and it was great to be around them pre-race on the water.
I was kinda scared that i might get in the way or something but it was made clear that that was not an issue.

I felt a bit bad that i had not properly registered and paid to support the event, life was busy and it all happened quick.
The forecast was not looking good (rain) so i bailed home around the corner again after just visiting for 1 of the 3 day event.
I regret that, if i stayed committed and joined properly i reckon way more fun would have been had. Wind came good again.
I'm sure i could have smoked some foilers on my SLW board if it was flat, but that is BS at this stage because i didn't.
I thought if wind came, chop was coming too from that direction too so i bailed.

It is all fun at my level, but there is a competitive streak. I'll be back one day with my fins and no way i'm coming home with no wooden spoon god damn it.

Doubt i'll ever foil because i don't want extra gear now that i just got fin set ups sorted, and need a few decades to learn fin first. Plenty of flat water around that my 65kg frame can get going in a fart on huge gear and look forward to attending a race in a flat-water spot some day in the future and smoke atleast one foil.

Serious races, not for me at this stage because it is too hard to reach anywhere near the top. Social, yep. Interested.
For the top guys and gals, total respect and hope that racing in OZ keeps going and gets stronger.

I learnt on RSone longboard and imagine that would be fun racing for me. I'll look into that.

I don't race because I don't like to be around club people.

I'm glad you enjoy it and I can see that for some people it would be great fun.

The best part about being on the water for me is not being near anyone.

Mosdef missing the NSW racing scene--great memories both on and off the water at some of the best spots along the coast (Hawks Nest; Marmong and various other spots on Lake M; Botany of course; the Gong; Jervis...). Hope again soon, some day. Cheers mates!

Racing is like adding salt and pepper to your dinner, the flavour is the same.. just better.