Hydrofoil Pro Tour - Day 2

by Eric Due on 6 Aug 2017 Today, the second day of racing for the 2017 Hydrofoil Pro Tour in San Francisco, CA, USA at Crissy Field brought abnormal conditions. The skies are filled with clouds which shuts down the wind. Brief rain showers pass through as the wind shifts west to south and back. Reports of two - four knots, brief surges to 10, and back to nothing keep teasing the racers and race committee. At 4 pm the official notice comes to cancel racing for the day.

Racing took a turn to trimming, tweaking, and adjusting gear on the beach while everyone waited. One of the benefits of downtime during an event is checking out everyone’s gear and perfecting your own. Hydrofoil racing keeps pushing the technology limits of modern materials and designs. F-One Kites has helped push the limits along with Ozone, Flysurfer, and new players like Enata Kites. The technology designs in the foil ram air kites has changed dramatically over the last few years to go faster, fly more stable, and point down-wind better.

The hydrofoils also continue to advance pushing the limits of carbon fiber and hydro dynamics. Mike’s Labs foils continue to be a top leader in performance. Spotz, Axis, Enata, KFA, Levitaz, F4, are all pushing boundaries, design, and performance. This means speed. Lots of it. Forty plus knots of speed downwind. Twenty five plus knots upwind at incredible angles. Addictive speed. Smooth speed.

The pinnacle of hydrofoil racing should be on tomorrow as the forecast improves. Follow us online over the next few days. Check out the beach live with the Park Service crissy Field camera. Thanks to all the sponsors and volunteers for enabling an incredible event.