14 year old wins Wingfoil Slalom UK National Championships 2022

Hugo Dobrijevic racing in the UKWA Wingfoil Slalom Championships 2022 © Andy Stallman / UK Watershots

Unless you've been living under a rock you will have likely seen or heard about the latest new watersport known as wingfoiling, or 'winging' for short. It has been taken under the wing (no pun intended) of the UKWA (UK Windsurfing Association) this year and four slalom racing events have been held across the south coast.

With the lowest overall score, the first ever Wingfoil Slalom National Champion is ex-Optimist sailor Hugo Dobrijevic (aged 14) who came away with the win. Here he tells us what it was like competing in this new discipline....

Competing in wingfoil racing is similar to dinghy racing in some respects, except that it is a lot faster paced and the consequences are much higher when it goes wrong! All starts are downwind and there is a 3 minute time sequence, everyone needs to hit the line at full speed to get ahead. There were competitors of all ages, some from dinghies like International Moths and some from windsurfing.

Hugo Dobrijevic racing in the UKWA Wingfoil Slalom Championships 2022 - photo © Andy Stallman / UK Watershots

The course is pretty straightforward, it's all downwind with broad reaches and lots of gybe marks. The trick is to get as much speed up as possible and hold the biggest wing you can to be fully powered up. Another advantage is to have as small a foil as possible to provide less drag, this introduces higher speed ranges. The only difficulty is staying up on the smaller foil is really challenging.

I found the racing incredibly exciting, I loved competing against my friends as well as role models from the sport like Guy Cribb and Isaac Lines, they really push me to my limits. The racing is done in heats, there's no time to rest, often we would finish a race and it was go time as soon as we were back upwind, competing in up to ten races a day. Some people used harnesses to help manage the pressure on your arms and upper body, but I managed not to.

I have been winging for just over a year; I stopped Optimist racing after seven years in the class and not being big enough for a 29er I wanted to get out on the water and have loads of fun and push the limits of this new sport. My favourite thing to do is learn new freestyle moves when I am not racing - my favourites are big air raleys and table-top 360s.

I am lucky that a few months after getting into winging I got spotted by K66 Watersports who offered me a position as a team rider for Duotone, Fanatic and Ion and they provide me with incredible gear to test out.

Hugo Dobrijevic racing in the UKWA Wingfoil Slalom Championships 2022 - photo © Dave Dobrijevic / www.instagram.com/capture_the_stoke

The National Championships were run over four weekends. The first event was in Lee-on-Solent; the conditions were marginal and light, we managed to get racing in when the breeze filled in. It was choppy in the Solent and my Dad actually won the start, led the first leg of the very first race!! Then the wind dropped and most of the wingers came off the foil at the gybe and I managed to stay on the foil and won the first ever race. Unfortunately it was abandoned due to the lack of foiling from the rest of the fleet!

The rest of the races were in better breeze and they fitted in well in between heats from the foiling windsurf fleet. I had some strong competition that weekend from Isaac Lines who builds his own boards in Weymouth and uses kite foil technology which is super fast. Also Finn Knight, James Bulson and Rafferty Read were also on fire that weekend.

The second event was held at Stokes Bay, this time the winds were epic on the Saturday, we had solid 18 knots, which made for some wicked racing conditions. The course area was huge stretching half way into the Solent and towards the shipping lane, it was fun racing as huge tankers were motoring past! It was choppy and gusty but I loved the intensity of the heats, it was literally non stop all day with only the tiniest break for lunch and then back out.

I finished third overall and first youth after eleven races that day in champagne conditions, really pushed by Isaac Lines and Rafferty Read as well as Alfie Luxton who made the jump from kitesurf competitions for that weekend and was close on my heels. However, on Sunday a high pressure came in and knocked out all chance of competing so we went skateboarding instead!

The third event was super fun, this time at Weymouth in Portland Harbour, we had perfect conditions and a big turn out, flat water and 12-18 knots all weekend. This time Finlay Chandler and I had the closest racing which was super fun even though he had the best weekend winning almost all of the races on his new race foil set up. I was still really stoked to come away with second place overall and learning so much including new gybes to use at different marks.

Weymouth event - James Bulsen 3rd, Hugo Dobrijevic 2nd, Finlay Chandler 1st - during the UKWA Wingfoil Slalom Championships 2022 - photo © Dave Dobrijevic / www.flickr.com/photos/150274848@N06/

The final event of the championship series and the one that determined who the overall winner would be was held at Sandbanks in Poole. It was the wettest weekend ever, it barely stopped raining! Along with the rain came loads of squalls and some massive gusts and waves.

It made for really challenging conditions on the foil and some really epic racing when we did get out. At times the visibility was so low we couldn't see the mark ahead of us on the leg we were on!

I was stoked to win the first race of the weekend and then after that it was a full on fight to the finish with Finlay Chandler, Leon Schiel and James Bulson. After the racing we had the prize-giving and it was clear that the youth dominated the results. I was so stoked when I realised I had won the National Championships for Wingfoil Slalom, not just out of the youth but overall.

In total there were 45 competitors and it was cool to share the water with all of them. I am looking forward to next year's racing and hoping to get to an international wingfoil tour event as well maybe!

Hugo's dad, a sailmaker and International 14 crew, takes videos of his son freestyling and wingfoiling around Hayling Island (what else is there to do on a school INSET day when the wind gets up?!)

Hugo Dobrijevic racing in the UKWA Wingfoil Slalom Championships 2022 - photo © Dave Dobrijevic / www.instagram.com/capture_the_stoke

Overall Results: (see also - other UKWA discipline results)

Hugo Dobrijevic - freestyle - photo © Dave Dobrijevic / www.instagram.com/capture_the_stoke