Sailboat racing worked this out a long time ago. Has been successfully applied to Wing foil racing, kite racing, etc. simply have the starting sequence, sound signals and flags to identify the countdown signal. If a few individuals are over early they are scored DNS. If a whole mob is over then you can have a general recall. Identified by series of sound signals and flags.
People who don’t want to listen/ pay attention are just not scored.
Or give a time penalty to those over early.
However I think the rabbit start is the best format for starting with the least chance of issues.
I don’t think they could have recalled and restarted without an hour hit to the schedule. By the time they got everyone stopped they would all need a lift, or have a long paddle back to the start.
Rabbit starts would be a disaster in a paddling format. They also eliminate much of the element of technique for starting. And reward barging. Just look at the videos of rabbit starts at European wind and Wing foil events. Looks like a competitive joke, and a disaster. Makes for fun footage, but I certainly wouldn’t want to be a competitive person involved in something like that.
Non-Foiling sup racing utilizes start signals and lines. But, they don’t seem to have graduated to the sophistication of over early penalties. Resorting instead to just yelling at each other to wait.
I honestly would love to see some kind of data from the races about sea state. I’ve never seen this before, but wind speed, wind direction, swell 1 direction/height/period/energy, swell 2, swell 3. Etc. And all this at various points of the course. There are public available data for such things, or maybe there would be a way to temporarily deploy some sensors from the boats. If nothing else, it would be super interesting to help sum up how different the conditions are throughout the race, and from race to race. Like it or not, gear selection for different phases of the race is a huge part of this.
I watched the entire rogue tv stream, had some ideas:
I want to see foiling grow, and to grow it’s gotta be watchable. I’d be happy to have an M2O watch party like a superbowl party, but it’s gotta be entertaining. You’ve gotta connect the audience with the participants, set up a huge challenge, and then follow their journey with rising intensity to the finish line. This would mean just a few key players get the most coverage, but if the non-foiler-yet fans connect and care, it’s a win.
Intro
hype the course, explain whats happening, all the classes, condtions etc
Most of all, explain to the average person who’s never heard of the sport the challenges and skills the riders use to overcome them. Set up the hook as to how these foilers can beat the odds and do the impossible.
Interview a few key riders (oldest / youngest / fastest / newest) so we have someone to root for. We’ll follow their story through the race.
Race Start
Start the race. Focus on diversity and show lots of people starting, falling, flailing, etc. Focus on chaos!
Showing people in the back falling / struggles makes the mid / front pack look even more amazing.
Race mid
everyone is spread out really far, so ideally using drone shots piloted from boats with starlink uplinks.
focus on everybody from back to front sharing why they’re at their spots
hype up the condition challenges
Race end
focus on the front individuals - talk about their skills / entire routes / techniques and why they’re the best
Instant replay good bump catches. Telestrate their paths.
Race finish
Show winning riders for each class
interview key foilers
Explain how to get started in foiling
I could finally make myself useful! 
Hey all, yeah that was an epic race season. I have been off here, trying to focus on training runs, plus keeping my day job. Here is what happened with the M2O start:
During the race meeting, they said that we were going to have to start between the two buoys. I raised my hand to ask, “how far apart are the buoys?”. My concern was that the race organizers are still getting used to foiling, and we need more room than a prone paddler needs to get started. At this time, they said that as long as the racers stayed “above the line” they could go as far north as we wanted. Well…..the more north you go, the more wind you have, so everyone we north and way out in the bumps. The starting boat was so far away that we couldn’t hear anything, and we could barely see the flags. Another race Marshall came by to try to move people closer to the buoys, but it was too late the herd was in charge, and we were doing what they said was ok the day before.
Just so no one miss-understands, the race organizers did a great job this year. Splitting the groups into two, made the boat wakes much better than last year. Still very tough, and I think there are ways to improve, but much better than last year. The TV coverage was rad, and all in all major thanks.
I do think they owe us a better award ceremony. We are finishing at Outrigger Canoe Club, why not do the celebration there, they they do for prone? Always ways to improve, but all in all it was a epic and well choreographed race.
can you elaborate on the split groups? was heat 2 measured against the same stick as heat 1? What would happen if hypothetically someone from heat 2 finishes in 1:45 vs. Edos 1:55 overall or whatever it was but Edo still crosses the line first due to the earlier start time?
Heat II rider checkin in here. They scheduled our start at exactly 5 min later (11:10?), and then subtracted 5 minutes from the total, so it essentially was “chip time” with an accurate start. I wish I had jumped off my boat a bit earlier, it’s nothing near the 30-45min paddle out for M2M, but it was still a bit stressful getting there by start, especially seeing most of Heat 1 way the heck up there … it also really felt like 1/3 of the group was in Heat II.
Boat wakes were an absolute menace, and second Shep’s sentiment that a fuller awards ceremony as we did in 2024 at Maui Brew Co was missed this year.
anyone have any info on the Paddle Imua parawing race? It sounds like it was a sail race rather than bump riding?
I’ve found that going straight downwind is faster with the thing stashed than deployed, around 20knots of wind. Wondering if they stashed in the race
Watching Tour de France alongside, I can’t help but wonder if a team dynamic would help, see what emerges in terms of dynamics
As a long time bike racer (no longer) and big cycling fan, I’m curious where you could see team dynamics as helpful in this sport? In cycling, the team dynamic has many different features (pacing, drafting, feeding, terrain specialists, multiple GC contenders, etc…), but I cant really see any of these as applicable in dw racing.
Not saying your wrong, maybe I’m just not knowledgeable enough around dw racing, or creative enough too see the parallel.
I can definitely see training and fueling science from cycling (or other endurance sports) as relevant to this type of racing, and I suspect that there are big gains to be had in application to dw (maybe some already are - but I havent really heard about it). dw racing is still powered by McD’s mustard packets - get these boys some ketones and bicarb (only kind of kidding)!
Ryan Arzy confirmed what James Casey told me. They sailed DW. It’s faster to sail than it is to bump ride. As proven by the wingers. Ryan used a 6M BRM and a tiny front wing. Super K 2. It’s in his Friday Pump from foiling magazine last week too. Let me see if I can find that.
He talks at the end about how it’s gone away from it’s roots. I don’t really get that. Parawinging was developed to surf in unbroken waves. Everyone used it for DW because they hate paddling. Now people think it was developed for stowing away and then DW. That confuses me. I digress.
Quote:
Having only been able to race in the first of the three Koa Kai races, I entered the parawing division for the Paddle Imua race on Maui. Since racing is all about the least amount of time from start to finish, many of the competitive entrants decided to keep their wings open the whole way, using them like spinnakers. During the few days leading up to the race, it was fun to learn a new style of parawinging that felt more like kitefoil racing – oversized wings, tiny foils, long masts, and blasting up and over bumps with the same feeling as bombing a hill on a skateboard on the brink of speed wobbles.
Incredibly happy to make the podium on this division and while it’d be tough to enforce a pack-away rule, it’d be great to see a part of this division return closer to its roots as untethered, hands-free, and purely powered by waves and swell.
Keep the vibes nice, and enjoy your weekend.
– Ryan Arzy
Digital Editor, Foiling Magazine
This might go against the grain, but I think it might be more beneficial to grow involvement in races the way marathons do. There’s definitely people winning marathons, but does anyone even pay attention to who they are? It’s more of a community event and personal mountain to climb for most of the participants. They still seem to draw tons of attendance and interest even if it’s not really a spectator sport (which DW foiling really isn’t TBH).
I kind of like foiling where it is right now and I think instead of “growing the sport”, everyone should be focused on growing or just maintaining all the good we got going on right now. Last thing I want to see is some overweight middle aged dude who doesn’t even foil criticizing Kane and Edo’s technique or their foil designer’s prototype this season. That stuff is toxic.
James Casey’s been talking about alternative formats lately and promoting “race” events just to gather the community. I think that’s the better path forward over making it palatable to people who aren’t ever gonna ride a foil.
Thanks yes that was what I was thinking of, forgot it was email.
It is a pity that it turns out to be faster to keep it open. I haven’t found that to be the case but I suppose anything above 20kn of wind and you’ll benefit from keeping it up.
Great post, I agree with everything you’ve said.
I think downwind needs to take note of how commercially sustaining adventure racing and participation events are, and think about what would make it fun / challenging for the participants. Look at all the grief, angst and personal growth from the M2O vloggers, it really is a challenge. Find a way to pack that into a smaller simpler cheaper format and you have an interesting new sport challenge.
The parawing solves a lot of the primary issues with ocean downwind races too (look at Dave west and Drifter struggling to paddle up):
I think, despite the issues with people para-sailing instead of stashing, it is likely the answer to making downwind events for amateurs more tolerable, in that it opens up much harder conditions, and opens them up on fun easy controllable foils.
My least favourite foiling has been on my 9’ board and 13AR race foil in wild ocean conditions, my absolute best has been in the exact same conditions on a smaller 7’6 and 7AR surf foil with the parawing. What is funny and surprising is that when I pushed on the surf foil, I was faster… my fastest 3km ever was on an 850 Silk..? what! What is the point of the SUP? I’m deeply puzzled.
Whatever the case, if I was running a downwind race, I’d focus on the intermediate dad parawinger as the primary target market for events (racing or otherwise).
Look at the participants of the M2O… It is an even split between dads with their kids left back home (or occasionally kids in tow), and kids with their dads in the boat. (moms/kids etc too)
Foiling should cater better to the average foiler, who, let us face it, is old, has money, wants an existential challenge, but doesn’t want to waste their time.
There is a proven market for this format too:
“I wanted to create something that’s a cross between a race, a challenge and an adventure holiday,”. “There’s a generation – people aged 40 to 60 – who still want that challenge, but also want to stay in a nice hotel, eat well, maybe bring their partner along and explore the region. What I’ve tried to create is the same sense of achievement, but in clearer waters with incredible surroundings.”
Why endurance sport is the new escape - BBC Travel
I can imagine the Swiss coming up with interesting multi-day stage races across the Alpine lakes, each person has a parawing, can dockstart or whatever suits them, have foil change waiting at aid stations. Like a Foil Iron Man or something.
It’s a bit of a tangent, give above post, but in essence a stage road bike race is on paper extremely dull, but for two things
Together these make for fascinating race tactics. Sprint specialists, ascenders, descenders, blocking, TT deciders, breakaway attacking groups, all are emergent tactics due to the teams and drafting. Watching racing without teams is way less interesting.
I don’t know what it would entail, but teams in downwind would almost certainly lead to emergent tactics. Tow ropes, parawings, swapping boards, kite race foils, upwind pump finishes along the river Thames, motor-doping, who knows.
(caveat-I’m compressing 100 years of cycle racing evolution into two seasons of downwind)
I have to strongly disagree with you. The M2O has been the world championship of downwind sports for the past 25 years. It’s meant to be an extremely challenging race, where only the best compete for the podium, and simply finishing is a major accomplishment for everyone else.
If you want to add fun or make the race easier, you can do that in other events elsewhere. Crossing the channel on foils might seem easier and more accessible, but if you’re struggling just to paddle up, maybe you’re not ready for a world championship race. There are other races you can do first.
I did not suggest changing M2O (and have said earlier that it should not, as the premier showcase etc etc it has prestige), I took it as an example/indication that there is a market for more challenging foil races than what is currently on offer (the rest of which are run in sub 10kn and trending to rather lame let’s be honest).
Out of Interest, what is the entry fee for M2O, and what is the prize money?
Estimates from coconut WhatsApp. $500 entry fee $2000 give or take escort boat. No prize money.
