In May 2019 the World Sailing Council took the decision to reject the previous Board recommendation to retain the RS:X as the outcome of the re-evaluation process. Taking into consideration the opinion of the Equipment Committee at the mid-year meeting, the Board made the recommendation to Council to conduct sea trials before selecting the equipment for 2024.
As required by Council, the evaluation was carried out by a Working Party appointed by the Equipment Committee and the Events Committee.
The full evaluation report will be published in due course ahead of the Annual Conference for Council to make a final decision on the selection of equipment. This paper serves to inform of the Working Party recommendation following the sea trials. Further details on the equipment options and sea trials will be included in the evaluation report.
Following comprehensive on-water testing and evaluation against the approved criteria, the Working Party recommends the selection of the Starboard iFoil as the equipment for the windsurfer events in 2024.
The Working Party is of the view that the iFoil best meets the criteria and will showcase windsurfing to its full potential in the 2024 Olympic Games.
The Working Party evaluated 2 non-foiling equipment options the RS:X and the Glide and 3 foiling options. The foiling options ranged from the one-design iFoil (which includes the option to replace the foil with a fin), to a one- design board with registered series production rig and foil from Windfoil 1 and the full registered series production proposal of Formula Foil Limited. The Working Party considered that suitable foiling equipment options were presented, and that foiling windsurfing offered the most suitable equipment and event option for 2024. Read on.
