WASZP – NEW FOIL ANNOUNCEMENT

Over the last 2 years since the WASZP class began production it has grown to a worldwide class with over 700 boats in 42 countries.

During that time there has been multiple National Championships, a European Championships, a Pacific Championships and of course an International WASZP Games.

We are now on the eve of the 2nd ever WASZP Games in Perth which is expected to draw the highest quality fleet of WASZPs ever assembled. The event will be on the Swan River which is a foiling mecca. This will be the final WASZP sanctioned event run on the old racing foil.

Jack Felsenthal won Sail Melbourne on the NEW FOIL

There has been many discussions between the sailors and an open flow of communication between the manufacturer and the customer/sailor. This culminated in a decision at the recent European Championships for the class to explore options to make the boat better in marginal conditions as well as making manoeuvres more accessible to make the racing tighter and offer more passing lanes.

This left WASZP with the opportunity to look at a bigger foil and the pros and cons. During the 4 month testing period the results have been outstanding.

  • Regular foil tacking up-wind to allow more competitive racing and ability to tack on shifts
  • Better VMG upwind with the boats sailing higher and similar speeds through the water
  • Earlier take-off time (7knots)
  • Downwind the glide time allows much more stable foil gybing platform, this allows mid-fleet competitors to build their skills faster and a more enjoyable overall experience.
  • Sail deeper downwind in flat water
  • Similar performance albeit different technique downwind in waves.

Sail Melbourne over the weekend was the first test event for the foil with 12 high quality sailors competing on the foil for the first time.

Lachie Hughes showing off more glide time through the gybe

The results:

Ben Gunther – Top Laser sailor with about 6 hours on the boat

“For me I thought the new foil was a winner due to the manoeuvres. Having a bit more time makes a huge difference for a beginner.”

Jack Felsenthal – Sail Melbourne winner and top F16 sailor

‘I believe the new foil makes the boat a lot more tactical. Downwind it makes it much easier to gybe and so encourages you to gybe more downwind as the risk of falling off foils is less”

Jack Abbott – 5th  place at WASZP European Championships

‘Not easy conditions to run a regatta! 5 races series. I’m happy with that! game changer this foil’

Tom Trotman – 1st  place WASZP European Championships

“Really enjoyable today, we can tack on shifts now! Like dinghy sailing but fast and on foils”

Jon Holroyd – 2nd place Australian Nationals

“You point quite a lot higher upwind. Downwind in flat water you can sail lower.  I don’t think it will be any slower downwind in waves. It also foils quicker in marginal conditions and you can stay on the foils longer. You can also tack faster. Put all together, on average, it will be faster around the race course.”

Henry Davison – Young youth sailor with not long on the foils

“The new foil was great today I felt like as soon as there was enough speed it just popped up with out any pumping or anything like that”

WASZP announced the new foil through firstly an agents e-mail and then we notified the owners. Everyone involved in the process say this will be a truly game changing moment for the class, the enjoyment levels are exceeding anything that has gone before it. The ability to foil tack, plus better VMG for all sailors creating a much better experience and stable foiling platform for the middle of the fleet and participation base. All of this combined will make for better racing and a better product.

We are very excited by this process and feel that 2019 will be a significant year for the WASZP Class.

JON HOLROYD getting it done off Upwind at Sail Melbourne

NEW FOIL PURCHASE PROCESS

February 1st is when the foil change-over will begin implementation, with the first foils reaching customers in late February/early March. We have a 6 month period between the International WASZP Games in Perth and the European Championships in Malcesine. The WASZP European Championships will be the first official event on the new foil however some markets may decide that they would like to run their events on the big foil before then.

These foils will be sold at 33% discount for all existing WASZP Owners, if a customer has bought a new boat or a new foil from August 1st onwards we will credit them a new foil if they can get the foil back to the manufacturer for assessment. We will be servicing many events throughout the year to allow the change-over to be as smooth as possible:

$AUD537.20 + GST

  • 33%

$AUD359.92 +GST is the discounted price for all existing WASZP customers.

For more information please contact your local agent/distributor or [email protected]

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