The first NK Wingfoilen was organized by wing fever. Thus, the first wing foil competition in the Netherlands is a fact. The atmosphere was immediately good. We took the chance to call the participant and avid kitesurfer and wingfoiler Mark van der Burg. To ask him some questions about his experience of the first NK Wingfoilen in the Netherlands.
29 participants and good atmosphere
Of course, such a first competition requires some adaptability from the organization and participants. Mark's experience was in any case top notch. “There were 29 participants who had a lot of fun with each other, encouraging and helping each other. It reminded me of the first kitefoil competitions a few years ago. It was all very accessible for the participants and spectators. In any case, it is very special to see how quickly it wingfoilen is currently growing. Both in number and in the level of the wing foilers.”
Photo series Wingfever NK Wingfoilen
Slalom with a nice format for the participants
The field of participants was quite diverse and the competition format was a good set-up so that everyone got their chance. “The competition format was slalom in which the participants had to wingfoil upwind from the starting line around a buoy. Then a bit of downwind. The wing foilers also had to bridge a section with the wing neutral, that is, with one hand on the wing. Then the board and foil have to be pumped to keep up speed.” So pump with the legs.
Cool GWA competition format during NK Wingfoilen
The wind was about 8-10 knots to 18 knots and one race lasted about two and a half minutes. The NK Wingfoilen competition format was a format supported by the Global Wing Surfing Association (GWA).
It started with 4 preliminary rounds. After that, there was a round of 7 contestants with the best 4 going to the winners' final. The worst 4 went to the losers' final.
We have gone through this competition format twice. I ended up finishing second in the losers' final twice.
There were some good participants. Think of Jalou Langeree and Annabel van Westerop, among others. This also indicates that the event has been taken seriously by the best Dutch wing foilers.
NK Wingfoilen: the last could become the first
We asked Mark what he noticed during the event about the level or the participants. “It was a very nice wing foil competition for both the remote spectators and the participants. It was sometimes quite surprising, because someone who was the fastest way was certainly not by definition the winner. For example, a crash could give the course of a race a completely different turn. The focus was therefore mainly not to make mistakes.”
