Exciting next generation of boardsailors

The iQFoil US National Championship was held for the first time in 2021, attracting a new wave of boardsailors on November 12-14 in Clearwater, FL. With the equipment to debut at the Paris 2024 Olympics in the Men’s and Women’s Windsurfer event, the recently launched foiling board hopes to excite the next generation of boardsailors.

Battling a wide range of conditions, Alex Temko (Palm Harbor, Fla.) took the men’s win in a tie break over his training partner, Noah Lyons (Clearwater, Fla.). A close event is nothing new to the duo, the two were tied going into the last race of the Junior Pan American Games selection event this summer; a photo finish in the last race earned Temko his spot at the inaugural event later in November in Cali, Colombia.

Top 3 US Men iQFoil results:
1. Alex Temko (Palm Harbor, Fla.)
2. Noah Lyons (Clearwater, Fla.)
3. Ethan Froelich (Austin, TX)

Top 3 US Women iQFoil results:
1. Fiona Wylde (Hood River, OR)
2. Danicka Sailer (Honolulu, HI)
3. Dominique Stater (Miami, Fla.)

Wrapping up his last event before Games, Temko emphasized the value of his training partner, “I’m glad I have Noah pushing me and helping me get to the next level. I’m going into Junior Pan Ams with confidence. We’ve been training hard.”

“I’m super stoked for Alex to take the win!” said Lyons. “I know he would be just as stoked for me; we are pushing each other to our limits.”

Support at the event came from US Olympic Performance Director Leandro Spina and Grant ‘Fuzz’ Spanhake, with the sailors using trackers to test technique and full squad debriefs and collaboration to assist the growth and development of the new Olympic discipline.

Olympian Pedro Pascual (Miami, Fla.), who competed on the RS:X equipment at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics, is making the switch now to the iQFoil equipment. “I have speed but need to improve on the foiling maneuvers,” admitted Pascual. “My evolution looks pretty fast, and I hope to fight for the top spots pretty soon.” Pascual finished 8th in the event.

Temko, Lyons, and Pascual will continue training in Clearwater with the local squad, consolidating their efforts and pushing each other to improve and prepare for the next event.

On her win in the female discipline (above photo), Fiona Wylde (Hood River, OR) is making strides in her transition into sailing from standup paddle boarding. She’s a 2x ICF Standup Paddle Board World Champion, winning the 2021 European Championship tour, and a week ago won the 2021 Wingfoil Racing World Cup. She jumped into the iQFoil class a year ago.

“This event was the first time I felt really comfortable sailing the iQFoil gear and managing the racecourse,” said Wylde.

Details: https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/23223

Editor’s note: The men’s online results show Noah Lyons winning on countback, but we are told the scoring software was unable to correctly calculate the tie-breaking system, and that it was Alexander Temko that took the win.