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Displaying items by tag: Kite Foilers

The Formula Kite World Championships will take place in Torregrande, Sardinia, from October 13 to 17. The event is part of the Open Water Challenge, which celebrates board sports including kite, wing foil and SUP.

A whole host of British athletes will be hitting the water. In the women’s fleet, two-time European champ Ellie Aldridge is joined by Katie Dabson, Maddy Anderson (pictured), Jemima Crathorne and Lily Young, who makes her return to competition following injury. The men’s fleet will see 2019 world bronze medallist Connor Bainbridge and 2020 European bronze medallist Guy Bridge look to come home with some silverware.

"It’s the first Formula Kite World Championships to take place since World Sailing voted to change the competition from a mixed relay to individual fleet racing"

It’s the first Formula Kite World Championships to take place since World Sailing voted in June to change the proposed competition format from a mixed relay to individual fleet racing. That means at Paris 2024 there will be two sets of kite medals, rather than just one. Up until this decision athletes had to team up with another athlete of the opposite sex. Now it’s all down to the individual rider. Athletes will compete in an opening series to determine the top 14 riders, who then go forward into the knockout medal series.

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Esailing & Virtual Sailing information

The concept of e-sailing, or virtual sailing, is based on a computer game sailing challenge that has been around for more than a decade.

The research and development of software over this time means its popularity has taken off to the extent that it has now become a part of the sailing seascape and now allows people to take an 'active part' in some of the most famous regattas across the world such as the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Sydney Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup and some Olympic venues too, all from the comfort of their armchair.

The most popular model is the 'eSailing World Championship'. It is an annual esports competition, first held in 2018 and officially recognised by World Sailing, the sports governing body.

The eSailing World Championship is a yearly competition for virtual sailors competing on the Virtual Regatta Inshore game.

The contract to run the event was given to a private company, Virtual Regatta that had amassed tens of thousands of sailors playing offshore sailing routing game following major offshore races in real-time.

In April 2020, the company says on its website that it has 35,000 active players and 500,000 regattas sailed.

Virtual Regatta started in 2010 as a small team of passionate designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs gathered around the idea that virtual sailing sports games can mix with real races and real skippers.