With the only Slalom X event held in Fuerteventura, the 2026 PWA season for fin racing has come to an end.
The entire Bullet team congratulates Matteo Iachino on his victory and on winning the 2026 title. A result that once again confirms the extraordinary level reached by the best sailors in the discipline.
Unfortunately, the Bullet Racing Team was unable to organize its participation in Fuerteventura this season. Unless another event is announced at the last minute, our next opportunity to race on the PWA Slalom circuit will therefore be in 2027.
But because this time we watched the event from the outside, we had the opportunity to look more closely at some of the things that particularly caught our attention.
And, in our opinion, they are worth reflecting on.
The level is extremely high. But that’s not the only thing that matters.
The level of the PROs, as we all expected, was once again impressive.
Speed, technique, control and, above all, physical preparation are at an extremely high level. Racing at this level requires much more than good equipment and a few hours on the water: behind those few minutes of racing are training, sacrifice, experience and highly specific physical preparation.
But there was something else that perhaps caught our attention even more.
The young riders.
Young sailors who decided to enter the event, show up and, before any result, put themselves out there.
Not necessarily because they were already ready to compete with the best in the world, but because they chose to give it a try. And some of them surprised everyone.
This is perhaps one of the most interesting lessons that an event like Fuerteventura can leave us with.
Sometimes we think we are not ready yet. That we need another year of training, better equipment, more experience, more speed.
Then comes the moment when you simply have to give it a try.
And you may discover that reality is different from what you imagined.
Maybe you are not ready to win yet.
But you discover that you are ready enough to be in the mix.
And that is often where it all begins.
Who will inspire a new generation to fall in love with fin racing?
There is another thought that has been on our minds at Bullet for some time.
Windsurfing needs new young people who want to discover the sport. And, above all, it needs someone capable of making them dream.
This is not unique to windsurfing. We have seen the same thing happen in almost every major sport.
Michael Jordan became an icon for an entire generation of basketball players.
Ronaldo and Messi made millions of young people dream of having a ball at their feet.
Valentino Rossi made an entire generation look at MotoGP in a completely different way.
They were not simply great athletes.
They became figures capable of inspiring people.
Windsurfing has had the same kind of figures in riders such as Robby Naish, Björn Dunkerbeck and Antoine Albeau. Athletes who did more than win races: they helped define an era and brought new people into the sport.
Today, however, the question is inevitable:
Who will be next?
Who will be the rider capable of making a young person think: “I want to windsurf too.”
Who will bring windsurfing, and especially fin racing, back into the spotlight it deserves?
Perhaps it is still too early to have an answer.
But one thing seems clear to us: the future of the discipline will not depend only on faster boards, more efficient sails or the results of the next champions.
We will need people capable of inspiring.
Young riders with the courage to give it a try.
Athletes willing to put themselves to the test before knowing how far they can go.
And a community ready to support them along the way.
That is also why, at Bullet, we continue to believe in fin racing and in competition.
Not only because we want to win races.
But because every time someone decides to enter a race, even without knowing how competitive they can be, they are helping to keep something alive.
And perhaps, among those young riders who decided to give it a try in Fuerteventura, there is already someone who will one day make the next generation fall in love with fin racing.