Last Sunday, Italy’s historic One Hour Classic came to an end. This year, however, the event was renamed “Garda Trentino Foil Days”, a change that already says a lot about the direction our sport is taking.
The original format was simple: a two-mark course and a one-hour long-distance race dedicated to the Fin class. This year, the organizers chose a different approach: the “everyone together” model, with fin, foil and wing sharing the same racecourse for the entire event.
With the light winds typical of this time of year in Torbole, the outcome was fairly clear. Foil dominated the overall standings, but the most significant result concerned fin racing: in the overall classification, fin sailors (Matteo Iachino in 1°) finished behind wing riders as well.
Of course, the result deserves some context. Winds were often marginal, there were plenty of holes on the racecourse, and the conditions strongly favored foil-based disciplines. Those who followed the event closely understand that. But most people won’t remember those details.
What many enthusiasts will remember is much simpler: in the final standings, fin racing finished behind wing. And that is exactly the kind of comparison that shapes the perception of our discipline.
If that is the perception reaching the market, then an obvious question follows: what effect does this have on the future of slalom fin racing?
In our view, the answer is simple.
We’ve made the same mistake again.
We created an event in conditions that were marginal for fin racing and publicly showcased our discipline as less competitive than the alternatives. In other words, we did exactly the opposite of what anyone interested in supporting and promoting the Fin class should be doing.
As windsurfers, we can absolutely appreciate the fun such an event provides. Nobody is questioning the enjoyment of being on the water, competing with friends and sharing a great day of racing.
But the issue isn’t what happens on the water.
The issue is the message that reaches people off the water.
At Bullet, we do not support this approach. Our absence from the event — both on the racecourse and as exhibitors — was not accidental. It was simply the natural consequence of this belief.
We believe every discipline should reinforce its own identity, culture and way of being practiced. Yet in recent years, many organizers have embraced the “all together” model, convinced that combining more disciplines is the key to increasing participation, attendance and financial sustainability.
The logic is straightforward: more disciplines mean more competitors, more visibility and stronger events.
The problem is that this way of thinking focuses primarily on event numbers rather than on the long-term health of the individual disciplines involved. And even from a numbers perspective, the theory doesn’t seem particularly convincing.
This year’s event gathered around 120 participants across all disciplines combined. Yet only four or five years ago, the original One Hour could approach those numbers with the Fin class alone.
We hope fin racing will once again be promoted by people who truly believe in its identity, rather than by those who see it as just another category to add to an entry list.
Because a discipline does not become relevant again by hiding inside other disciplines.
It becomes relevant when it starts believing in its own value again.
And when we were told, “Then do it yourselves,” we realized that was exactly what needed to be done.