Solving the age-old problem with sailing

In Part 4 of the Racing Rules of Sailing is Rule 42 which strives for sailboats to “compete by using only the wind and water to increase, maintain or decrease her speed.” There’s a list of prohibited actions, but the Propulsion rule is among the hardest to regulate.

If you watch Sailing at the Olympic Games, some classes disregard the rule at a certain wind strength, which relieves the judges from this obligation but turns the skill of sailing into an exceedingly aerobic activity. At times, it hardly looks like sailing.

Since relying on wind is the weak link for sailing, and limiting competitors to use only the wind is hard, the foiling world has developed the Pump Foil World Cup. This competitive event series needs no wind, and has athletes using only their own leg power and body movements to propel themselves on a foil board across a buoy course.

The first Pump Foil World Champions were recently named on Lake Traunsee, Austria. Below is the highlight video.