Downwind, pump foiling and more: Tom Hartmann on the new "Surf Foil World Tour"

Tom, you have launched the Surf Foil World Tour, a new tour for all foil sports that are not wind-powered, right?

That's how it is! It's called the Surf Foil World Tour, but it's not just surf foil, it's also pump foil, surf foil, downwind SUP foil, wake foil and e-foil, and whatever other foil sports might emerge in the next few years. We want to combine all of this and bring it onto one platform. There are lots of individual events like the Molokai Downwind Race or the Gruissan Foil Festival, but they don't get the attention they deserve simply because they're not part of a tour. We want to incorporate existing events, but of course we also want to organise our own events.

We want to get out of the wind sports bubble"

How did this come about?

We also do the Wingfoil World Tour, where we have repeatedly organised pumpfoil or surffoil events as part of the downwind programme in recent years. And the industry has also been asking more and more: "Why don't you organise more events like this, we need it for the sport?" But we didn't want to put it in the shadow of wingfoiling and only do it as a side gig on the Wingfoil World Tour. And we want to get out of the wind sports bubble, which is limited to people who do kitesurfing, windsurfing, wingfoil or whatever. We're seeing more and more people coming into areas like pump foiling who have never stood on a surfboard in their lives. You have a completely new target group. In pump foiling, there are people who come from cycling, athletics and ice hockey. They have nothing to do with surfboards, but they want to pump foil because they are fit and they like the feeling. There will be events where wingfoiling is perhaps combined with an SFT contest, but we also want to go to locations where we can't do any wind sports at all.

But there are definitely riders who do both, as we saw here at boot.

Exactly, so the idea is that we organise multi-discipline events, but not only. If the location makes sense, then we can organise two, three, four or five disciplines in one place. We simply want to attract attention to the sport of foiling, because just about everyone who comes into contact with a foil is on fire and gets infected by the feeling of hydrofoiling. And then they usually try out other sports and don't just stick to one. We will have a pumpfoil world tour, there will be an e-foil world tour, but ultimately everything will remain on the SFT platform. Simply to give the whole thing more power.

• Fast-paced races in wing and pump foiling on XXL pool

Does that mean there will be a separate classification for each discipline?

Yes, of course. There is a ranking for each discipline. The format won't necessarily be the same for every event either. We have now done a parallel slalom with pump track here, at the next events it will be more of a boardercross-like format, where you have six docks next to each other, six people start at the same time, pump around the same course, they can also push each other down, even with physical contact. That will be even more attractive for the spectators! Elsewhere, it might be a tow-in foiling event, or prone paddling or these new propulsion-assisted foil drives. It's amazing how much experimentation is still going on. And the sport is still so young.

How many events are on your calendar?

Next we're going to Pensacola in Florida, but we're not quite sure yet which disciplines we'll do. Pump foiling in any case, we would also like to do e-foil. We're working with the Surf Foil Race League, they have an exciting format, a combination of a surf foil and a pump foil event. You do a take-off with the wave, but then you're not judged when you're riding down, you race around buoys. You can use the waves in between. It's super athletic, with all the surf foilers taking part. It's actually a format that can also work well at other events. Then it's off to Cape Verde and Abu Dhabi. The focus there will be more on e-foil and wake foil, because we don't believe that many pump spoilers would travel there and there is no local scene. Maybe we'll do it as an exhibition because wingfoilers are there anyway. Leucate is also already confirmed, a pump foil event at the Mondial du Vent. In Morocco we are organising a surfoil event together with the GWA. The rest is still a question mark, but I think a few things will be finalised in the next few weeks. We're talking about Montenegro, then the foil festival in Lagos, Portugal. We would like to integrate Maui-to-Molokai as a downwind SUP event. But with the prospect of reaching out to new people, it makes sense to go to the cities as well.

Are you focussing more on individual events or also on the overall standings? It's getting difficult, especially for young riders, to take part in a worldwide tour.

Yes, at the moment it's focussed from event to event. But of course we will crown a tour winner at the end, that's what motivates people to go to the events. But two or three people here have already told me that they will also come to Florida. But at the moment I realise that maybe a handful of people will come and the rest will only go to one or two events that are nearby. There aren't that many pros in these sports who have sponsors to travel all over the world and ride all the events. We just want to start the whole thing and network worldwide, not just in Europe. I've also spoken to the Australians, where pump foiling isn't a big issue because they have waves, but downwind and surf foiling is huge for them. And the foil manufacturers who don't come from wind sports are very interested in this tour.

Do you already have partners who support the Surf Foil World Tour?

We have Armstrong, F2, Indiana... until two days ago nobody knew about SFT, it was only through our appearance at boot that people heard about us. It's still in its infancy, but I'm already really positively surprised at how much interest there is from all sides!

Do you offer prize money then?

Yes, here at boot we had 5,000 euros for wingfoiling and 5,000 euros for pump foiling. We want to bring it to a level where it's not just a local event, but that the people who take part also benefit from it.

We couldn't have a better kick-off"

What is your assessment of the first event here at boot?

We couldn't have a better kick-off, this event is the biggest boat show in the world, it gives you the best opportunity to present yourself and get attention. I think the feeling of being so close to the action at an indoor event is something very special. Someone has already asked me today that they also have a pool where they would like to do something like this. Maybe next year we could also integrate e-foiling. My assessment is absolutely positive, there were great athletes, many new faces who are not used to being on a stage like this. We had to limit it here, we could easily have had 50 riders.

So you're the tour manager of the Surf Foil World Tour?

There are two of us on the management side, Jörgen Vogt and myself. As a lawyer, Jörgen mainly deals with the financial and legal aspects, while the operational event business is more on my desk. Of course I have a team, there are five of us here, with a media team and a sports team of two people. For kite and wing events, we are sometimes a crew of 25 people, with live streaming and so on. There will also be a livestream at some of the SFT events, but that will be the exception at the moment.

You came from windsurfing, then you did the kite tour, now the wing tour. That means you're basically just travelling, right?

Yes, it's been a lot so far and I don't think it will get any less. We also have a larger team for the kite and wing tour, so I don't have to go everywhere myself. But I'm at 70 to 80 per cent of the events. I will now organise it so that my assistant can also go there and I can take a bit more care of this new SFT. You have to show your face and go to the events. But I can manage 20 or more events a year.

Thank you very much and good luck with the Surf Foil World Tour!

More info at surffoilworldtour.com