Inclusive competitive sport: First World Championships for wingfoilers with disabilities - participants wanted!

The World Inclusive Sailing Championships will be held in Portimao, Portugal, from 1 to 10 October 2026. For the first time, the world champions in para- or seated wingfoiling will also be crowned there - people with walking disabilities who sit on their wingboards with special equipment. One pioneer is Guillaume Colinwho was the only wheelchair user at this year's Defi Wing.

Tobias Michelsen from the Sail United association has been introducing people with disabilities to water sports for many years. Together with Guillaume Colin, he has devised special training methods so that people with disabilities can experience the same freedom on the water as other athletes. His project "Wingsurfing and foiling for all" is funded by Aktion Mensch, and Michelsen has already hosted para-sports heroes such as Kirsten Bruhn, Markus Vogel, Heiko Kröger and many others at his surf school and introduced them to the fascination of foiling - often accompanied by regional and national media such as NDR, Mare TV, ZDF, RTL and more. Michelsen is now looking for people with disabilities who would like to take part in the Wingfoil World Championships in Portugal and who can prepare with him.

What previous experience should a candidate have?

Actually, none are absolutely necessary - that's the special thing about our approach. An affinity for water sports or sport helps, but is not a prerequisite. Of course, learning is much easier for people with a low cross-section who still have full control over their abdominal muscles. For higher cross-sections, we need special - and not yet sufficiently developed - seats with a high backrest and side support.

What does the preparation for the World Cup look like, when and how do you train?

We train in Großenbrode on the Baltic Sea - one of the best spots in northern Germany with an inland lake and the Baltic Sea right next to each other. You can join now! As a special highlight, World Sailing is planning an Inclusion Development Programme (IDP) in Großenbrode at the end of July 2026 - directly after the RS Venture Connect Games in Travemünde (21 July). This will bring together international para-athletes, coaches and association representatives. This would be the ideal introduction for new participants. The World Championships will take place from 1 to 11 October 2026 in Portimão, Portugal.

We have structured the training into very small teaching units: Firstly, riding on the foil while sitting next to a rigid-hull inflatable boat with a windsurfing mast mounted as a support pole. Then wing handling in a wheelchair on land, then on a SUP surf ski with a seat and foot straps, but without a foil on the water, then riding an eFoil at full speed - and then everything together: Wing on a foil board while seated. Flying for wheelchair users and leg amputees - and of course also for senior citizens who can no longer start off kneeling and then stand up.

How do you develop the equipment, what challenges do you face?

This is the most exciting chapter - and there is actually exclusive material available! We are developing adaptive seats, harnesses and footstraps that are mounted on large-volume standard wingfoil boards, but we are also testing the Solamanzi seats, footstraps and harnesses that are mounted on waveski surf boards are used. The pioneer here is Guillaume Colin from France - Para Surf World Champion 2024/2025 and the first person to systematically structure Para Wingfoiling. He is also the coordinator of our Erasmus+ project "Para Wingfoil Europe", a major sports cooperation between Germany, France and Italy).

• Interview Guillaume Colin: "Take me to the water, I can foil on my own"

The biggest challenge: there is no commercial adaptive equipment yet - everything is being developed in-house, together with Guillaume and wheelchair users who have learnt sit-kitesurfing and sit-wakeboarding with us. Testing will take place in Großenbrode and at the first IDP for para-wingfoiling in Cagliari/Sardinia in October 2025. At the moment, there is only Guillaume in the world who can ride a slalom course on a foil - but we want to change that. Anyone who enters now has a real chance of winning a World Championship medal.

Our aim is to work with the umbrella organisations to promote international inclusive sports development, build new para-sport structures and establish sailing and other water sports as Paralympic sports again or for the first time.

Where and how can interested parties get in touch?

Directly by e-mail or telephone: tobiasmichelsen@gmx.de, +49 171 8055655
www.sail-united.eu

Thank you very much and good luck!