Kite Foil Gold Cup in San Francisco This Weekend

Paddling is what I usually write about, but I have a sweet spot for surfing, windsurfing and kiteboarding. I am not a kiteboarder but have watched the sport evolve over the years. In fact, many of my windsurfing friends have switched to kiting. Kiteboard racing has been happening at the St. Francis Yacht Club on the City Front for years and this weekend the Kite Foil Gold Cup makes its debut at the St. Francis Yacht Club. Mostly, I am excited to stand and watch in awe of the speeds these racers can hit, but I am even more excited about number of competitors from Marin that are racing at the Kite Foil Gold Cup.

What’s so important or cool about kite foils? If you have not seen the kiters at Crissy Field on kite foils (imagine a kite board with a 3 foot winged keel coming out the bottom of the board), then you need to make a trip to the race this weekend. Racing started July 29th and runs through August 2nd. These kiters easily hit 20-30 knots with the consistent Crissy Field winds and are spectacular to watch.

A lot of Marin locals are racing at the Gold Cup, including World Champion Johnny Heineken, his sister, also a World Champion, Erika Heineken, Haydn Fischer (age 15) from Mill Valley, Nicolai Sutter Sponholtz (age 19) and Sebastian Sutter Sponholtz from Sausalito, Joey Pasqualli from Sausalito, and Seth Besse… The list goes on of the competitors from Marin.

Racing will commence at 1:00 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday from the St. Francis Yacht Club. Be sure to go and check out all of the kiters at the Kite Foil Gold Cup this weekend. I hope to have a wrap up post with the race results next week.