Olympics 2024: Foils fuel wind of change for high-speed sailors

London: Singapore's gold medal hope Max Maeder is a poster child for sailing's sea change since the last Olympics, with 'foiling' classes such as his kiteboarding discipline making up half of the 10 events in 2024, compared with only one in Tokyo.

And when the 17-year-old world champion hits the Med off the southern French city of Marseille, it is likely to be the first sight for many of kitesurfers, iQFoil windsurfers and Nacra 17 catamaran sailors 'flying' above the waves on hi-tech foils.

Classes have evolved dramatically since the first sailing events of the modern Olympic era were held in France in 1900, with the craft becoming progressively lighter and faster, an evolution highlighted by kiteboarding's debut.

"Young talents like Max Maeder from Asia are significant in promoting the Olympic racing discipline and creating historic stories that could raise the sport's profile," said Max Blom, CMO of North Actionsports Group and Mystic co-founder.

"He (Maeder) will be a favourite coming into the Olympics, and winning a gold medal for Singapore – something that has only been done once in any sport – would be historic," kiteboarder Blom added in emailed comments to Reuters.

Maeder is part of a generation who have learned to foil from the start, rather than those who are having to adapt to the changes in handling and manoeuvring which come with far greater speeds, alongside associated dangers.

In recognition of the potential perils of high speed wipe-outs or crashes with other competitors or boards, all of the athletes in the foiling classes wear helmets.

Among the remaining non-foiling classes, the 49er and 49erFX skiffs are in the fast zone of the sailing spectrum, although no helmets are required, while the ILCA -- formerly the Laser -- single-handed men's and women's dinghy and traditional 470 now mixed two-hander bring up the slow end of the fleet.

For Tomasz Chamera, president of the Polish Yachting Association and a vice-president of the sport's governing body World Sailing, the faster classes represent a "big step forward" in attracting youth participation.

"We have been suffering with the number of young people coming into the sport ... they needed something more trendy, fizzy, something spectacular and the events of today are giving them this opportunity," Chamera told Reuters in an interview.

Another significant change for 2024 is achieving gender equity at event and athlete level, whereas there were five men's, four women's and one mixed event at the Tokyo Games.