Nice. I don't think it should be illegal to race with a foil.

I was racing on Maui when some guys on short foils showed up. I was really surprised st the speed they achieved. I'm not close to that on mine.

Hi Ronnie,
I'm not convinced just because of the lateral force induced by the kite and transmitted to the board via the rider's body.
It would be like kiteracing on a skimboard, easy close to the shore but what happens offshore with the swell ?
Then, if you improve the skimboard ground effect by better "flight" characteristics, how would you oppose the kite lateral traction ?

So, because this subject is off topic, to gather ideas, I have launch a new post:
where eveybody can contribute and propose ideas he/she has in mind :

http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2376188

Thanks for the illustration Europe2.

I had a look at the location for the racing at Rio and it seems that they intend to hold most or all of the racing in Guanabara bay. That would likely mean very light wind (sub-10 knots) and small chop. It might be that a board specifically for Rio could be developed and that might even be with a 50 cm hydofoil fin unless that have rules to exclude it. I am all for Hydrofoils being developed as far as possible, but I am hoping that kite course racing in the Olympics is on planing hulls because I see that as the most practical system for the general public in light winds. Much easier to paddle in on an 85 litre raceboard than swim a hydrofoil board in if the wind dies. So although I am super-impressed by the developments and potential of foils, I see them as a toy for certain conditions simply due to the extra problems with self-rescue.

My hope is that there wont be a limitless technology battle before the next Olympics, even though we might learn a lot from it. We need costs to be kept down.

I hope they do continue to race foils and I reckon there is a lot more performance yet to be seen from foils.