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Ben Clothier completes the first solo windfoil Isle of Wight circumnavigation - 2022
World First Snapshot
- First Title
- First solo windfoil circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight
- Discipline
Windsurf Foiling- Class
- Open / Circumnavigation
- Measured Result
- first - (First only)
- Date
- 2022-06-19
- Location
- Isle of Wight, England, England, United Kingdom
- First Achieved By
- Ben Clothier
World First Spotlight
Monster Council Approval
Jasper & Casper, along with the foiling community at large, has given this glorious achievement the official Foiling Freaks nod for Windsurf Foiling.
May it inspire better evidence, cleaner runs, bigger claims, and even louder hooting from the crowd.
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The Monster-Sized Story
In his detailed account published by Yachts and Yachting, Ben Clothier wrote that the goal was to windfoil around the Isle of Wight and that, to his knowledge, it had not been completed before. He emphasized that this was windfoiling, meaning the foiling form of windsurfing, not wingfoiling. Clothier launched from Lee-on-Solent, started the timed loop at the Squadron transit line at 8:28 a.m., navigated changing winds, rougher water near Hurst, a dead patch of breeze after the Needles, overfalls near St. Catherine's Point, a short break to inspect a broken batten, and the shallow-water risk near Ryde Sands. The run is entered as the first publicly reported solo windfoil circumnavigation in the sources reviewed.
Rules of the Beast
To qualify, the rider must complete a solo circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight on a foil-equipped windsurf board using a conventional mounted windsurf rig. The route must be a full island circuit, and the public source should identify the rider, date, and course description. Wingfoil, kitefoil, sailboats, and non-foiling windsurf attempts do not qualify. This is recorded as a public-record first based on sources reviewed.
How This Got the Nod
Primary first-person article explicitly distinguishes windfoiling from wingfoiling and states the route had not been completed before to his knowledge.