World-class foiling competition is about to get going in the year-round warmth of the Canary Islands, as 48 competitors line up for the start of the 2021 KiteFoil World Series Fuerteventura. Today was registration day, and maybe a chance for some final practice. But a rare day of no wind on the Risco del Paso beach sent the sailors off in search of an alternative watersport, a bit of old-school surfing. Every day is a learning day, even when you can’t put a kite in the sky.

Frenchman Axel Mazella clinched victory at the third stop of the KiteFoil World Series in tricky offshore breezes that faded towards the close of the regatta’s dramatic final fourth day in Cagliari on the Italian resort island of Sardinia. The faltering breeze that dropped to 6-8kts in the last race, left Mazella swimming when his kite collapsed after not managing to clear the top mark, despite pumping his foil furiously, though he was able to recover and finish down the order. But by then he had already carved out an insurmountable lead with clinical performances in the previous 16 races on the…

By the time Britain’s Connor Bainbridge dons his competition shirt on the final day of racing at the KiteFoil World Series Cagliari, he will have had the dubious honour of having worn all three of the leaders’ coloured jerseys, such is the intensity of the battles on the water. On the penultimate of four days of spectacular racing on the strikingly-beautiful Gulf of Angels track on the Italian resort island of Sardinia, the Briton’s performance in the day's four races was enough to move him up to second place overall. Bainbridge began the day on his 21m kite, in the 10kts…

France’s Axel Mazella and Russia’s Denis Taradin engaged in an absorbing battle full of drama, on day two of the KiteFoil World Series Cagliari, on the Italian resort island of Sardinia. With one victory each at the tour’s previous two stops, both Ozone riders traded bullets in the day’s five races, being fought out on the Gulf of Angels, off Cagliari’s Poetto beach, in onshore breezes that climbed to about 13kts. No race better illustrated the intensity of the duels between the pair, than the day’s final, climactic race. Taradin’s better angle and speed upwind saw him lead around the…

Only the finest margins separated the top men and women in the opening salvos at the 2021 KiteFoil World Series Cagliari, as tough conditions tested the mettle of the elite athletes to the limit. In the gusty and shifty Mistral breezes that hit 33kts off Cagliari’s Poetto beach on the Italian resort island of Sardinia, the leading men and women racing in one fleet traded bullets and the overall leads. But on his birthday, Britain’s Connor Bainbridge did enough in searingly-quick racing, to take the lead with two bullets and a second place in the opening day’s five races on the stunning…