Ahoy, mateys. Gather round, because Germany just threw the biggest electric-foil party this side of the Atlantic, and your Captain was watching the splashes roll in. On June 13 and 14, the old Olympic Rowing Stadium out at Oberschleissheim – the very water they built for the 1972 Munich Games – got hijacked by the SFT E-Foil & Pump Foil World Cup, the headline act of the brand-new Munich Water Days. First official international eFoil race ever held on German soil. Fifty-plus athletes, free grandstands packed to the rails, manufacturer tents trackside, food trucks smoking, and two days of dead-flat racing. They called it Formula 1 on water, and for once the hype held up.
Here’s the part that makes an old boat captain nod with respect: this didn’t just happen. Per the good folks at E-SURFER – media partners and the only people who test more boards than I curse at salt – the organizers had to pry an official permit out of a whole fleet of Bavarian authorities back on March 2 just to be allowed to run electric craft in competition on those waters. That permit is a first. A pilot project. A foot in the door for every German eFoil event that comes after it. And the venue itself? Flat, wave-free, no boat traffic, clean sightlines from the bank. If you were going to design a stadium to show normal people why we love this sport, you’d draw exactly this.
Money on the table, since you’ll ask: E-SURFER pegged it at 10,000 euros for the eFoil racing and another 5,000 for pump foil – call it 15,000 – while the tour’s own posters waved a 25,000-euro headline at the whole weekend. I’m not here to audit their arithmetic. Either way it’s a serious purse for a young sport, and it pulled a genuinely international Pro field to Bavaria.
E-Foil Racing: Chait Snatches It From Arpa
Now to the main event, where the watts live. The men’s Pro fight came down to a straight brand brawl between two heavyweights, and when the spray settled it was the American, Justin Chait – your defending 2025 SFT E-Foil World Champion – taking the Munich win on his Fliteboard. He had to earn every meter of it, holding off Spain’s Manel Arpa of the Lift squad in a finish one onlooker flat-out called an “insane finish.” Chait flies Fliteboard, Arpa flies Lift, so the pointy end of this race was a Fliteboard-versus-Lift shootout, plain and simple. (Fair warning from the Captain: the full official 2nd and 3rd were still being sorted across the tour’s channels as the results trickled out, so don’t go tattooing a podium order just yet.)
And don’t let the result fool you into thinking it was tidy. Day one belonged to Austria’s Clemens Kresser on his Aerofoils, who walked in and posted the fastest time in the opening trials – putting both champions on notice and reminding everyone that this is a three-brand war: Fliteboard, Lift, and Aerofoils, all season long. The lead in the Chait-versus-Arpa duel sloshed back and forth like bilge water in a chop before Chait finally nailed it down on the water, capping a two-day format that built to finals on Sunday. Munich was just the latest chapter, and it was a good one.
On the women’s side it was the usual royal procession. Sweden’s Agnes Wicander – reigning eFoil World Champ and the 2026 tour leader – took the win on her Waydoo and looked, as ever, like the rest of the fleet was riding through molasses. Masha Lyanova and Valentina Butsukina rounded out the podium, both also out of the Waydoo camp. When Agnes is on the start line, everyone else is racing for second. That’s just the tide we’re in.
A Quick Word on Pump Foil (Then Back to the Watts)
I know my crew came for the electric stuff, so I’ll keep this short and human-powered. Pump foil ran right alongside the racing for the no-motor purists, and Switzerland’s Edan Fiander – the reigning SFT Pump Foil World Champ – did the predictable thing and won the men’s Pro ahead of France’s Titouan Tournus and Germany’s Pit Hausberg. Germany’s Marnie Bertram was the fastest woman on the water. Tip of the captain’s hat to all of them – pumping is the hardest, sweatiest, most honest way to fly a foil. Now, back to the watts.
What Actually Mattered Here
Strip away the medals and the real story is bigger than any one rider. A full-blown international eFoil World Cup ran on protected German water and worked – free to watch, families on the bank, a 1972 Olympic venue turned into a proper arena. That flat-water format is the most spectator-friendly thing this sport has produced, and it’s a blueprint other countries should be stealing right now. Kresser’s day-one ambush was the jolt of the weekend, no serious injuries were reported, and for the record, Captain – this was a pure racing event. eFoil and pump foil time trials and head-to-head heats only. No jump contest, no freestyle, no nonsense. Just speed.
And the tour barely paused for breath – Munich was the opening salvo of a three-stop, three-country run that rolls on to the Dominican Republic and Italy. If Germany is any signal, the inland-stadium model is here to stay.
Munich 2026 – The Short Version
E-Foil, Men Pro: Winner – Justin Chait (USA, Fliteboard), ahead of Manel Arpa (ESP, Lift Foils). Fastest day-one trial: Clemens Kresser (AUT, Aerofoils). Full official 2nd/3rd still being confirmed.
E-Foil, Women: 1. Agnes Wicander (SWE, Waydoo), 2. Masha Lyanova (Waydoo), 3. Valentina Butsukina (Waydoo).
Pump Foil headline winners: Men Pro – Edan Fiander (SUI); Women – Marnie Bertram (GER).
So that’s Munich, mateys. Germany planted a flag, the Americans grabbed the top eFoil step, and the sport looked downright respectable doing it. For brands like Lift, Fliteboard, Waydoo, and Aerofoils – and our partners at BAWLS keeping the crew fueled – days like this are exactly what we’re chasing at Verdant Ride: real racing, real gear, real people on the water.
Ride hard. Race harder. And if you want the Captain breaking this down in long form with riders who were actually there, you’ll find me on the @verdantride YouTube channel, where we keep the receipts. What stood out to you from Munich? Drop it in the comments, and tag us if you rode it. – Captain Riptide
Sources: official SFT (Surf Foil World Tour) social channels, efoilbase, and E-SURFER event coverage.
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