Phocoena joined Waterz and IFCA Europeans in Hvide Sande Denmark 6. - 12. September 2026. The the annual Waterz festival this year featured long-distance races for everyone, followed by IFCA Fin Slalom Europeans Championships. Our hope was that both recreational racers and professional windsurfers would test and give feedback on the Hammer SL Slalom fin. We got so much more than we had hoped for, as we were so lucky that legend Taty Frans (2026 and -25 vice European slalom Champion, 2024 European slalom Champion, 2x PWA Freestyle vice World Champion, overall 5th to 7th PWA slalomX in years 2024-2026, indoor speed World Champion, entrepreneur, ..plus plus ) was interested in the Phocoena project, and wanted to test the Hammer SL.
Along came also the young and very talented windsurfers Arxon Gomperts NB-2011 and Tame Mondria ARU-20. They went out with the fins, and all came back with a big smile on their faces and thumbs up. Of the fin sizes we had brought to the event, the best match during the raceweek considering wind conditions, was for Arxon. He decided to go racing on the Hammer SL (..big cred to Arxon for having guts to go racing on an unknown fin!). Arxon, still not turned 15, was very successful, and in the end he won 1st place Junior U17. In this IFCA event, the fleet was mixed, in other words, seniors, youth and masters were racing in the same eliminations. Of the highlights of Arxon's racing, heat 4 in Elimination 3 should be mentioned, where he won 2. place, only behind Nico Prien – the overall winner of the event.
During the event we had both slalom racers and weekend warriors testing our fins, we had good talks with organizers, professional windsurfers and occasionally sailors. We need to give a thank you to everyone for being open and welcoming, but first of all a huge heartfelt Thank You to Taty, Tame and Arxon for being the first and opening doors. We have now agreed on to continue a collaboration for the slalom fins.
Event page: 2026 IFCA Fin Slalom Europeans
Waterz: waterz.dk