FreeFly-Slalom world champions to be crowned during nine-day watersports’ jamboree after season-long title race
GWA Wingfoil World Cup Abu Dhabi
25 October-02 November, 2025 | Fahid Island
The United Arab Emirates’ capital of Abu Dhabi appears on the GWA Wingfoil World Tour for the first time as it hosts the FreeFly-Slalom season finale when the 2025 winners will be crowned.
The current and two-time FreeFly-Slalom world champions, Spain’s Nia Suardiaz and Italy’s Francesco Cappuzzo, lead the rankings heading to the season’s third and final stop at the GWA Wingfoil World Cup Abu Dhabi.
A new, purpose-built facility at Fahid Island is the venue for the six days of racing that will take place during the nine-day event that encompasses the sister SFT Surf Foil World Tour, which will crown world champions in E-Foil and Wake Foil.
The GKA Kite World Tour will also open the Freestyle 2025 season at Fahid Island, where the world’s best kiteboarders will battle for €60,000 of prize money, from a total of €110,000 split between the GWA and SFT world champions.
Finally poised
Abu Dhabi is keen to develop the area as a watersports’ hub for the wider UAE community and international enthusiasts who, it hopes, will flock to the Gulf’s warm waters and steady breezes.
Staging the high-profile finish to the wingfoil FreeFly-Slalom year—where the world’s best athletes race around technical courses in a series of short, sharp races—will help underline Abu Dhabi’s ideal conditions for watersports.
The race for the men’s and women’s FreeFly-Slalom titles is finally poised, with Suardiaz and Cappuzzo unable to afford any slip-ups if they are to make it a hat-trick of world titles in Abu Dhabi.
Cappuzzo has the French pair of Bastian Escofet and Julien Rattotti, ranked second and third respectively, breathing down his neck. Each of the pursuers sit on equal points after taking a second and third apiece and are within touching distance of the Italian world champion.
Ready to pounce
Just behind in fourth is Italian, Alessandro Tomasi, another who could still win the title. Tomasi put on a strong performance during the qualifying rounds at the last stop in Fuerteventura, but was just outside the running in the all-important finals shootout.
Similarly, Suardiaz has a good lead after winning two events from two. But France’s Kylie Belloeuvre is close behind in the rankings after taking two second places. Belloeuvre has shown she has the pace to beat Suardiaz and was frustrated that she could not make it stick in the final in Fuerteventura.
Others like Spain’s Mar de Arce and Austria’s Viola Lippitsch, who are ranked three and four, are also within touching distance of Suardiaz ready to pounce on any mistake the teenager might make.
words: Ian MacKinnon
images: Svetlana Romantsova
Spot Info: Fahid Island, Abu Dhabi
Wind
Fahid Island is being developed as a purpose-built watersports’ facility and sits next to Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island Marina, home of the Formula 1 circuit. The breezes in late October tend to be light-to-moderate, building to between 12 and 18 knots as the day goes on. The wind blows mainly cross-onshore from the north, with the seas remaining mostly flat in the bay sheltered by islands.
Weather
Sea temperatures in October and November are still warm, ranging from 28°C to 31°C, so board shorts and a rashie are all that is necessary on the water. The air temperature ranges from a low of 28°C overnight, to a high of 35°C in the day. Sunrise is at about 06.00 with sunset at about 18.40.
