Dublin Bay Foil Festival brings stars, racing and gear showcase to Salthill

The real pull in Salthill is practical access. The Dublin Bay Foil Festival will give riders two days of racing, speed challenges and equipment displays at Dún Laoghaire Harbour, with a format built around parallel activities so people can move from one discipline to the next and build their own schedule.

The festival is listed for June 19-20 in Dublin Bay, and wing foiling is expected to be the biggest entry category. Pro riders and amateurs will share the same water in speed runs, fun courses and racing, a setup that makes the event more than a spectator show and turns it into a live comparison point for boards, foils, wings and assist systems.

Bjorn Dunkerbeck gives the weekend its marquee name. The speed-sailing world record holder is slated to attend, and the festival says the Dunkerbeck Speed Challenge will welcome all fans of speed with Dunkerbeck there in person. Alongside him, the entry list points to a strong international field, including Noe Cantaloube, Milla Danguy and Titouan Galea. Cantaloube, a foil athlete from Réunion and Tahiti, began foiling in 2021 and crosses several foil disciplines. Galea, from New Caledonia, has been wing foiling since childhood. Milla Danguy is listed as a French athlete.

For riders trying to figure out what actually works on the water, the gear angle is just as important as the racing. The equipment village will feature AFS, FoilDrive, F-One and Duotone, while Pure Magic says it already offers wingfoiling, e-foiling and Foil Drive rentals in Dublin. That makes the festival a clear place to compare setups, check the latest assist options and see how different systems fit different stages of progression.

The event also has depth behind it. Organisers include Pure Magic, the Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School, Dún Laoghaire Coastal Club and the Irish Windsurfing Association. The Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School says it has been based on the West Pier in Dún Laoghaire since 1978 and has trained about 170,000 trainees, a reminder that this is being staged inside one of Ireland’s most established water-sports hubs.

The Irish Windsurfing Association says the festival returns for its fourth edition in 2026, and it is being framed as a major milestone alongside Pure Magic’s 20th anniversary. François Colussi has said the timing reflects the sport’s growth in Ireland, and the scale of the entry list, the brand presence and the mix of disciplines back that up. For Irish foilers, the value of the weekend is obvious: one bay, one schedule, and a concentrated look at where the sport is going next.