World Freestyle runner-up Mar de Arce to compete in the Ibiza Wingfoil Open 2025

The athlete from Cambrils is the current world runner-up in Freestyle and is ranked third in the Slalom circuit, with one event remaining.

The great champion and specialist Mar de Arce is officially one of the favorites to win the Ibiza Wingfoil Open (IWO), which will take place from October 3 to 5 in the bay of Portmany. The event will also host the Spanish Wingfoil Racing Championship. De Arce is 21 years old and originally from Cambrils (Tarragona), though she currently splits her time between Gran Canaria and Tarifa, two ideal locations for practicing this sport. Alongside her will be some of the most prominent specialists from Spain and other European countries.

Mar de Arce has been competing in water sports for 14 years, particularly in Windsurf, where she has achieved numerous international titles in different disciplines and categories. In 2025, she won one of the World Championship events held in Tarifa and was again crowned Freestyle world runner-up. She is also currently ranked third in the Slalom circuit, with the final event of the year still to come. In 2024, she was Freestyle world runner-up and third in Slalom, and in 2023 she made history by winning the first-ever female Big Air event in Gran Canaria on the world circuit. She now looks forward with great excitement to participating as a guest in the Spanish Race Championship.

Last year, the IWO set a participation record with 70 entries, and this year it is on track to match or even surpass that number. Although the event is still some time away, 30 participants are already registered, with clubs like Club de Pollença still to add twenty more athletes. It promises to be an exceptionally unique weekend of competition, where athletes do not start from the beach, as is customary, but rather board boats to find the most favorable wind zones for the races.

Wingfoil, or wingboarding, was born in 2016 and is an impressive hybrid discipline combining windsurf foiling and formula kite. The rider’s body transfers wind energy to the board-foil to propel it. The equipment consists of three parts: the wing, the board, and the hydrofoil, which lifts the board off the water, reaching high speeds. Competitors wear helmets and impact vests. While not as easy as windsurfing, the sport is highly attractive once riders are in flight. Its worldwide growth is unstoppable, helped by its logistical simplicity, as the equipment is compact and easy to set up.

The wind range required also gives wingfoil an advantage over disciplines like kiteboarding or funboarding. In locations such as Tarifa, Fuerteventura, or the bay of Roses, wings are beginning to outnumber other boards, and the trend has reached Ibiza, where the number of participants grows year by year.

Club Nàutic Sant Antoni, which organizes the event along with the Real Federación Española de Vela, has been promoting the discipline for several years through training activities and regattas. The new nautical center, which the club will inaugurate in 2026, will become a reference point on the island, continuing to promote this and other wind sports. The event is sponsored by the Consell Insular d’Eivissa, Café del Mar, and Balearia.