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2026 edition · Article 301
Classes
8 classes from the 2026 MotoSurf rulebook, each citing its article. The youngest riders race at 8: Juniors Boys 8 to 14 and Juniors Girls 8 to 15, counting the age reached during the calendar year.
Which class takes you, by age and gender
* Stock Men: does not take the previous season's Stock Men champion, who moves up to Elite Men unless the MotoSurf Committee decides otherwise (Art. 301.03), nor, unless the Motosurf Committee grants an exception, an Elite Men rider under 40 who finished in last season's top 8 or has raced two or more Elite Men rounds this season (Art. 301.01).
* Elite Men: takes a rider only after a completed Stock Men race in the season before, unless the Motosurf Committee grants an exception, and keeps for the rest of the season a rider who has raced two or more of its rounds (Art. 301.01).
Where bars in one group overlap, a rider of that age fits more than one band. Every band counts the age reached during the calendar year, and under Art. 301.09 the Motosurf Committee may still move a rider to another class.
How we know: Each bar is a class record's age band and rider, from the 2026 MotoSurf Rulebook, Art. 301.01 to 301.08.
-
open
Art. 301.01, technical rules at Art. 501.
-
closed sealed FCS
Art. 301.02, technical rules at Art. 503.
-
closed sealed FCS
Art. 301.03, technical rules at Art. 502.
-
open
Art. 301.04, technical rules at Art. 501.
-
closed sealed FCS
Art. 301.05, technical rules at Art. 503.
-
closed FCS
Art. 301.06, technical rules at Art. 504.
-
closed FCS
Art. 301.07, technical rules at Art. 504.
-
open FCS
Art. 301.08, technical rules at Art. 505.
2 of these classes do not run at every event: Masters Women needs 5 entries, and below that its riders start in Elite Women instead (Art. 301.05); Electric Challenge needs 5 entries, and below that the class is cancelled for that race (Art. 301.08).
What the badges mean
- Open and closed
- The rulebook's own words for whether a class names the boards it admits. Closed does not mean one make in principle, it means the class lists its eligible models. In practice every model listed is a JetSurf.
- Sealed
- 3 classes require an engine sealed by the manufacturer before registration; only a Technical Scrutineer may open the mounting seal, and only for service. Juniors Boys and Juniors Girls run a closed list of 6 permitted changes without a sealing clause, though scrutineering still checks their engines for seals.
- FCS
- The surfboard fin system the rulebook names for side fins (Art. 502.04 d), 503.05 d) and 504.05 d)). 6 classes require a named fin system and accept no other. In the 3 of them where the engine is also sealed, the fins are one of a handful of things a rider may legally change. What the rulebook then publishes about fin geometry is thinner than that requirement deserves.
Limits and requirements, with no list
Elite Men and Masters Men (Art. 501); Electric Challenge (Art. 505): each article states limits a board must stay inside and requirements it must meet.
-
A change that keeps every limit and requirement
goes through
- Meets the article
-
A change past a limit, or breaking a requirement
stops
- Does not meet the article
A closed list of changes
Stock Men (Art. 502); Elite Women and Masters Women (Art. 503); Juniors Boys and Juniors Girls (Art. 504): each article lists 6 or 7 changes a rider may make, and carries the clause at Art. 502.02 a), 503.02 a) and 504.02 a).
-
A change the list or another section allows
goes through
- Allowed
-
A change no section of the rulebook allows
stops
- Prohibited
The clause each list article carries reads "Features not allowed by sections of this rulebook are prohibited." It refuses only what no section of the rulebook allows, and the sections together can allow more than a list names. Art. 501 and 505 carry no such clause: they state limits and requirements and are silent on a change none of their sections touches. Art. 503 and 504 also cap the board's length and mass, so a list class is measured as well. Art. 501, 502, 503, 504 and 505 all cap the main fin at 230 mm high and 340 mm long, and Art. 502, 503 and 504 accept only FCS side fins, while Art. 505.04 d) allows only officially certified FCS fins.
How we know: The 2026 MotoSurf Rulebook, read article by article: Art. 502.01 a), 503.01 d) and 504.01 d) hold each list class's board to its standard specification and point it to its list of allowed modifications, the clause sits under each list article's engine requirements, Art. 501 and 505 hold the limits and requirements, and each article's heading names the classes it covers.
What kind of championship this is
In short: the closed classes name the boards they admit, and every one is a JetSurf. The open classes name no maker. Elite Men and Masters Men admit any board whose maker can show the type has been built at least 50 times, and Electric Challenge asks for no such figure. The rest of this page is the detail, and the detail matters.
- 1
Which class is the board entering?
Each class runs under one of the technical articles 501 to 505, which name it in their headings, and the route follows from that article.
- 2
For Elite Men and Masters Men, the article lists no board and names no maker. It requires the maker to be able to show, on request, that at least 50 of the type have been built.
Measured against the limits of Art. 501, with no homologation appendix named and no seal required.
- 3
For Electric Challenge, the article lists no board, names no board maker and requires no minimum production run.
Art. 505 sets limits instead of a list, names no homologation appendix and asks for no seal.
- 4
For Elite Women, Stock Men and Masters Women, the article lists named JetSurf model years and the only changes a rider may make (7 in Art. 502, 6 in Art. 503), and requires the engine sealed and in its standard form, as the homologation appendix sets it out. Art. 503 also requires at least 50 of the type to have been built.
Art. 502 (Stock Men) points to Appendix 2, form MSR_H_B03. Art. 503 (Elite Women and Masters Women) points to Appendix 3, form MSR_H_A03. The rulebook disagrees with itself about the Elite Women, Stock Men and Masters Women lists: Art. 301.02, 301.03 and 301.05 leave the model years open ("and newer"), while Art. 502 and 503 stop their lists at 2025, and Art. 503 also names the non DFI Jetsurf Race. For Elite Women and Stock Men, Art. 506.01 also has the top five riders in the standings race a propulsion kit (fuel tank, ICU, sealed engine and exhaust) drawn by lot at technical inspection, not their own.
- 5
For Juniors Boys and Juniors Girls, the article lists named JetSurf model years and the only 6 changes a rider may make, and requires the engine in its standard form, as the homologation appendix sets it out. Art. 504 also requires at least 50 of the type to have been built. Art. 504.02 sets no sealing requirement, though 504.06 c) lists a sealing check.
Art. 504 (Juniors Boys and Juniors Girls) points to Appendix 3, form MSR_H_A03. The rulebook disagrees with itself about the Juniors Boys and Juniors Girls lists: Art. 301.06 and 301.07 leave the model years open ("and newer"), while Art. 504 stops its list at 2025 and also names the non DFI Jetsurf Race.
- 6
On every route, Art. 301.09 lets the Motosurf Committee approve a board that falls outside a class's specifications, so a list that leaves a board out is not the last word.
The class decides the route, and the route decides what a board is held to: a production run, a set of limits, named model years with the engine matched to a form, a seal, or several of these at once.
How we know: The 2026 MotoSurf Rulebook: Art. 301, the technical articles 501, 502, 503, 504, 505 and 506, and Appendices 2 and 3, as this site's class, limits and homologation records hold them.
The production threshold belongs to the sanctioning body, not the sport: it says who sanctions the event, not how serious it is. The same body's ski classes are in the archive; no article number crosses between the two.
Units of one type a maker must show were built before it may race, by sanctioning body. Only the first row is a MotoSurf rule.
How we know: Board figure: the 2026 MotoSurf Rulebook, at the three articles named. Ski figures: the archive's body records for the UIM 2026, IJSBA 2025, IHRA 2026 rulebooks, each an AI extraction from its rulebook, paraphrased.
JetSurf is the only board brand either edition names, yet 3 classes are declared open, so this is neither a one make series nor an open championship.
The class the cover names and the rulebook does not
The 2026 cover credits a reigning champion of a "Stock R - Merlin Plus Class". The phrase appears nowhere else in the 2026 document: not in Art. 100, Art. 301, any technical article or the group allocation. In 2025 it was a defined class. It has no class page here, because one would assert a class the current rulebook does not define, and neither edition says what "Merlin Plus" is.
The event that is not one of the 8
Article 100 names eight categories and stops at Electric Challenge. Its very next sentence says the fully electric surfboards are divided into two disciplines, and names a second one: E-Foil Masters. Article 900 heads that discipline a separate event and races it on its own course for safety, so it has no class page here and is not counted among the 8 above.
- Craft
- An electric powered foil. A deck with a hydrofoil under it, driven by a motor on the mast, which lifts the rider clear of the water without wind or waves.
- Electrical limit
- 60 V maximum, and at most three motors. Art. 902
- Power
- No power figure, no battery capacity, no cell chemistry and no motor rating. The whole technical article is six bullets, and the electrical rule in it is a voltage ceiling and a motor count.
- Fins
- No fin rule of any kind. An eFoil has a mast and a wing rather than fins, so the FCS requirement that binds six of the eight categories does not reach this event.
- The propeller on the foil must be hidden and its sharp ends must not be uncovered.
- A control handle is accepted either remote or wired.
- One dimension is printed wrong and reproduced as printed: "The maximum width of the wind on the foil is 1m." A foil has a wing, so this is very likely a typing error for wing width; the 1 m is legible and the word is not ours to correct, so neither reading is presented as settled. The 2025 edition prints the same sentence.
- Riding gear is delegated by Art. 903, whose entire text is "See article 8." No article 8 exists in this edition: the 2026 renumbering left the pointer behind and the riding gear requirements are at Art. 507. A rider following the rulebook's own cross reference finds nothing.
It runs no lap chart. Each head to head session is two laps on two parallel tracks, and the riders swap tracks after the first lap (Art. 904.10).
- 1
Qualifying: each rider rides two laps alone, and the top 14 go through.
Art. 904.02 and 904.03
- 2
Round of 14: seven seeded pairs, 1st against 14th down to 7th against 8th.
Art. 904.04
- 3
Round of 8: the 7 pair winners and the fastest loser, in four pairs.
Art. 904.05 to 904.07
- 5
Battle for 3rd.
Art. 904.09 a)
- 6
Battle for 1st.
Art. 904.09 b)
Unlike the 8 classes, E-Foil Masters races head to head: a knockout from qualifying to two final battles.
How we know: 2026 MotoSurf Rulebook, Art. 904.02 to 904.09.
Where the rulebook disagrees with itself
| Class | Art. 301 admits | Technical article closes the list at | Names the non DFI Jetsurf Race |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elite Women | JetSurf Race DFI 2021 and newer | JetSurf Race DFI SL 2025 (Art. 503.02 b)) | Yes, Art. 503.01 d) |
| Stock Men | JetSurf Titanium DFI 2021 and newer | JetSurf Titanium DFI SL 2025 (Art. 502.01 a)) | No |
| Masters Women | JetSurf Race DFI 2021 and newer | JetSurf Race DFI SL 2025 (Art. 503.02 b)) | Yes, Art. 503.01 d) |
| Juniors Boys | JetSurf Race DFI 2021 and newer | JetSurf Race DFI SL 2025 (Art. 504.02 b)) | Yes, Art. 504.01 d) |
| Juniors Girls | JetSurf Race DFI 2021 and newer | JetSurf Race DFI SL 2025 (Art. 504.02 b)) | Yes, Art. 504.01 d) |
Each class page prints both readings and settles neither, as the archive does for ski racing, where one class publishes three different boost ceilings.
What the Motosurf Committee may override
Every age band and every board list on this page is subject to Article 301.09, headed Exceptions, which closes the article that defines the classes. It gives the Motosurf Committee four powers over who races in which category.
- A rider under the minimum age for a category, who finished the previous season in the top three, may transfer into another category with the Committee's consent, and only if the rider or a legal representative asks for it.
- A rider who finished the previous season in the top three and took at least one podium may be moved to another category by the Committee, before the new season starts.
- The Committee may change the category a rider chose when registering for a race, and may cancel that registration.
- A board that does not meet a category's specifications may still be allowed to compete, with the Committee's approval.
Article 301.09 lets the Committee admit a board that none of the lists names. So the accurate sentence is that an article does not list a board. It is never that the board is barred from racing.
What changed since 2025
All 8 classes changed between the two editions. No technical limit changed: displacement, length, mass, fin dimensions and the production minimum are identical.
| Class | What changed since 2025 |
|---|---|
| Elite Men | Renamed. The 2025 edition calls this class Elite. |
| Elite Women | Renamed from Women. The 2025 age table set the minimum at 15, and 2026 sets it at 16. |
| Stock Men | Renamed from Stock, and the minimum age fell from 18 to 15. |
| Masters Men | The 2025 edition ran a single Masters class at minimum age 40. 2026 splits it by gender and gives the women's half a lower age band. |
| Masters Women | New in 2026. The 2025 edition had no Masters Women class. |
| Juniors Boys | Split into its own article. The 2025 edition contradicted itself on the Juniors age band, saying 8 to 14 in one place and 8 to 15 in another. 2026 puts the boys at 8 to 14. |
| Juniors Girls | Given its own article. In 2025 the Juniors age table said 8 to 15 while the Juniors Girls article said 8 to 14, and that article described boys in its own words. 2026 settles the girls' band at 8 to 15. |
| Electric Challenge | The 2025 edition ran both an F1 and an F2 final for this class. 2026 runs an F1 only. |
| Stock R - Merlin Plus | Defined in 2025; gone from the 2026 body, still on its cover. |
Every article number here is a 2026 number.