I first met Bobby Switzer at a menu tasting at Jackson’s Steak House a couple of years ago. Maria Goldberg introduced him to the guests as the event was wrapping up. He was the point person for an upcoming new event in Pensacola called Foil Week. Anything happening on the water captures my interest and Foiling was beginning to appear as a recreational sport more and more often. And it’s a different kind of sport.

The world of sailing seems to always explore new ways, utilizing technology, to marry wind, waves, and water. I remember when New Zealand clandestinely introduced foiling technology to America’s Cup in 2013 at the 34th America’s Cup held in San Francisco. The Kiwi team revolutionized the sport by making large yachts fly on hydrofoils at speeds exceeding 40 mph, making non-foiling designs obsolete and forever changing the art of finding new ways to spend time on the water.

Bobby, who is a native of Pensacola and has a rich background in advertising and real estate, tells me he ”had a sail boat before he had a car.” He’s not a competitive sailor, but became interested in Foiling when Pensacola recruited and landed the America’s Cup racing team, American Magic, to relocate its home port there. This was the catalyst for creating Sail Pensacola, a group led by emergency room physician and sailing enthusiast, Dr. Tim Ryschon.

A little history is in order. World Sailing is the governing body for the sport of sailing around the globe. Under its jurisdiction, competitive sailing falls into three main categories: Olympic events, World Championships, and Special Events (which includes several classes of sailing; America’s Cup, SailGP,  Ocean Racing, and International Foiling.

Of those, International Foiling is growing rapidly. Its main headquarters are on Lake Garda, Italy, in the foothills of the Italian Alps. The sailing conditions are perfect on Lake Garda, because of its hundreds of miles of shoreline and deep water. Only three miles wide, the winds are consistent, traveling down one side of the mountains in the morning, then shifting directions in the afternoon, which is a perfect recipe for sailing.

When Pensacola became home base for the America’s Cup entrant, American Magic, with a ten-year lease, and a hanger recently erected at the Port, world-class sailing enthusiasts suddenly discovered Pensacola. The result is an economic engine that attracts the affluent sailing community to visit Pensacola, participate in sanctioned race events, and create high-tech jobs to develop and build the latest state of the art boats and equipment. It’s a big deal.

Bobby credits Mayor D.C. Reeves and Collier Merrill for seeing the potential for transforming Pensacola into a destination for the world sailing community. Pensacola Bay has many attributes that lend itself to prime sailing conditions, and has the Port space to accommodate racing enthusiasts. Neither Bobby or Collier are competitive sailors, so their motivation was to attract more people to enjoy a world-class sport and get more people on the water.

Foiling Week is part of an international organization, and includes several classes of boats. There are only three cities in the United States that participate and host Foiling Week events: Newport, RI, Miami, FL, and Pensacola 

The main qualification to be classified as a Foiling craft is a foil (a device attached to the button of the boat that allows it to lift the body out of the water), thus allowing less friction and more speed. You may have seen foilers at the beach with small surfboard-type boards catching a wave and lifting out of the water while surfing on only the foil. 

Foils come in several different shapes and sizes and determine the class in which they compete. Some foils have motorized assist motors within the foil to help lift the main board or boat out of the water. Others require the sailor to “pump” their board to pick up enough speed to gain lift. Larger boats depend on sails to lift onto their foils. It’s all about technology.

The inaugural Foil Week Pensacola was held in 2025. Bobby’s interest, he says, is simply getting people on the water. He describes Pensacola Bay as an ideal location for Foiling Week with events taking place all around the waterfront and beaches. “The problem is access. Our city waterfront was developed for industrial use, and there are limitations on where Foilers can enter the Bay for competitions.”

He hopes that will change with the help of city officials, and others. “The ideal place to host Foil Week is at Maritime Park, but some things have to happen along the waterfront there. It’s doable, though, and would be a great new asset for the City to allow better water access and become a venue for events on the water.” He’d like to see the area cleaned up and improvements made to the existing marina to allow visitors to have easy access and provide overnight stays by boat.

As Bobby explained the City’s waterfront, beginning at the Graffiti Bridge down to the Pensacola Yacht Club heading west, there are no fully-equipped public marinas that allow people to come by boat, provide dock services, and spend the day or night. “There are so many areas around Orange Beach and Perdido Key with waterfront restaurants, docks, and beaches with easy access to goods and services. I hope we can move in that direction along our waterfront.”

Bobby knows a bit about real estate development. In downtown Pensacola his family once owned a city block on Palafox Street. They sold it a long time ago, but Bobby purchased it back in 2015 and renovated the Brent building and the Blount building into beautiful lofts, retail, and office space. He opened a collaborative office space called Cowork Annex for small, budding businesses. “We try to help them grow and then hope they will move to the bigger office space we manage,” he says.

All this is to say, Bobby is invested in Pensacola and wants to see new events like Foil Week be successful so that other international competitions may find a home. “This is an extraordinary group of athletes.” He mentions SailGP and the Danish team, ROCKWOOL, which was purchased in February for $60 million. SailGP was started by Larry Ellison and hosts 14 races around the world. 

“We’re working to have the SailGP North American Training Center locate here, so its  teams would come to Pensacola for a week each to train.” Bobby tells me American Magic recently sold its America Cup assets to American Racing Challenger (ARC), pivoting its attention to the SailGP racing world.

“The sailing world is big business, and it attracts an affluent group of business people, team members, and their families to discover and enjoy all that Pensacola has to offer. It is a huge opportunity.” Bobby, whose career was spent as an executive with Lamar Advertising, which began in Pensacola, knows a bit about marketing.

He concludes, “This is a tremendous opportunity for the City. We need to figure out how to improve access to Pensacola Bay along our waterfront and make it happen. With the Maritime Park, we have an amazing waterfront asset right in Downtown Pensacola. A City Public Marina with all the accoutrements would be the icing on the cake for people to access the water or come visit by boat, host events like Foil Week, and enjoy Pensacola Bay. There is so much potential for our waterfront.”

After skipping this year’s event because of logistical issues, Foil Week is scheduled to return to Pensacola Beach Yacht Club toward the end of March in 2027, 2028, and 2029, so stay tuned!

Thank you, Bobby! We look forward to seeing what this new sailing industry brings to the Scenic 98 Coastal area!