Isn't it good that wavekiting will always remain a soulful, niche discipline within the sport of kiteboarding ?
There will never be a competitive wavekiting world tour.
It just won't happen.
That's because wavekiters are so diverse, we just aren't on the same page.
And that makes it unjudge-able.
Cool.
Dont speak too soon.... saw a post on Kiteforum that debated the topic for pages and pages and the IKA is trying to trying to come up with a guideline for judging so that they can judge straps and unstrapped -
I dont know if you seen any footage from the wave masters but the the wave riding style is pretty unappealing to watch from a surf point of view -
One of the bigest and best kiteboarding comps in SA is a wave comp they have every year in Robe and it is definatly judged. Kitesurfing can be judged as there are moves and tecnique/style that will allways make someone stand out better than anyone else. More and more people are grabing a surfboard and smashing it. Get used to it.
Groms will be heading your way and killing you in comps, as they do so well in other areas of the sport but thats life you arent cool forever. Its human nature to be competative if your not you dont have to compete but dont try to hold back the sport and the people that want to push it to the limits.
competition does nothing to push limits
it just generates intolerance and inflates egos
Judge that??
easy
watch the wave
watch the kiter
cream rises to the top.
power and style will happen strapped, unstrapped, halfstrapped, hooked, unhooked.
doing anything with some one thats better than you helps to push your own limits. Full stop.
They dont need to be a pro or in competitions. Just get out there have a crack and give someone some space to make an impact on you to charge even harder. No doubt they will up the ante back.
Competitions blow,
maybe coz the media ..., so people can watch for $$$
...
or something like that,
Who cares who is the best, if your charging hard everyone will charge with you and only the true of heart will take up space.
Go forth and enjoy I reckon
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Competition gives us the chance to watch some of the best riders, and possibly learn new stuff and refine our own technique, and eventually have more fun as recreational kiters. I remember my tennis days: everyone's game lifted after watching a grand slam.
Judging should be easy as some have said. It should be based on the same criteria, power, wave selection, criticalness, style etc...
Whether the guy is hooked in or not should not matter. Thats will just be reflected in the style and whether being unhooked has made a difference to position on the wave. The judges should be looking beyond equipment and tools, and just be judging what they see the dude doing on the wave.
Probably not having a competitive wavekite world tour just comes down to the same old problem of cash. Who wants to stump any up, and what are they going to get from it. If Billabong suddenly put down $400K, per event, I am sure it will pretty quickly become judgable and pro like.
considering what the like of billabong and co have done to surfing in the last twenty years... do we really want kitesurfing to go the same way...?
