We are planning the Its Extreme kiteweek for 2006 to be held in Cairns Nth Qld. The event this year was a mix of freeride, rider improvement workshops, kite dvd comp, and culminated in one day of competition. ...plus lots of partying.

The purpose of this post is to guage what poeple are looking for when they come to such an event.

It is interesting note that registrations for the 2005 event were down by 30% onlast year and also the the Townsville event in September was not well attended either.

The questions i have are
Are riders not focussed on the competition side of the sport????
Are people more interested in getting together in a more social style of event eg mambo.

Plese post what you thinks makes a good kitefocussed event.

Thanks Bruce
event organiser
Its Extreme kiteweek

T

As for Extreme Kite Week or any other comp is geared around for the younger more advanced riders for obvious reasons. As we all love to watch these guys and girl do insane tricks, but I would rather be in the water.

There'e nothing for the older guys and girls 30-35+. As I'm speaking for myself body wont let me do any of the stuff the boys can and so it would be a waiste of time to go and try to compete, so there is no reason for me to be there, except to watch(nothing wrong with that).

I know it would be boring for others to watch but has there ever been a event/comp for the older riders incorporated with the main comp. We do know it's an extreme sport for the younger guys and girls but there is a alot of very good older riders out there, who might want to have a go in a competition just to see what its like!!!
Remember Kitesurfing is a very new sport so most of us took the sport up in our later years and will never know what it's like to be in a comp, but may be good enough to compete against guys close to our age's.


my 2 cents!!

Short, timed heats are no fun. Definately enjoy the longer freeride sessions that results are peer based by those on the water with you rather than a few judges sitting on the beach, that miss half the moves anyway because there are four or more guys competing and they simply can't watch everyone at once as they are to busy writing down scores.

I agree comps are about the new breed coming through and showing their stuff and competitions should be based around them but when a comp is open to other divisions ie amauters, juniors, female and the old fellas they need to be catered for as well. If diplaying the new talent is what the aim of the event is then do not open it to other divisions unless they are equally catered for. Especially when they fork out the same rego fees but seem to get very little time on the water. I am aware that when you have limited numbers in these fields compared to the open mens that can present a problem. However, attending an event with only 6 people registered in one field and the event organiser decides no heats at all due to the small number and then one 15 minute final with all 6 riders in a small zone does not make an enjoyable time during a four day event.

Having access to a large beach such as Yorkey's knob presents the opportuniy to have all or most divisions on the water at once.

quote:

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Remember Kitesurfing is a very new sport so most of us took the sport up in our later years and will never know what it's like to be in a comp, but may be good enough to compete against guys close to our age's.

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Thats what the Legends catergory is all about.

Great job on the comp Bruce. I went this year and in 03 and saw the difference in the comp style and the social side. I think the best parts were the nowind cable passes,Gilligans for accomodation and the location at yorkies knob.

I think that there will allways be two crowds attracted to kiting , one thats against haveing competition and for just riding together and having a social meet, and the others who don't mind or look forward to the comp side of the house.

Maybe instead of running everyone in a freeride, you could have the normal competing classes ie open, youth, female and ol fellas run in a normal elim or double elimination draw, and a seperate sport class with its own seperate and individual judging criteria and stlye.


Just a thought I had about modifying the priority bouy system if your thinking of using it... its good for all the reasons the traditional 4 man jump anywhere in the zone is bad for and vice verca. but the main downside is you may only get 3 runs in a 10 minute heat... and if you loose your board or kite, then only two runs to land your best 5 tricks... which is a) hard, and b) stressful and putting lots of pressure on the riders which makes some crack instead of perform

I thought for the first run, you run though the Priority bouys in the order your drawn to 1 at a time, allowing all riders the opportunity to get 2 or 3 solid tricks scored by all judges. when the first guy gets back to the bouy for the next run 2 competitors are allowed in on opposing tacks, ie one on his priority bouy out tack, when the previous riders turns to come back, heading downwind towards the center/ bottom of the judging square, with the new rider needing to keep clear upwind of the old rider, who needs to track to the center / downwind on his exit run

or, you could run the PBS at normal, then once ten minutes has elapsed, blow a few horns signalling the judging box is open, and all competitors in that heat are then free to enter and scramble for their high risk moves for 3 - 5 minutes ( obviously blowing out heat times abit to 13-15 minutes), but i think more enjoyable, and people have less pressure on them.

and for the sport div you could run a completely seperate freeride type event with 6-10 people in at a time, 20 minute heats, looking for longest hang time, biggest stack, most rotations, and best boardsoff/grab trick, and make those prizes / categories for the sport div people only.

just some thoughts... i thought you did a great job this year

Dont knock it till ya try it spacey... I've got one for the liter days when I can't be bothered wallowing around in the water. Good fun screaming around the beach, park or salt lake...

regards browneee

do you make like massive ramps for it and stuff, cuz if i ever buggied thats wat i would do.

thanks for the input so far....we actaully were blessed with good wind wind in 05 but last year killed it for us with a lck of wind.
I agree we need to cater for both the serious crew and the social riders so yeah I reckon we migh look at a pro class for the serious riders and then run a social section.
I really want kiteweek to become a whole kite festiaval the more than just a comp so that s why we came up with the film festival part of it

I also want ot devlop the other facets such as the rider improvement clinics that Dave from Slingshot started this year by having the tramp set up.

Next year we are working on doing a nite time cable ski session with dj big sound system and sliders in the cable park.

Also want to run a trip to Port Douglas and an big downwind ride.

keep the ideas coming
thanks bruce

what dates is this event held and can you recommend any accommodation on the beachfront

keep it fun. keep it simple. Free ride. Top 10 shoot out at the end fun things at night e.g fancey dress comps, video comps. set up fun activitiers incase of no wind. like a slipen slide or team tricycle races.yeah that would be fun

I say keep it simple. Maybe have a division for the younger ones,about 13 and under. The ones that can't do all the wakestyle tricks, and fancy stuff.

It would be cool if there was a all day bbq included with entering costs.

I think Kitegirl is right: keep it simple.
Try to advertise early, give yourself and others plenty of time to prepare and save the money for the trip (if you want interstate "crowd" to attend) and the most important: start looking for sponsors, at least one year in advance
Set entry fees that will allow the youngsters to afford them (don't forget they are the "stars" of tomorrow) and get the media coverage (that will attract more sponsors as you will provide "exposure").
And last but not least, try to cater for all the kiters, small and large, young and not so young, boys and girls, pro and amo...
I think that's one of the ways...

Good luck, and hope to be there next year.

N.B. I ran spell check, so nobody will pick again on me
Gee, I started to be afraid

Greeny,

Yes I noticed the date shortly after posting my reply! But then thought that it's not only input for Bruce, but also for kite comps in general, It's always handy to see what people think and want in competition. This type of post should keep running with any cool ideas that people come up with! SO keep your ideas coming!

regards,

JB