Focus on... Kite Cross
The 2011 kiteboarding championship rules see an addition in the line-up of major events. The new major discipline is called "Kite Cross" and incorporates the former side-disciplines as BoarderX, Slalom, Long Distance, Crossings etc. into one competition format with official world ranking and championship title.
As a natural progression of racing as well as being the perfect crossover discipline between the various kiteboarding disciplines, KiteCross is designed to bring the action close to the beach and right in front of the crowds and media in an easy to understand K.O. elimination system.
Fully utilizing recent developments in equipment, the KiteCross format allows a wide variety of courses to be set, enabling each race to be tailored in a way that allows both public and TV cameras to easily follow the competition, creating maximum excitement, interaction and enjoyment for spectators both on the beach and watching the event on TV.
Courses are generally based around downwind or figure-eight slalom courses (with or without obstacles to jump over), but can include any number of variations, some of the most dramatic of which include including long distance and between the island style races for the entire fleet. The spectacle of up to one hundred riders blasting across a start line, at over thirty knots, to do battle over miles of open water has to be seen to be fully appreciated !
The majority of competitions will be held on downwind slalom courses with or without obstacles in a multiple single elimination format, where only a number of competitors advance from round to round. While the final championships are not published yet it is expected that the format follows an adopted "no rules" format with direct refereeing and only a minimal set of rules like "boards on opposite tacks" and "dangerous sailing".
The preliminary championship rules can be found here.
The dates for the 2011 world and continental championships (champions decided in one-off events) are to be published beginning of January 2011.
