Monday, November 22, 2010

Kiteboarding: Boracay Prepares for Kiteboard Tour Asia


Boracay Island resort prepares for the holding of the Kiteboard Tour Asia (KTA) on March 16 to 20, 2011.

Organizers said, aside from this resort island, other venues for the Kiteboard tour will be on Hainan, China (November 25 to 29); Mui Ne, Vietnam (January 12 to 16); Pranburi, Thailand (February 16 to 20); Philippine tour will be in Boracay and Busan, Korea on April 15 to 19.

"The KTA is open to everyone from anywhere, amateur and pro-riders alike. It is the one and only officially Asian continental tour sanctioned by the International Kiteboarding Association (IKA). The kite surfing world governing body which in turn is the class representative to the International Sailing Federation sanctioning international sailing competitions from world championship to Olympic levels," the organizers said.

According to the organizers, they had chosen Boracay to be one of most established kite locations in Asia because of its world reputation for top class wind and kiting conditions and as one of the Philippines’ top holiday destinations.

The KTA competitions will be held at the Bulabog beach side of the island where all the kite schools and actions take place during the winter monsoon months.

The kiting here takes place inside a large reef protected bay that means for the most part flat or more or less flat water in all but the strongest of winds, which can be pretty strong during January, so expect chop on those days.

The organizers added that the 2011 event highlights the fully sanctioned continental tour. This means that riders will be awarded world ranking points for winning and being placed within each of the disciplines they compete in.

In turn, riders will then be able to view their overall world ranking position against all other riders in the world on the official International Kiteboarding Association website at any time during the season.

Under the IKA sanction, the KTA is able to run a number of different disciplines under their unified rule and rankings system.

For the 2010/11 tour, the KTA events will concentrate on two of these disciplines. The two KTA tour disciplines are Freestyle and Course racing.

This year, further to the two main IKA points ranking events, the KTA Asian Tour will also include, in the course racing section, a twin-tip sub-class to compliment the race board competitors keeping the entry level to racing open to everyone.

Old Skool will also be making an appearance this year with the KTA Big Air Old Skool continuous cup in association with SPLOCS.

Each tour stop has been designated as a four day event. The first day is allocated as a free ride warm-up day for riders to test out the location and to allow for registration and the competition format, rules and safety briefings to take place.

The following three days are full competition days which will be organized and run in accordance with the weather conditions on any given day.

The final event, wind-up and prize giving, will then take place at the end of the event party on the final evening of the tour stop.(PNA) /MP

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