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Competition format for Kitesurfing in the Olympics

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chirojoseph
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Local Beach: All of Quintana Roo Mexico
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Competition format for Kitesurfing in the Olympics

Postby chirojoseph » Mon Mar 29, 2004 7:32 pm

during our last two competitions here in the Cancun area of the Riviera Maya, Mexico, all the competitors (local and international) began to discuss possible new formats for kitesurfing comps. Since I have been riding relaxed sunset sessions recently with my MP3 player in a waterproof bag with waterproof earphones (waterproofmusic.com....tell em Joseph from Mexico sent ya;) I have been beginning to dream up a new type of comp. very similar to ice skating ...choreographed (spelling?) to music.

Imagine if you will..

a 14 knot minimum wind required..you have a "script" of the moves you will performing in sinc with your favorite tune...either Beethovens 7th, 2nd movement, a pumping Cult or ACDC oldy, or maybe some new raging Psycho techno track....either "live" or done with a videographer (who is also part of the "team" like in skydiving competitions??) on a jetski or stationary on a floating platform...

this would elevate the "non kiter" viewers appreciation of the performance because the comentators would be explainind the difficulty of the moves, alerting the viewer to what they are about to see or what they just saw....

example..

"wow, an excellent double front loop toeside to toeside transition (yes, Gerry, KyroJoe mentioned that this move was inspired by Tobias in the last PKRA competition but that he had trouble nailing the landing with speed up until last week) and now, as the symphony builds to crescendo he will attempt the ever so difficult double back flip kite loop..lets see if he can pull it off......INCREDIBLE!! he nailed the landing just as the Cellos peaked at A minor...Beethoven would be thrilled to see this rendition!!..."

if the contest was "live" there would be huge speakers pumping out the tunes so all the spectators could hear as wellas the competitor..the competitiors would be training for months listening to the tune in question..(a downside of this is youd probably get so sick of the music youd never want to hear it again:)...but that way, youd have a competition without multi-kiter heats where the spectators attention is divided between 2 to 6 kiters..youd also have the spectators with more of a clue of what they were watching.

we noticed of course at our last comp that the beachgoers were much more impressed with speed, fluidity, and of course, hangtime and height than the technicality of tricks...that is to be expected when they are "uneducated" as to what they are seeing. I sure as shit have no idea which ice skating moves are more difficult when i watch the olympics...but what ANYONE can easily judge is how nicely the moves flow from one to the next and how they are executed to the beat of the music in question. with the comentators explaining and prompting you for what to watch for the viewers would get a lot more out of what they were seeing.

now, take this crazy idea one step further...in skating you also have a team of man and woman..having to work together perfectly...could you possibly compete with your friend (male or female) in a TANDEM, choreographed routine?? two kiters raging towards eachother on opposite tacks, throwing twin kiteloop transitions..appearing that they will crash and tangle only to both simultaneously nail their landings and speed off in opposite directions all done to the beat of the music??

it could happen...and it would definately be of a caliber worthy of Olypmic status. Dont get me wrong, i think kiteboarding comps are incredibly exciting and the spectators love it....but this sport is all about evolving in different directions and taking it one level higher each year. I know that when I compete I have a general idea of what i want to throw and SOMETIMES I can hear the music from the DJ on the beach but imagine if you had provided to the judges (and only the judges, we dont want our competitors to know what moves we are planning to throw of course) the breakdown of the moves you were planning to throw and hte order that you were going to throw them...that way the routine gets polished...the judging is not JUST based on height and whether you land it cleanly but also the artistic quality in the way you MIXED it all up to provide a fluid, multidimensional DANCE with the WIND and the MUSIC.

if the comps. were not LIVE..they could be videotaped and put to music and all the tapes sent to a panel of judges who could review meticulously each performance....of course, then youd have to have all kinds of controls that the tape hadnt been tampered, fotoshopped, etc etc...

When Im out kiting in front of a Rave party on the beach at sunrise (try it, its a fucking rush!) with 500 plus freaks tripping their balls off watching the sun come up and my kite I think how killer it would be to make videos where the kiting footage really WENT WITH the music....some of the kiting videos ive seen approximate this (i love the sequence of Chris Gilbert in the Gorge with shots of the Train barreling along and that western cowboyish riding tune..sorry, dont remembe the band..in one of last years vids) but to date i havent seen anything really choreographed.

an olympic tableau of kiting might include categories of wave riding, flat water wakestyle handlepass no whip, cabarete style boost huge pass the board 20 times through your legs harlem globetrotteresque, and choreographed tandem.

if anyone can make it happen, its US.

Greets to all from sunny windy Puerto Morelos


lets hear some other crazy ideas...

KYROjoe
Go big, crash hard, learn fast

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