I have to agree with shawn...

a lot of us are very impressed by the technical tricks of the pkra because we know what they are and can relate to how hard they and how it must feel to land one... h

ow ever, when I think back ( i think it is the same for most people here) to the first time I saw kiteboarding about 3 years ago what stood out the most was the fact that you could pretty much fly with one of the those kites, I hardly remembered the low-kite tricks... and like shawn said air is were the attraction is... when people see me kite the only thing they want to see me do is a big jump... it's what sets us apart from the others, racing, wakestyle, cross, etc... can all be done in other sports, but getting launched from the ground like a rocket is our domain, unless you work for nasa or in a circus...

events bring in the public, air ignites the fire and attract new riders, which brings money, new companies, better and cheaper gear, and more friends to play with...

I personally like the kpwt because it promotes variety in the tricks, and even though the riders can all pull crazy handle passes, it's when they are forty feet of the ground that the crowd goes wild... to bad they can't get more riders to follow the tour....

I do agree with you : the KPWT offers more variety in contest : speed, crossing, freestyle and wave, and the riders are very good, very talented.

The very bad thing is that PKRA force their riders to compete only in PKRA contest : they should be free to do what they want !

I also dislike the fact they force the riders to ride one tour only...it should be up to the rider himself to decide! They need to survive and get as much coverage as possible.

How stupid would that be...imagine I ride the KPWT to enter many hangtime comps, and then I cannot enter the PKRA Germany to go for hangtime?
That is wrong! This is not from riders for the riders, this is from some for some!

And some rules suck anyway! Next time I would ride a PKRA freestyle, I wouldn't take off my board handle! Let them disqualify me but at least I would show spectators a nice show! (I wouldn't advance anyway, since 1 hangle dangle is worth more than 10 of the highest board offs).

I would love to see tha "pro riders" riding 4 real...i mean wakestyle.

Whatever..., not everyone can handle wake moves...guess thei can not go against their spirit. !