In looking at the list, this is really a "world championship". I think that the list is already at 13 countries! In looking at the American contingent, it makes me think that we should have a "beer" bet between the West Coast guys, the East Coast guys, and the Maui Crew.

I'd say take the top 3 finisheres from each region (men's class as Maui didn't bring any girls...what a shame!) 1 pt. for first, 2 for second, etc. low points wins. 3rd place team buys the winning team 3 cases of beer and he 2nd place team buys the winning team 2 cases of beer. The winning team just gets drunk.

In looking at my list of forecasted placing, I only have 1 East, 1 West, and 1 Maui in the top 5. It gets pretty even after that depending on wind conditions. I'd say that a kite team bet would also be good! I doubt that we will get any takers againts Alex's boards for a team event as nearly all riders are on them (damo, adam, bruno, jessie, shawn, alex, etc.)

Currently:
West Coast team: Adam K., Heiniken, Chip, Kasey, Adam V, Adrew K, Jamie D, Cam B., Geoff, Don

East Team: Damo, Kent, Gebi, Menk, P. Rynn, zack

MAUI TEAM: Jessie, Shawn, Rista, Aguera, Lake, Christian,

Kite teams: count 2 top men, 1 master, and 1 woman. low points wins. need to determind if fleet scoring would be used. probably so. thoughts? if your team doesn't hae one of the catagories, it's last plus 1. I think most have all.

PS. My top 5 guess for men:
1st Damo
2nd Adam
3rd Farley
4th Bruno
5th Jesse

I'm not too sure about the girls...

it is interesting for sure! All good riders!
I wonder which will be the top boards, top kites etc as well.

And there should be teams...that would be cool to have!

Gonna be exciting! Keep us updated!

I think Paolo Rista's new board design is a tri-fin . His designs won last year's tour - could give Alex's boards a run for the money.
Not sure who else will be riding them though.

Cool stuff this racing. Wish I could have made it down to the event. Really adds a whole new aspect to the sport.

Yep, we'll see how it runs. Surely easier to ride especially in the windy stuff. I'd put a beer on the fact that in 18 knots and lower that it faces challenges upwind though. Only time will tell, but we will know by the end of the event. I hear he's going pretty fast in Maui. It looks like we will get the windy stuff here on Thursday, but the wind will be pretty fickle for the days after. Hope we get a few races in!

Well, I think the jury is still out on three fins boards. On day 2, Alex boards took all top 5 spots on the day and Cab kites showed their light wind advantage.

Day 2 overall winners:

1st Damo Alex / Cabrinha
2nd Bruno Alex / Cabrinha
3rd Adam Alex / Ozone
4th Jesse Alex / Cabrinha
5th Marinkovic Alex / Cabrinha

All quad fins. Kite sizes ridden on the day 16 meter first 2 races, 13's second 2 for me, but some switched to big kites in the end. I think the 3 fins were good in a breeze, but missed in normal racing conditions (10-18). Let's see how fins progress and maybe the tri's will continue. They sure area easy to ride though...

PS... A big, BIG congrats to Adam Koch who truely deserved this huge win! His prep, experience, and training really came through with a near perfect performance. Good job Adam. It's nice to see guys like you adding to the sport of kite racing.

Kent