What's the deal on last weekends competition. Anybody know who won?

here is what I know about the kiting events:

Best Trick Pro:
Jesse Richman-1st (Cabrinha)
Mark Doyle-2nd (SS)
Shawn Richman-3rd (Cabrinha)

Kite Course Races Pro: (6 Races)
Shawn Richman-1st (Cabrinha)
Sean Farley-2nd (North)
Jesse Richman-3rd (Cabrinha)

Kite Course Races Am: (6 races)
Jeff Ruoss-1st (Cabrinha)
Geoff Headington-2nd (SS)
Jeff Kafka-3rd (Cabrinha)

Kiter Cross Races Pro:
Jesse Richman-1st (Cabrinha)
Sean Farley-2nd (North)
Shawn Richman-3rd (Cabrinha)

Best Trick Am:
Rocky Chatwell-1st (Airrush)
Jeff Kafka-2nd (Cabrinha)
Erik Reinstra-3rd (SS?)

Kiter Cross Race Am:
Jesse Oliver-1st (? sorry)
Adam Deny-2nd (Caution)
Adam Straight-3rd (SS)

Congratulations Rocky! (local Portland Texas Boy)

Exp. 1

I understand the pro and am were raced together. Do you know the top 3 overall with out respect to pro and am?

I understand it was:

Shawn (Cab)
Jesse (Cab)
Jeff R. (Cab)


Can you confirm? I would also like to know what you saw as the overall advantage for these riders. speed off the wind, starts, upwind angle. TIA.

Kent

Their advantage was that the Richman brothers would barge at every start, clog things up, and then take off. I thought they said no barging at the skippers meeting, but maybe I heard wrong!

Actually, I was just looking for any performance advantages, boards, kites, lines, etc. As for tactical advantage, from your post it seems as though they were clearly more gifted. For conversations sake, how about Jeff R., did he barge or was he just fast... upwind, downwind, etc? Anyone’s angle up wind any better, etc.?

I do understand your point though, most of these younger guys probably don't have much racing experience and likely don't know any rules. As a matter of a fact, the rules must still clearly be defined for kite racing to avoid instances like you mentioned above. The racing in the Bay area is clearly ahead of the scene and therefore must take charge to help the growth of this new and exciting discipline.

It seems as though some things will need to be defined such as what must be behind the start line before the start, kite or body. It seems realistic that it would just be the rider, but this still must be defined. I could see that the old slalom racing rules might work well for after the start of the race. In the long run, I see that true course racing in areas other than the bay might be difficult given marginal conditions and the possibility of having to pick up 40-50 riders. The infra structure would have to be massive to support this type of racing compared to any reach oriented race. Other thoughts?

Thanks

Kent

Kent:
regarding the results, you are correct that pros and ams raced in the same fleet..all together and were scored together as they finished. You are not correct in your understanding of the results. This is how the overall standings looked:
Shawn Richman (Cabrinha)-1st...14 points
Sean Farley (North)-2nd...17 points
Jeff Ruoss (Cabrinha)-3rd...22 points
Jesse Richman (Cabrinha)-4th...25 points
Geoff Headington (SS)-5th...26 points
Jeff Kafka (Cabrinha)-6th...35 points

Regarding what works and what doesn't. As you can see from the results, 5 of the top 6 racers were on a bow or bow similar kites, the other on a standard "C" This is basically what we are also seeing in the Cabrinha Race Series sponsored by Kite Wind Surf at the St Francis Yacht Club on every other thurs. Other than 2 of the top racers using C kites....the others are on a bow or bow similar kites.

Boards also seem to be critical. "Standard" twin tips do not seem to be competitve. The top six finishers at the King of the Bay were using boards that were not designed for racing. Shawn was using a large custom board loaned to him specifically for these races. It was a twin tip about a 150, wide, with relatively straight rails, some concave and some rocker in the tips over about the last foot to prevent stuffing the nose on the downwind leg. Also with surf fins that were towed in. Sean was using a directional board, Jesse ws using a custom swallow tail kite/surf board, Jeff R and Geoff H were using a glide; Jeff R with 2" cabrinha fins and Geoff H with stock fins, and Jeff Kafka was using a 5'6" WOW/Neptune (his company) quad fin kite/surf board. We are seeing the same trend in boards at the Cabrinha Race Series...Anthony Chavez the leader is using a custom directional with a squared tail and a rounded and very "scooped" nose...relatively long and not wide.

Regarding race tatics. Like all racing, a good start is important, but speed and tactics during the race are critical . For example: during the 5th race Shawn and Jesse got their kites tangled at the start with Jesse's kite going in the water. As a result, the entire fleet started WELL ahead of both with an am finishing 1st. Shawn still finished 4th in the race. Back to tactics. You know from your Olympic windsurf days, when to tack, understanding the favored tack and favored side of the course, tides, not overstanding the lay line or getting to the lay line to quickly are all important issues.

FYI, Shawn finished 1st in three of the 6 races with Sean, Geoff H, and Jesse a 1st each. There were no throw outs. And in the lst race, Shawn, Sean and Jesse finished within a second (bang/bang/bang) of each other!


Hope this helps. If you or anyone else has any questions about Kite Course
Racing please don't hesitate to ask. This is a new and very exciting kite discipline, and based on feedback from the participants and the spectators from both the King of the Bay and the Cabrinha Race Series at the St Francis, I think you will be seeing and hearing alot more about course racing in the near future.
steve

Congrats to Sean Farley from Colima, Mexican Kitesurfing National Champion 2005 and 2006! I hope to organize one of these here in mexico soon.

Does anybody have a picture showing the outline of this board?

GO KAFKA!