It seems like all the controversy surrounding the end of last years PKRA tour, rumours of it being bought by Richard Branson and the crowning of Karolina Winkowska as World Champion was a long time ago.
Since then the girls have been training in Brazil, Cape Town, Australia and many other corners of the world. But now the tour is back. So what better time to present a little guide to this years tour before we jump on a plane to Morocco to bring you all the action.
First off. The dates.
18-29 March – Dakhla, Morocco
18-26 April – Leucate, France*
May – Egypt*
June – Cabarete, Dominican Republic*
July – Tarifa, Spain
July – Fuerteventura, Spain*
21-30 Aug – St Peter Ording, Germany
September – Brazil*
October – Argentina*
November – Hainan, China*
December – Cape Town, South Africa*
*Event to be confirmed.
So what does this mean. Well first off all but two of the stops are still to be confirmed which shows a certain amount of uncertainty at this stage of the year, but we also see the potential running of the tour all the way until December with an extra stop in Cape Town.
There will also be one Qualifier stop (WQF) before the first stop for the coming year and another one halfway during the season. Other than wild cards and the new ‘injury wildcard’ you need to qualify in these to compete for the season.
In order to improve the quality of the judging and to drive the media attention to a more predictable area, for 2015 they will introduce a reduced competition area and new interference rules and penalties to make sure only one competitor jumps at a time and to bring the action closer to the judges.
Height is making a comeback to the scoring criteria. With so much focus being on risk factor the past years (kite low and powered), there will now be increased points for height, but only when the height is achieved along risk factor and technical difficulty.
Crashes have been re-defined and clarified (in case you were wondering what really defines a crash).
A crash will be considered when:
1. a competitor is capsized, losing control of the board or bar when landing a trick.
2. a competitor grabs the bar leash to regain control of the bar.
3. a competitor lands a trick but did not control the kite throughout the execution of the trick resulting in the release of the bar and/or the crashing of the kite into water after landing the trick.
4. a competitor sinks and is completely stopped when landing a trick.
5. a competitor lands on their back and the board is completely out of the water.
Big Air will be introduced as a disciple to the most windy venues. These have not been specified and we do not know if this will be decided at the event or not.
They have introduced the prestigious Overall title of the 2015 Tour.
Points will be given according to the end of year ranking results per discipline.
Disciplines that will count towards the 2015
Overall title are:
• Freestyle
• Wave
• Big Air
• Slalom
There is clearly a lot still the same and we are guaranteed the world class level of riding and action that we are used to.
This year KiteSista will be attending as many events as we can bringing you behind the scenes images, interview and all the latest.
We are very excited about this year and look forward to sharing it with you.
