Kitesoul Magazine #12 English Edition

Another year has come and
gone and here I sit amongst my
North Kiteboarding teammates
in our 1970s Cape Hatteras
rental overlooking the Pamilco
Sound. The usual background
noise fills the air as the crew
flips through the latest video
releases in any number of action
sports as well as the yearly
catching up banter amongst
friends who stop by to say hi
and pass the time. There is a
steady murmur of predictions
for what’s to come in the following
days as everyone eagerly
awaits the much anticipated
Southwest winds. It’s the week
before the Triple-S Invitational.
Over the past four years, I’ve
made the annual trek to the
small chain of islands that lie
off the coast of North Carolina
for North America’s most prestigious
kiteboarding event. It’s
one of the weeks I look forward
to the most throughout the
year. The friends, the parties,
the kiting….a sweet mix of lifestyle
and action, just the way
I like it. And although I would
now be regarded as a ‘veteran’
of the event having competed
and stood on the podium for the
past four years, I always come
with the expectation to be surprised
by some sort of significant
change to the event.
When I first competed in 2012,
45 minute jam sessions ensued
where 20+ riders per ‘heat’ rode
together in the slick, sliders and
surf. At the end of the week you
cast your vote for your favorite
in each category and celebra-
ted your winnings….which were
bragging rights. Then in 2013,
the prize purse shot to 40K and
with it came a panel of judges
who would critique your riding
in the same before mentioned
categories. 2014 took a purely
‘wakestyle’ shift, eliminating the
surf riders from the invite list
and hosting the third ‘surf’ discipline
in the ocean but using waves
as kickers and riders using
twintips instead of directionals.
Last year’s event saw arguably
the biggest change, completely
eliminating all freestyle and
wave disciplines and going all in
on Sliders, a drastic change but
welcomed warmly by most of
the participants.
So what could event host, Real
Watersports, have up their
sleeve for this year? Already,
with the announcement for the
2016 event we saw the invited
rider list shorten from 32 men
and 12 women to only the top
finishing 16 men and 4 women
from last years event with four
additional invites given at the
steering committees discretion.
But will that be THE big change
for this year’s event or will
the event continue to evolve?
According to head judge Brian
Wheeler, “The park setup and
format will be similar to what we
had in 2015…. For the 2016 Wind
Voyager Triple-S Invitational,
like last year, the park will be
divided into three zones, where
each group of riders will get
two or three attempts to post
their best score on each of the
features in each zone. All of the
competitors will ride through
zone one, then all through zone
two, etc. Each rider’s score will
be the sum of their top scores
for each of the five features.”
In addition to confirming that
the overall format will stay consistent
from last year, Wheeler
also shared that there will be
another surprise in the cards.
For 2016, we will see the introduction
of the Wind Voyager
Triple-S Challenge Series. Tapping
into the historical spirit of
the event pushing rider progression,
there will now be 3
additional cash prizes up for
grabs. For the first female to do
a 720 in competition there will
be awarded 720usd, for the first
person to do a 900, there will be
900usd and if anyone is able to
land a 1080 during a heat, they
will get an additional 1080usd
prize. If any of the challenges
aren’t met for this year, they will
move over to the next year and
the prize money doubles.
So the real question is who will
step up to the challenge? We
know a few 900s have been
done already so I would expect
to see this but can one of the
ladies pull off a 720? And can
anyone stomp a 1080? These
tricks have made history in
other boardsports and maybe
the time is now for kiteboarding
to take it to this next level. Or
maybe this will start a trend of
‘spinning to winning’….I guess
we will just have to wait and
see.