Kitesoul Magazine #17 English Edition

36
Blue Palawan Open 2017
The Philippines: Kite Park in true tropical style
member. With stable winds throughout the day and a steady
progression of the heats, we were able to get a lot done
and everyone was stoked.
Parks are not a piece of cake
Day 5 dawned. My stomach was tight with nerves and I
took deep breaths to calm myself. Kiteboarding on sliders
is difficult. If you’ve never tried before picture this: you’re
kiteboarding along approaching a large, plastic obstacle in
the water. You’re trying to maintain your consistent speed
(hard), unhook and line up with the feature (hard) and make
it across the whole thing while spinning, pressing and looking
super stylish (really hard). The wind variables that we
are all familiar with play a huge part in how you’re able to
execute your tricks across a feature. This difficulty is part
of what I love about park riding but also what I loathe. Can
the wind please just cooperate?
Luckily it did and Feb. 12th, ie. the finals day for the women
and the dingle round for the men was a success. We started
the day with the men’s dingle round, where two competitors
would earn a spot in the finals. The guys ran through all four
features consecutively. Scoring was based on a variety of
factors, including technical difficulty, speed and execution
with the latter being the most definitive factor. If you were
going to try a hard trick, you better make sure that it looked
effortless. In the end, it was the Tack brothers, Christophe
and Axel that outscored the competition and moved into the
finals.
Lots of tricks keeping an eye on the main draw
Then we ran the ladies’ final. Conditions started out strong
from the get go and we soon found ourselves pumping up
10 and 11-meter kites (quite a few meters smaller than what
we rode in the finals last year!). Because it was the “finals”,
we ran through all four features in one-go with no break or
stopping period in between.