KSP ( Kite Surf Pro) tour, toward a strapless kitesurfing tour ?

Promising to deliver high caliber and action-packed surfing, the KSP ( Kiste Surf Pro) tour will take place september 23 to october 2, 2011 at One Eye on Mauritius.

One Eye, the world-renowned Mauritian kite surfing wave, will set the stage for the first of three 2011 KSP World Tour events. Amidst stunning scenery, pristine turquoise waters, and perfect surf, the event will take place directly in front of the Indian Resort & Spa, at the base of Le Morne Mountain, a UNESCO world heritage site.
The spot :

Riders :
Female riders

Elsa Saintville (MRI – Local Wild Card)

Erika Lindberg (SWE)

Ines Correia (POR)

Kelly Wren Strachan (USA)

Kristin Boese (GER)

Maayke Tadema (NED)

Marie Gautron (FRA)

Melissa Gil (USA)

Muriel Vandenbempt (FRA)

Ninja Bichler (GER)

Steph Bridge (GBR)

Suzanne Kuiper (NED)

Male riders:

Airton Cozzolino (ITA)

Bruno Bordowsky (BRA)

Etienne Lhote (FRA)

Guilly Brandao (BRA)

Gunnar Biniasch (GER)

Gustavo Foerster (BRA)

Herve Boure (FRA)

James Donaldson (USA)

Jeremy Eloy (FRA)

Jesse Richman (HI)

John Amundson (HI)

Juan Pablo Diban (CHI)

Lee Harvey (GBR)

Marc Ramseier (SWI)

Mauricio Pedreira (BRA)

Max Bonieux (MRI – Local Wild Card)

Mitu Monteiro (CBV)

Nans Laviolette (REU)

Nuno Figuereido (POR)

Oswald Smith (RSA)

Patri McLaughlin (HI)

Patrick Desvaux (MRI – Local Wild Card)

Sebastien Schmitt (REU)

Sky Solbach (USA)

Rider’s list updated on september, 19

Judges : Judging Committee is composed of : Sky Solbach, Felix Pivec and Cameron Dietrich.

Few words about and by Felix Pivec (Australia):

Felix Pivec , one of the biggest names in kite surfing and a rider that has been pushing the surfing aspect for many years has put his hand up to step back from competing on the KSP tour himself (at least for the 2011 season) and instead dedicate himself to help develop the best possible judging for the discipline and sport. Felix is real asset for the KSP tour and has constantly given feedback and ideas over the past months and remarks:

“I’m really honored to be given the opportunity to help guide the sport of kite surfing into the future and push it into a more core direction. We are stopping at 3 world class wave spots this year (the remaining stops will be held in Pasacamayo, Peru and Ponta Preta, Capo Verde —October 19 to 28 and December 2 to 11, respectively) that give us the possibility to grow the sport in the right way and we should not hold back in doing so.”

So what about the rules ? When will we have an exclusive strapless kitesurfing tour ?
All riding styles will be allowed within the KSP competitions. It was also identified that, depending on the conditions, riders may need to adjust their style of riding to the spot.The judging guidelines developed in cooperation with the riders and finalized by the judging committee read as follows:

KSP Judging Guidelines (from the KSP site) :

Kite Surfers must perform according to the KSP judging key elements to maximize their scoring potential. Judges analyze the following major elements when scoring waves:

• Commitment
• Degree  of difficulty
• Innovative  and progressive maneuvers
• Combination  of major maneuvers
• Variety  of maneuvers
• Speed,  power and flow

Riding strapless, switch, unhooked or displaying any combination thereof is considered more technically difficult.

It should be noted that kite surfers must combine the major elements in order to be awarded scores in the excellent range.

“Simply increasing your degree of difficulty by riding switch, unhooked and strapless will not produce an excellent wave score if it is not combined with other key elements such as commitment, speed, power, flow, combination, variety and innovative/progressive maneuvers. And vise-versa, a kite surfer using foot straps will decrease his degree of difficulty and commitment even if he is fulfilling all other major elements, making it more difficult to produce scores in the excellent range.” KSP judges.

They came to a compromise, an exclusive strapless kitesurfing event is premature. But let’s wait and see the judging influence on results. If you enjoyed the Billabong live forecast in Teahuppo, you’ll find a live broadcast on the KSP website from September 23.

Kiting conditions :

Here are some pics with Mitu Monteiro in On Eye having blast few days before the event. The strong off shore winds and shallow reef make the One Eye wave selective and quick.

To end this page, a trailer with most of the big names riders of the KSP Tour 2011 in One Eye, Mauritius. We wish good luck to all the actors of the KSP and long life to this Tour whose main objective is promote the surfing aspect of the sport and kiting as such as mainstream media and the public.

Comments

comments