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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Snowkite Travels



Hello everyone!

I just got back from my month long trip competing on The North American Snowkite Tour and would like to share my travels with you. The trip was amazing and I did surprisingly well throughout the 4 competitions. I was traveling around in an RV with the rest of the Best Kiteboarding Team(3 Austrians, 2 Americans, and a Canadian). It was really exciting getting to travel with the guys whom I've looked up to in the sport for years. We traveled through Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

At each event we would compete in both Freestyle and Course Racing Disciplines. In Freestyle competitors compete in a slopestyle format with kickers, rails, spines, etc. They would run 4 man heats with the top 2 riders from each heat advancing to the next round. Riders were judged on difficulty, execution, amplitude, and overall impression. Racing would consist of varied courses ranging from 2 - 8 miles in length. 3 to 4 markers would create the course forcing riders to tack upwind, climb hills and descend hills all while jockeying for position and trying to not tangle with the other 15 or so competitors. All races would follow ISAF sailing rules and many of the professional course racers transitioned from the water to try there hand in the snow, making the competition very tough.

For the Tour Championships they would compile your top 3 out of 4 scores in both Freestyle and Racing for the overall tour winners, crowning 1 snowboarder and 1 skier. In the end I finished with two 1st place finishes and a 2nd place finish in the Freestyle and three 3rd place finishes in the Racing, putting me as the overall North American Snowkite Tour Winner. Wooo Hooo!!! Derek was able to make the third stop in Park City, Utah and competed in his first race. He did very well finishing 4th in the Amateur division. He's kiting very well and only just begun. I look forward to seeing what he can put together next year.

The following are some links to the coverage the tour got including TV interviews on both Park City TV and Plum TV(Sun Valley) which were syndicated across the US. Most of the actual riding footage has not yet been released but will be coming soon.