Intercontinental Asia’s First Kiteboarding PKRA Grand Slam Hua Hin

The Kiteboard Tour Asia (KTA) has officially launched the first kiteboard competition tour to be based solely in the Asia region. The tour, which will be visiting five countries over the 09/10 Asian winter monsoon season, is a pro/am series of events open to male and female riders.

Photo: ikiteboarding.com

The KTA will launch with its first tour stop in October 09 in China and then move on to Hong Kong for December. The tour then continues in 2010 with tour stops in Vietnam and the Philippines at the end of January and February respectively with the tour finally moving onto Thailand to finish there in March.

Xiamen, China – 29th October – 1st November 2009
Lantau, Hong Kong – 2nd December – 5th December 2009
Mui Ne, Vietnam – 28th January – 31st January 2010
Boracay, Philippines – 24th February – 27th February 2010
Pranburi, Thailand – 25th March – 28th March 2010

The winter months have been chosen for the tour, as it will allow the tour to operate throughout the stronger more consistent NE monsoon months in Asia. So we fully anticipate some excellent conditions at each of the event venues, which will give the competitors great variety as they travel to each stop, plus of course the unique experience that each country and location offers in local culture and environment, making the KTA an interesting adventure, both on and off the water.

The Intercontinental Hua Hin Kiteboaridng World Cup in Thailand is adjusting their event dates for promotional reasons. The new dates will have registration on Sunday March 14th and the competition will be from Monday March 15th till Saturday March 20th. This dates changes will result in additional promotion of the event and a big increase in the number of local and regional competitor to the event, as well as the large number of international professional competitors expected. Online pre-registration for the event will open up on Monday February 1st at the PKRA website:

Photo: fksa.org

The Grand Slam event, featuring Freestyle, Course Racing, and sliders disciplines will be the first professional kiteboarding event in Asia in the history of the sport, and it promises to be a new beginning for the sport in the region, as it is expected to become an annual kiteboarding mega-event in Thailand.

In Addition to the PKRA Grand Slam event there will be a regional qualifier event which will be offering direct wildcard entries into the PKRA freestyle main event. Registration for this event will be on the 11th of March and competition will be from March 12- 14.

Kite boarding competition rules

Kite boarding competitions are arranged in different counties of the world and people love to participate and watch these events, which are full of excitement and entertainment. Whether you are a kite-surfer or a spectator, you have to know the basic rules of this sport. As a kite-surfer knowing its rules is really important because if you do not know all the rules there is always a chance of making mistakes. Similarly, if you are not a kite-surfer but you like to watch the kite boarding competitions then knowing the rules would allow you to understand the sport properly.

If you want to take part in any kind of kite boarding competition, first of all you should learn the rules of kite boarding. And it is not a difficult task, as almost all the big competitions have official website where you can get all the required information about the rules of kite surfing. At the website, you can also get lots of other related information about various events in the competition.

Photo: about.com

You must keep in mind that different kite surfing events played at different locations may not have the same rules. But, still there are some certain rules that may remain same at all the locations. For example, as we know kite surfing is an unsafe sport so every one should have to follow safety rules at all the locations. Similarly, in most of the kite surfing competitions wearing helmets is considered as the basic rule for the safety purpose. In this way, you can find many rules about safety regulations like what other safety equipment is compulsory for kite surfing.

Another important point to note that at the moment kite surfing occurs in the category of dangerous and new sports, and at present it is in the process of development. So this is the reason why you may find new rules and regulations for the sport with every passing year. And due to the risks involved in this game there are always the chances of more safety problems during the events. So, there may be a requirement to modify the safety equipment to resolve that issue.
So if you are planning to participate in a kite-boarding event, you should first learn all the rules and then fully prepare for it. After this has been done, just go for the event and have fun with Kite-surfing.

Sources:  cabrinhakites.com, internationalkiteboarding.org, kiteboardtour.asia, one2kite.com