CORPUS CHRISTI TO HOST WORLD KITE RACES
There’s a good reason why Corpus Christi, TX, has hosted wind-driven events for more than 25 years. The city has one of the highest average wind speeds of all the coastal cities in North America. Combined with the bay front area along Ocean Drive, this makes Corpus Christi one of the premiere destinations for kiteboarding year round, especially during the spring.
From April 22-25,2010, Corpus Christi will be home to the IKA 2010 Kite Racing World Championship, hosted by NJS Designs. Starting April 21 with registration, the kiteboarding competition begins on April 22 with an opening ceremony and will host two events with $20,000 in prize money: Course racing, with cash winnings going to the top ten men and top three women finishers, and a big air/best trick competition (pending).
Course racing will accommodate an unlimited number of competitors including many of the top ranked touring pros gunning for the title of Course Racing World Champion. The Big Air/Best Trick event, if confirmed, will be open to 32 competitors. As of press time, it was not known if any prize money would be allocated toward this competition. It should be noted that all competitors must prove that they have minimum $500,000 personal liability insurance to enter.
So why is a custom race board designer shouldering this event? Nils Stolzencher of NJS Designs has been supportive of course racing from day one He was one of the first riders to support and participate in the San Francisco races before it grew into the Cabrinha Race Series, and started his company as race board shapes and tins started to emerge amongst the more serious competitors. When it looked like the Worlds might not happen this year. Nils stepped in to apply for state funding to help him pull the event off. Nils said, "1 believe there is a strong possibility to have kite racing become part ot the Olympic Games In 2016. If you look at the rapid development and growth of the sport worldwide, it shows that it can emerge Getting the ISAF (International Sailing Federation) to sanction kiteboarding was a huge step in this direction. I stepped in to make this event happen to keep the momentum going." Nils went on to say that If the event is successful this year, the plan is to have the Nationals, the Continentals and the Worlds on a rotation in Corpus Christi every year.