The most prestigious event on the big air kiteboarding calendar will celebrate its 10th year on Cape Town’s shores in 2022, so mark your calendars and get ready to put down your name because entries are now open for Red Bull King of the Air.
Following a hugely successful event in November 2021, the event will once again take place at Kite Beach in Cape Town when conditions are optimal over a two-week waiting period in late November and early December.
This event is set to be truly special with a few exciting things planned for the 10th anniversary and more will be revealed in the coming months. While the organisers are keeping things hush-hush, what can be revealed is that this will once again be showcasing how mind-blowing the sport of big air kiteboarding can be!
Red Bull King of the Air made its debut in Cape Town in 2013 as the kiteboarding scene saw an opportunity for the event to return to a new destination after it started in Ho’okipa, Maui. The Cape’s prevailing South-Easterly wind during the summer months, also known as the ‘Cape Doctor’, makes it the ideal place for the perfect conditions for big air kiteboarding: 25-knots plus winds, good weather and great waves for participants to launch off.
You could be a part of the 18… This fleet will be made up of the Top Three finishers from 2021, winners from Fly-To Red Bull King of the Air satellite events around the world including Egypt, The Netherlands and Denmark and video contest entrants (the number of slots here will be determined by the ‘Fly-To’ results).
“Riders want to make sure they’re ticking all the boxes for the Red Bull King of the Air criteria,” explained 2021 champ Marc Jacobs about putting together a strong video edit.
The Kiwi, who has four times qualified via video entry explained that the judging in the video entry process is on the same criteria as in the actual event. “They have to make sure that they are getting their kite as low as possible and landing cleanly.”
According to Jacobs, what he believes could set one apart in the highly competitive video entry process, is showcasing technical difficulty. “The judges also want to see harder tricks in high winds at a good height,” he said.
Sportive Director, Sergio Cantagalli echoed Jacobs’ sentiments: “The Red Bull King of the Air judges evaluate the rider on the basis of an overall impression score that will combine various elements including height and extremity.”
“Extreme action does not relate to low freestyle tricks, or ‘easy’ jumps,” Cantagalli cautioned, explaining that the judges will look only for high jumps, skill, and combinations of moves. “Other things we take into account are the angle of the kite, time in the air, control and landing,” he said.
There is no limit to how many videos a rider can submit. As soon as the video submission window is closed the competition begins. The top 20 videos with the most votes from the video contest judging committee, will make it to the final selection phase.
During the final selection process, the Red Bull King of the Air judges will analyse each video clip on the same judging criteria as they would in a live performance of Red Bull King of the Air. Entry videos should be no longer than one minute and should have been filmed in the past 12 months. The video can also include a montage of different jumps, merged to form the ideal sequence that showcases the skill of the rider.
Kiteboarders who think they have what it takes to compete with the world’s best aerialists in an extreme air contest are invited to submit a one-minute video of their biggest airs to redbullkingoftheair.com. Entries are open to any riders, male or female, from anywhere in the world.
The deadline for submissions is 30 September 2022 with the final announcement to be made by 14th October.
To watch all the action from the 2021 Red Bull King of the Air event head to www.redbull.tv or tune into Supersport on 28 February at 20:00 on Variety 3 (Ch. 208) and Variety 2 Africa.
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Picture: Supplied