March 2015 - The VKWC in Dakhla Morocco.

During the last few months we all heard many gossips about the new owners of the World Tour, no one was sure about what really happened there but two days before the first event of the season in Dakhla Morocco the truth got released and the Tour announced it's partnership with Virgin. Those were big news for all of us as this helps kiteboarding to be in a brighter future. Oh, and for the ones who don't know it there has been a change from PKRA to VKWC (Virgin Kitesurfing World Championships).

The event in Morocco was two weeks long, during the first week the plan was to run the qualifiers, these are made for the riders to get a spot on the main event during the first half of the season. It was a big change for all the non top 14 riders as before we were used to have the chance to qualify right before each event. We started the qualifiers for the men and women, 7 spots in the main event for the men and 2 for the women were teasing us a great week of riding was in front of us. With the new competition format with a smaller box and a brand new judging criteria and system we were all really nervous and looking forward to see what was going to happen. Like they say no one likes changes. 

The wind wouldn't cooperate until the last few days of the period but we moved back and forth from the Speed spot to the main spot allowed us to finish the QS. Also for the first time ever we have Big Air as a discipline on tour and we saw the craziest action there.

Unfortunately there isn't a spot for me on the freestyle main event for this year, so I'm going to keep training and focusing on the next ones. 

The main event. 

I think the kiteboarding scene has been waiting for something like this for ages, no one is injured all the world champs and best riders in the world are back on tour so the most exciting year ever is ahead of us. This year the organizers decided to run the event at the Speed Spot instead of using the normal choppy spot in front of the hotel. Those where great news for all of us as that being said we were going to run the event in what probably is one of the top freestyle kiteboarding spots worldwide with it's perfect off shore steady winds and the flattest water you can ever dream of. The level was mind blowing the highest scoring tricks ever were being landed and you could easily find 720's on every heat of the event. The new scoring system is based on three different aspects of the trick, intensity, technical and execution. Every judge scores one of these three aspects and then these get a concrete percentage on the final score, this though had some mistakes which have to be solved but with more practice it will work better. We saw new tricks being land like the Hart Attack 5 from Liam and Double Half Cabs by pretty much everyone! 

During the main event I took the advantage of the time off I had and I filmed for another #TEAMMATES episode which will be out soon, oh and I also shot some nice pics from everyone. 

Double Half Cab.  

Liam Whaley Winner. 

Dahkla it's a wrap and we all look forward to see who's going to take the title home and the level to increase by the year! Congrats to the winners Liam and Karolina. 

Peace!