IKA Announces Kiteboarding Class Changes




The IKA class meeting held last weekend in Rome has resulted in some important decisions for the 2013 season. The minutes will be published soon, but here is a brief overview of the most important topics:

Course Racing:

New material and weight limitation for boards, lines and kites approved.
4 kites instead of 3 to be used per competition in the future with no upper wind limit (within reasonable strength).
The kites are to be registered per event (NOT per season), but with one kite in each size category (15m and bigger, between 11m and 15m, 11m and smaller, 9m and smaller). The sizes 11m and 15m are overlapping, which means a 15m kite can either be a large kite or a medium kite, and a 11m kite can be either a medium or small size kite. Details will be fully laid out soon.
The 360 turn penalty is changed so that it includes a tack and a jibe.
Redress will be limited to injury, damage, and tangles, with a Q&A to be published on tangles. This will include tangles happening in Addendum Q races (umpired medal races).

Freestyle:

The new PKRA judging guidelines will be adopted for general use.

Wave Riding:

The same qualification system as in 2012 will be used, with 10 places pre-qualified in the mens fleet and 5 in the womens fleet from the 2012 KSP results. Details on the application process for 2013 will be published soon.

Slalom:

PKRA will run a slalom tour. Courses and organizational ideas have been presented and the current rules fine tuned and published asap.

Other:

A new foilboarding class has been created, with the class rules to be fine tuned with ISAF.
A Hall of Fame will be introduced rewarding past, present and future world champions and ranking winners