FREESTYLE

Qualification:
There will be one Qualifier stop (WQF) before the first stop for the coming year and another one halfway during the season.
Pre-qualified riders: top 14 men and top 7 women (from previous year Freestyle ranking for the first Freestyle event and from the current Freestyle ranking before mid-year WQF).

 

 

Elimination ladder:
A new dingle ladder of 24 men and 12 women will be used during the 2015 world tour:





WILDCARDS:
There will be local event organizer’s wildcards given at each event: 2 men and 1 woman.
A new Injury wildcard is already in place for the 2015 season. To be entitled to an Injury wildcard, a competitor must be ranked in the Freestyle world rankings top 14 for men and top 7 for women at the time of their injury and have evidence that the competitor missed at least 50% of the current year events or combined two year events.

PRIZE MONEY:
Freestyle Prize money distribution will be as follows:




NEW COMPETITION AREA:
In order to improve the quality of the judging and to drive the media attention to a more predictable area, for 2015 we will introduce a reduced competition area and new interference rules and penalties to make sure only one competitor jumps at a time and to bring the action closer to the judges. In some scenarios with 3 competitors per heat we may use an offset mark to be rounded before any jump attempt inside the competition area.



INTERFERENCES:
Interference may be called if:
- A kiteboard changes course to obstruct another kiteboard.
- A kiteboard enters the competition area when another kiteboard is already inside.
- A kiteboard that has crossed or jumped inside the competition area changes direction and enters the competition area again when another kiteboard is approaching the competition area.
- There is deliberate unsportsmanlike action with the competitors in the heat.

INTERFERENCE PENALTY:
The Head Judge will call an interference penalty only if the majority of the judges will call the interference.
An interference penalty will be called using coloured flags or discs corresponding to the Competitor’s competition vest colours in the water.
If an interference is called on a Competitor, then the Competitor’s final score will be penalised with a loss of 50% of his best scoring trick.
If a Competitor incurs a second interference penalty during the heat, they must immediately leave the competition area and won’t be scored from this point losing 100% of his best scoring trick.


SCORING SYSTEM:
A new Freestyle scoring system is introduced for the 2015 season following all the feedback from the various parties involved and the discussions with the media partners.

In summary, the new system is based on individual tricks (similar to the previous one), but breaks down the current and re-worked judging criteria into three main scoring criteria or categories, each one being judged by two or one judges.


JUDGING CRITERIAS:
- Technical Difficulty – The technical difficulty of a trick completed during the heat.

- Power – The power during the execution of the tricks. Power will be considered as a combination of:

- Speed into the trick to pop, not using the kite to get the initial pop.

– Height and amplitude of the trick.


HEIGHT – Height of the trick completed during the heat. This aspect will exponentially come into consideration as the wind conditions increase, but only when the height is achieved along risk factor and technical difficulty.

VARIETY – The variety of tricks completed during the heat is considered in the maximum number of different tricks to be counted for the final score per trick category.

RISK FACTOR – Is directly linked to the Power involved in the execution of the tricks, but also to the commitment of the competitor, technical and physical challenge during the execution, duration of the critical moment, amount and quality (lines direction) of the air in the trick, and energy on the execution.

SMOOTHNESS – Smoothness and fluidity during the execution and landing of tricks completed during the heat.

INNOVATION – Tricks that have never been landed in competition before.


SCORING BREAKDOWN:
Technical (40%): technical difficulty and execution – Reflects the technical difficulty of the executed trick.
Intensity (40%): power and height – Reflects how big and powerful the trick is performed.
Performance (20%): smoothness, innovation and risk factor – Reflects the performance in terms of fluidity, originality and energy for each trick.

In the first round in Dakhla 2015 there will be a panel of 5 judges – each judge contributing 20% to the final score per trick:
Technical (40%): 2 judges.
Intensity (40%): 2 judges.
Performance (20%): 1 judge.

Crashes have been re-defined and clarified:
A crash will be considered when:
- A competitor is capsized, losing control of the board or bar when landing a trick.
- A competitor grabs the bar leash to regain control of the bar.
- A competitor lands a trick but did not control the kite throughout the execution of the trick resulting in the release of the bar and/or the crashing of the kite into water after landing the trick.
- A competitor sinks and is completely stopped when landing a trick.
- A competitor lands on their back and the board is completely out of the water.

Judges may give credit to a landed trick that is not a crash when:
- A competitor butt-checks when landing the trick but keeps riding and control the kite.
- A competitor grabs the chicken loop to regain control of the bar.


PRIZE MONEY:
Freestyle Prize money distribution will be as follows:

BIG AIR

We will bring this new exciting discipline to our most windy venues for the 2015 season.
There will be Qualifiers at every Big Air event scheduled during the 2015 season.

2015 Big Air ladder: 24 men and 12 women.
Pre-qualified riders: top 14 men and top 7 women from the current 2015 Big Air ranking.
Local event organizer’s wildcard: 2 men and 1 woman.





Big Air Prize Money distribution will be as follows:


BIG AIR JUDGING CRITERIA
Judging Guidelines:

HEIGHT: is the main judging factor (up to 75% – 80% of the score).

RISK FACTOR: Is directly linked to the amplitude and technical difficulty of the jump, but also to the commitment of the competitor, technical and physical challenge during the execution, duration of the critical moment, amount and quality (lines direction) of the air in the trick, and energy on the execution.

WAVE:

There will be Qualifiers at every wave event scheduled during the 2015 season.
2015 Wave ladder: 24 men and 12 women.
Pre-qualified riders: top 8 men and top 4 women (from 2014 PKRA Wave ranking for the first 2015 Wave event and from the current 2015 Wave ranking for the remaining 2015 events).
Local event organizer’s wildcard: 2 men and 1 woman.





PRIZE MONEY:
Wave prize money distribution will be as follows:



We are excited to introduce a new scoring format for the wave discipline introducing the jumps:

WAVE JUDGING CRITERIA:

Surfing: Competitors must perform to the judging key elements to maximize their scoring potential. Judges analyze the following major elements when scoring a Ride:

Commitment and degree of difficulty 

Innovative and progressive manoeuvres 

Combination of major manoeuvres

Variety of manoeuvres 

Speed, power and flow 

Riding strapless, switch, unhooked or displaying any combination thereof is considered more technically difficult.

It’s important to note that the emphasis of certain elements is contingent upon the location and the conditions on the day, as well as changes of conditions during the day.

SCORING SCALE
The following scale may be used to describe a Ride that is scored: 0–1.9 = Poor; 2.0–3.9 = Fair; 4.0–5.9 = Average; 6.0–7.9 = Good; 8.0–10.0 = Excellent.

Competitors must combine the major key elements in order to be awarded scores in the excellent range.

JUMPING
Competitors must perform to the judging key elements to maximize their scoring potential. Judges analyze the following major elements when scoring a Jump:

Technical difficulty.

Risk factor – Commitment of the competitor, technical and physical challenge and duration of the critical moment.

Height – Height of the landed jump. This aspect will exponentially come into consideration as the wind conditions increase, but only when the height is achieved along risk factor and technical difficulty.

Smoothness – Smoothness and fluidity during the execution and landing of jumps.

Innovation – Jumps that have never been landed in competition before.


Jumping strapless and not grabbing the board is considered more technically difficult.

SCORING
Rides and Jumps are scored from 0.1 to 10.0 (ten), broken into one-tenth increments (e.g 6.4).

The number of waves ridden and jumps to be counted from each competitor towards the final result shall be decided by the Head Judge in consultation with the Riders Representative and posted in the ONB.

The total points of the best jumping score will be multiplied by a certain factor. The resulting number should be totaled to determine the winner.

The jump multiplying factor* shall be decided by the Head Judge and posted on the ONB.

Tied competitors’ heat scores shall be listed in order of best to worst individual wave scores and at the first point where there is a difference the tie shall be broken in favor of the competitor with the best individual wave score. If the tie still remains, it shall be decided in favor of the competitor with the higher single jump score.

* The jump multiplying factor would be any one-tenth decimal from 0 to 1 depending on the given conditions.

Please note that jumping, spinning and tweaking it on the wave while riding a wave is part of the surfing score.


OVERALL TITLE

Last but not least, we want to introduce the prestigious Overall title of the 2015 Tour.

Points will be given according to the end of year ranking results per discipline.

Disciplines that will count towards the 2015 Overall title are:

- Freestyle
- Big Air
- Wave
- Slalom 

The best 3 end of year ranking results per discipline will count towards the Overall Ranking.

In order to be entitled for the Overall Title, a competitor has to finish within the top 5 position from the end of year ranking for at least one of the disciplines.

Prize money
Prize money will be distributed only to the winners at the end of the competition year:




PROVISIONAL TOUR CALENDAR 2015