The Chinese island Pingtan is located in front of the Taiwan coast and is one of the windiest areas with lots of waves. Because of these conditions it was chosen as the venue of this year’s 3rd IKA Tourstop. After two unsuccessful Big Air Events in El Gouna and Leucate due to a lack of wind, there was a 100% wind yield in Pingtan.
Thanks to the relatively constant winds and great waves the result of the Wave and Big Air competitions were already know after the first two days. Lewis Crathern seemed to be in top shape again and showed a versatile repertoire of massive spins and board offs as well as risky kiteloop-handlepass combinations at dizzying heights, which got him the victory. In the women competition FLYSURFER rider Bibiana Magaji boosted herself out of the water with a BOOST2 11.0m even though the wind lessened in the finals. Her high board-offs, controlled rotations, double spins and cleanly landed kiteloops brought her the 1st place.
Big Air Men:
1. Lewis Crathern (GBR, North)
2. Marius Hoppe (GER, Core/F2)
3. Posito Martinez (DOM, Da Silva)
Big Air Women:
1. Bibiana Magaji (SVK, FLYSURFER)
2. Ines Correia (POR, North)
3. Jingle Chen (CHN, Ozone)
The second half of the event was dedicated to the Chinese national Twin Tip Open Championships. Which attracted an amazing amount of riders, 73 men and 10 women registered. Against all expectations the wind increased and lead to thrilling races with rapid downwind passages. Overall there were 11 rounds raced on a triangle course, with great podium results for the FLYSURFER Team. Bibiana could fight her way up to 2nd place after being 1st on the first day of TT-Racing, and FLYSURFER rider Atte Kappel faught himself onto the podium with an amazing last race, making him finish 3rd overall. Bibi & Atte used SONIC2 and BOOST2 kites for their TT-Racing.
Congratulations from all of us here @ FLYSURFER Kiteboarding.
TT-Racing Open Men:
1. Julien Kerneur (FRA, Airush)
2. Yo (THA, Ozone)
3. Atte Kappel (SWE, FLYSURFER)
TT-Racing Open Women:
1. Jingle Chen (CHN, Ozone)
2. Bibiana Magaji (SVK, FLYSURFER)
3. Benjapa Jantawan