It didn’t look too good for the first day of the Dominican Kiteboarding Competition when the riders met for the morning briefing today. As the forecast predicted, the sky was covered with clouds and the wind blew straight offshore. Luckily the direction stabilized to perfect cross-on conditions and the riders set off in a handlepass marathon through the first single elimination heats. Even though Dominican Champion and favourite Alex Soto after his moto accident had to spend his time in the judge’s tower, the level of tricks more than once set the crowd on the beach on fire. One after another, the riders showed off in world class style. Especially impressive were some of the young juniors, who even showed the more experienced riders how to do a handlepass properly. Luis Alberto, also known as el Abuelito, even got the crowd going with huge double ones and super powered kiteloops. There is no doubt that these kids have a promising future in kiteboarding if they are given the chance. His older competitors will have to fight hard to keep their positions against the juniors for much longer. Today, the juniors competed agains the seniors, but tomorrow they will also run their own heats. As expected, the Las Terrenas rider Popo Paulino was riding hard and is expected to set his position in the pro circles in the near future. But maybe even more impressive was the one and only female rider in the contest, Cabarete profile and Dare to Fly manager, Audrey Meyer. This female rider has for a long time been a known profile in the kiteboarding world, but up until now Audrey has not been seen competing a lot. She put up a great fight against the guys, with some powered kiteloops and sweet combos, and will be seen in tomorrow’s continuation. All credit to Miss Meyer for getting in there and going for it. Head judge Luciano Gonzales and his crew was kept busy through the entire afternoon, and out of the blue came Franz Olry to help set the points on the riders’ tricks. Olry has been one of Luciano Gonzales’ tutors and inspiration before and throughout his career and was a welcome addition to the ADK staff today. For the rest of the event, Susi Mai and Alex Soto will also be a part of the judging staff. Single elimination will continue tomorrow on the second day of the competition, and the spectators will definitely witness an even more intense and impressive level from the participants, as the spots for the finals are narrowing down. Kite Beach and Kite Beach Hotel saw a close to perfect start of the first competition day.

Yan Carlos Paulino
Emmanuel Rondon

 

Joel Mendoza
Audrey Meyer

 

Jose Miguel Corniel

Papito de la Cruz

 

Brian de Leon
Jan Marcos Riveras

 

Luis Alberto

Ariel Gonzales

 

Jose Luis Ciriaco

Carlos David Martinez

 

Luis Miguel Martinez

Gael

 

Ariel Corniel

Robinson Vasques

 

Copyright photos: Hege Holt

Words: Hege Holt