February 2016 not only sees the ‘kick-off’ event for new the KTA X, but also the return of the KTA to Vietnam.

The KTA last visited the country in 2012, so the return is long overdue. Vietnam as many of you will already know is famous for its kiteboarding at Mui Ne, which has exploded over the years into one of Asia’s busiest kiting spots. However, the KTA X-Champs is all about breaking new ground and Vietnam has a huge range of kiting spots to discover.

So, for round one of the KTA X-Champs, we will heading to the quite stunning Ninh Chu Bay, which is located in the Ninh Thuan province of Vietnam, 7km from the city of Phan Rang. Our local hosts for the event will be the Ninh Chu Bay Beach Club, who are fast establish a reputation for the best kite spot in the area. Great people, great location, kite friendly and cool place to eat and relax with a cool drink after a hard day of competition.

The Ninh Chu Bay Beach Club will be providing all our local support, both on and off the water, including all your kite storage for the event.

Ninh Chu Bay has 7 km of pristine beach. The province also has the best climate in Vietnam, with the fewest rainy days. So, least rainfall and most sunny days with year-round temperate climate. Plus also of course that really good wind that Vietnam has a worldwide reputation for.

The KTA X-Champs will form the Asian Championships and will be a series run over 3 events. All rounds will count towards the Asian Championships as well as IKA world ranking points.

The disciplines that will feature in this seasons X-Champs will be Freestyle X and TT Racing.

Freestyle X is the new KTA format for freestyle that combines both old and new school riding, so the chance to go hooked and unhooked. Those of you that joined us for the trail of this in Taiwan last season will know what a hit it was with everyone, riders and crowds alike. You check the rules, but the basic outline of Freestyle X is that half your tricks need to be old school and half new school (airstyle and wakestyle). The judges will then be looking to score you on the best of each of these tricks to decide who wins each round. It’s simple and fun, loads for the crowds to watch and enjoy and a blast to compete in. Plus we are going to add a WOO factor.

By now you will have all heard about the amazing new device that is taking the kiting scene over in Europe by storm. And for the new season the KTA and Woo Sports are partnering up, to add a new dynamic to the competitions in Asia and the KTA X-Champs, is the perfect series to do that. So as well as your judged score we will be adding a Woo factor and if you want to know more about that, then you will just have those KTA Competition Director riders meetings you all love, to find out.

For the racing side of the series the KTA has listen to your feedback and has decided to focus on TT Racing for this season. We will leave the formula and foil board battles to run their course for this season and focus instead on having great racing and lots of fun, with lower travel cost for you guys. As equipment has improved TT Racing is now possible in lighter winds than before, so even on those lighter wind days we hope to see racing in action. Both course racing and slalom will be used as conditions dictate, so be prepared for a new challenge in this section of the X-Champs series also.

SUP Racing will also be making a return to the KTA, yes we tried this out on our very first season when the sport was fresh off the shelf. It was indeed fun back in the day, but we were just a bit early of the mark and it did not quite gain enough interest to become a regular feature. The sport has however grown worldwide since then and following the impact of the SUP Racing for us during the recent Myanmar event, the KTA is stoked to be able to introduce SUP Racing into the X-Champs.

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