Well done to Janek Grzegorzewski for taking the crown at Brazil's first ever Big Air Kite League event. A massive shoutout to all of the riders, sponsors, and volunteer crew that were involved in putting this event together! It would not be possible without the involvement of the full collective.
The goal of this event was to bring our community together for a great time! We wanted to put on a show for the spectators, give the riders an opportunity to compete and give the destination some much-deserved attention. Tatajuba is truly amazing for big air, giving the riders 8m or 9m wind for kiteloops almost every day in season! With rider's registration taking place on Friday and the competition being held on the weekend, we were confident we would have enough wind to run the comp. There aren't many places in the world where it's 9m weather every day!
Riders from all around Brazil were drawn to the event, including the country's top talents and a handful of international competitors currently based in Brazil.
Thanks to support from our sponsors, we were able to assist riders in various ways:
Sunset Kiteboarding aided riders with transfers to the remote Tatajuba, which is nestled in among the dunes and a bit difficult to get to.
Kite Worldwide provided the riders with hammocks to sleep in.
Support from CORE enabled Kite Worldwide Brazil to feed riders 3 meals a day!
We're overjoyed to say that ALL of this assistance was given to riders and there were no entry fees!
A massive thanks to Kite Worldwide Brazil, CORE Kiteboading, and Sunset Kiteboarding!
The lagoon at Tatajuba is an amazing spectator venue which attracted the whole town down to the water's edge to witness as the riders gave it their all in the idyllic blue, flat water. We had a full competition with 32 riders made up of 25 men and 7 women. Unfortunately we had to turn many riders away as there weren't enough hours in the day to get through any more heats. This speaks volumes about the enthusiasm for Big Air in these parts of Brazil!
Big Air is a big part of the lives of people in these parts. It was incredible to witness the local crew pushing one another and the level of every each and every rider in the comp going up in the days leading up to the event, as well as during the event.
The kids rode in heats with the men. At first, this was received as unfair, but we saw it differently. We saw it as an opportunity for the kids to be challenged like never before! They rose to the challenge! We are sure that with the right fostering, many of these riders will soon be competing in Big Air events internationally.
Next year we will make this an even bigger event. It will be part of the BAKL world tour. It will run some time in September. Ideally, we'd like it to be a RedBull KOTA Qualifier - with the winner earning themselves a spot at the coveted King of The Air!
We plan to make more of these events happen! Make sure to sign-up to our newsletter here to stay up to date with our up and coming kite competitions and much more!
If you want to help make these events happen please consider supporting the Big Air Kite League by purchasing the Big Air Kite League Supporter Tee!
Happy flying
Big Air Kite League Crew
