A number of local kiteboard racers, whose organizers include Melges 32 owner Darrin Towe and former CYC board member Michael Cenname, are building a kiteboard race fleet to participate in the weekly CYC Sunday and Thursday night series at Shilshole off Golden Gardens park.

CYC welcomes kiteboard racing as a class of sailing in the Sunday/Thursday night series again in 2011. Kiteboard racing will be big in Seattle, and CYC is leading the charge with the first races of the 2011 season.

Following the first successful CYC trial races held in Fall 2010 with Adam Vance completing the course along with a number of other kiteboard racers, kiteboard racing will now again be held on a regular basis on Sundays afternoons and Thursdays evenings when the wind is right in 2011. Adam Vance will work with race committee boat captain Kevin Cunningham to work out details on when proper conditions will allow for racing, determining race courses and safety.

Seattle Kiteboard racers are energized by the fact that Seattleite Adam Koch trained in Seattle and won the 2010 Kiteboard Racing World Championship in Corpus Christi, Texas, while his brother Andrew Koch, who also trained in Seattle last year, has been consistently rising in the world cup rankings, taking 9th at the PKRA world cup in Argentina, while local Adam Vance won the 2010 Canadian National Championships and West Coast Open in Squamish BC, Canada.

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Adam Vance racing at Jetty Island

Kiteboard racing is exciting – it combines flying with sailing,” said Towe, a commercial pilot. “What I like most about it, being the owner of a boat that sails with eight or nine people, is that I can go out myself and sail for two or three hours, pack it up and go home. Or I can pack three kites and a board in a golf bag and go kiteboard or race in San Francisco or Mexico.”

CYC kiteboard races will be limited to race board class only, due to the length and offshore location of the CYC race courses designed for sailboats and due to the often variable wind conditions. Announcement of appropriate racing wind and weather conditions will be made 24 hrs in advance on the local Northwest kiteboard forums, and a drop-in guest racer fee of $20 will be charged for onsite registration prior to the race. Kiteboard racers will then be welcomed as CYC guests to share drinks and dinner with CYC members after the racing is over.

The boards used for racing, unlike twin-tip or surf-style models designed for tricks and wave riding, are more like sailboards. They are about five to six feet long and have four nine to sixteen-inch fins on the back that provide lift and help the boards go upwind. They are also optimized for light wind, while other boards are often handicapped when wind speeds dip below 10-12 knots. New kiteboard racing boards cost about $1,500 each and the kites are another $1,400 (while used gear can also be acquired cheaper – check with your local kiteboarding shops). The leading edge kites used by racers, as well as the kites supporting struts, are inflatable, making them easy to launch.

Incorporating kiteboard racing into a multi-fleet program like CYC’s was not a problem in our first 2010 races, as long as the kiteboarders stay clear (one line length, approx. 25 meters) from Lasers and other dinghies. The boards are fast, and when the wind gets into the 15-20 knot range, they are capable of speeds up to 30 knots.