The Polish Kiteboarding Association PKA invites you to read the explanation to our submission for the

next AGM of the IKA concerning the White Board Concept (WBC) for the Formula Kite (FK) gear.
The submission we are going to propose was developed from our concerns about future of the FK.
After months of discussions of different ideas the PKA reached final conclusion. We propose the new
format that may bring a lot of benefits to our discipline.
Poland is a country interested in the kite course racing. We have got the world's top athletes, coaches
and we organized seven events of the Polish Cup in 2014, the European Championships in 2011, 2014
and the final of the KTE 2010. Throughout these years we were able to notice not only lower
attendance but also less enthusiasm.
The number of competitors at the worldwide events has rapidly declined. If you look at the chart
presented below you will see a drop of attendance at major cyclic events in 2010-2014:


The causes of regress are many but major ones are:
- unfortunate Olympic fiasco at ISAF AGM in Dublin 2012,
- popularization of more attractive foilboarding,
- appearance of new ram air kites.
There is no need to explain our bad luck in Dublin. Hydrofoils perform better than the FK boards and
foilboarding has become more attractive for many athletes. Americans have completely swapped to
the foil and the French almost completely. Appearance of the new ram race kites decimated the racing
scene this season. Except sponsored riders hardly anyone wants to invest a big bag of dollars in the
specialized ram air kites that do not provide similar safety level offered by the inflatable kites. This year
there were almost no new riders and probably the half of last year ones gone.
We are convinced that only radical changes can save the regress of the FK. The problem was raised to
riders, organizers and the IKA representatives during the last Europeans. After the championship the
35
23
76
84
43
8
3
20
10
8
27
20
56
74
35
0
20
40
60
80
100
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
European Course Racing
Total Women Men
40
74
195
128
80
8 10
42
26
14
32
64
153
102
66
0
50
100
150
200
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
World Course Racing
Total Women Men
17 18
66
75
13
0
20
40
60
80
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
North American Course
Racing
Total
discussion continued among members of the Polish association. Finally we unanimously decided that
our new proposal need to be shared worldwide.
The kite racing gear has reached satisfactory high performing level in the last two years. There is no
big difference between different brands making the latest boards and inflatable kites. That means it is
right time to bring up the White Board Concept. According to it all riders would race on the one-design
equipment produced by various manufacturers. Any producer willing to participate would get a license
and data from IKA to produce with own logo one board, three or four kites, one set of fins. One design
would be chosen for example for 4 years. Every Olympic period the IKA would introduce a new safe,
well performing gear. Kites could be adopted from the latest developments in the foilboarding class.
New fins and boards would be tested on trials. Such evolution ensures we would not end up like the
RS:X class.
Kites sizes would be limited to odd size value (19/17/15/13/11/9/7m) to keep a cost of the short
production line on reasonable financial level. Fins would be produced in 2 or 3 dimensional options to
ensure comfort to riders with different weight.
What are the pros of the WBC from the point of view of the competitor?
- the best performing rider wins instead the one with the best equipment,
- s/he would not need to replace equipment every year to stay competitive. Theoretically, a rider
would be able to race four years on the same gear,
- s/he would save significant sum of money for an annual exchange of equipment,
- it would be much easier to sell second hand gear,
- s/he would not waste her/his time every year for familiarization with a new gear. S/he would be
able to focus on her/his performance rather than her/his gear,
- riders from the peloton would have easier and cheaper access to a second hand gear. Being on the
same gear they would be more motivated to chase the top ones.
What are the pros of the WBC from the manufacturers point of view?
- anyone interested would produce the class equipment. Competitiveness would ensure to remain
quality on a high level and the equipment prices at a lower cost rather than in case of monopoly,
- increased number of riders would equal increased amount of the equipment sold,
- manufacturers would not need to invest in annual gear developments,
- their logo would be displayed on the WBC gear.
What are the pros of the WBC from the IKA point of view?
- increased number of competitors and increased number of events on the national level,
- increased interest of sponsors, media,
- a decent racing class not threatened by other tours.
What are the pros of the WBC from the national associations point of view?
- increased number of riders, especially young ones,
- easier and cheaper purchase of the equipment for clubs,
- increased chances to organize more national events.
We hope this proposal will spread among riders, organizers and manufacturers. Manufacturers will be
asked about their opinion and whether they would like to participate and to share their designs with
the rest.
We see that some disadvantages may appear due to the change but in overall there are much more
benefits.