2026 Big Air Championships Info

OVERVIEW

The British Championships Series objective is to deliver a high quality competition that is enjoyable for the riders and provides a platform for them to demonstrate their talent and develop their skills.

The championships also provide a springboard to the GKA Kite World Tour and International competitions.

The focus of the tour is “Big Air” and incorporates a final event in Portland, PUKL.
Multiple dates are included for each event to attempt to get the best possible big air conditions, however we may decide to proceed with an event if conditions allow a good freestyle competition, and all attempts to deliver big air have been exhausted.

Riders are encouraged to support each other during the events. To deliver the best possible experience it would be greatly appreciated if every rider offered a bit of assistance when they are not competing (eg judging other categories, flag holder, beach marshal, launching & landing, commentating etc). In this way we can deliver the best possible event for each other.

Official noticeboard

The official noticeboard will be situated near the judges tent. This will be kept updated by a beach marshal. The Race Director/head beach marshal will be a riders/caddies point of contact. ALL information will be relayed in real time on the WhatsApp group, which is the best place for all riders and cadies to keep up to date on competition progress.

Entry registration.

Registration for each specific event is held online and can be accessed through the BKSA website events page. All riders are encouraged to register as early as possible.

Event registration will close at 7pm the night before the event starts. This gives the organisers time to create the heat sheets and competition ladder. This is why there are strictly no entries on the day

Entry is open to all BKSA Members – you will need a valid membership card and number with you when you complete registration at the event. Qualified International riders will have to prove evidence of competition insurance.

For all rollover and wind window events we will operate a traffic light system of an amber indication on the Tuesday prior to the event followed by a green light no later than the Thursday night. Postponement of an event will indicated as early as practically possible.

Briefing and event registration

Briefing and registration times will be confirmed on the day before the event via email, registration and briefing are both mandatory.
If you are late or do not attend you will be disqualified from competing.
This is because we are always restricted with time due to wind and tides, so to ensure the maximum competition time, we need to run smoothly, and all competitors need to help with this.

Heat format overview

1) Regional events

If we have time we will follow the PUKL (one rider at a time) format, see below. Please note that we will not require trick families for division 2/2.5.

If not, the format for the events will be a Dingle Elimination to allow us time to get through all the heats. If conditions limit time this will switch to a Single Elimination to allow us to complete the event as fully as possible. If conditions further limit time we may run expression sessions to allow the opportunity for riders to compete despite severe time restrictions, the expression sessions will not count towards overall titles.
First Round heats will consist of either 2, 3 or a maximum of 4 riders depending on the number of riders entering the category.
Semi finals and finals of the Open (Division 1) men and women will (time permitting) be run in the PUKL finals format set out below

2) PUKL final

Each rider will take it in turns to perform a trick whilst they’re associated flag colour is in the air. The heat will run in the same order as the heat ladder. The riders colours and coordinating flags will run in the same order throughout the competition.
All heat ladders and the overall running order will be released immediately after riders briefing at the official noticeboard and through the buccaneer app.
Each rider will have a maximum of 60 seconds to perform their trick once their flag has been raised. as soon as the rider has completed their trick their flag will be lowered. The next flag will not go up until the judges have finished scoring that trick.

The gap before the next rider flag being raised may vary dependant on conditions.

Riders will have up to 5,6 or 7 trick attempts with either their best 2, 3 or 4 tricks counting (depending on conditions on the day). Any trick repeated will only count once. If you do 7 boogie loops you will only get one trick score (of the highest boogie loop).

Judging approach

1) Regionals

Judging criteria will follow the PUKL approach (see below) as close as possible. Albeit for Amateurs and Youth, overall impression will be used. However, the criteria below will still be used by the judges to assess the overall impression.

2) PUKL finals

HEIGHT Maximum of 3 points awarded – Height is a self explanatory part of the judging criteria, send it hard, do your tricks at height gain maximum points. As the wind conditions increase, this aspect of the judging criteria will be taken into account considerably more.

RISK Maximum of 3 points awarded – Taking risk in your tricks means pushing the boundaries, adding that extra rotation, board spin and getting that kite super low on kiteloops will all help towards a riders risk score.
The Risk factor is the commitment of each riders physical challenge during the trick, duration of the critical moment and energy of execution (speed).

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY Maximum of 3 points awarded – This part of the
judging criteria will be dictated through variations of kite angle, additional rotations, inversions and board of techniques.

INNOVATION 1 point awarded – Got some new moves to bring to the table? A NBD (Never Been Done), bring them to the table in your heat to add to your innovation score.

Heat Flag Sequence

Red Flag – Start of the transition period between heats. Normally 3 minutes (sometimes 2, which will be confirmed at the briefing)
Amber Flag – 1 minute to start of Heat
Green Flag – Start of Heat (In Regional events there will be no flag for the final minute of the heat)
Black Flag – Competition postponed for a minimum of 5 minutes. Please check events communications or speak with Race crew

For PUKL finals format the rider colours and flags will maintain the same sequence throughout, which will be displayed at the riders briefing.

Heat Ladder & Running Order

The heat ladders will be published immediately after the riders briefing on the official noticeboard and in the Event communications app (Buccaneer)

This will be followed by the days’ competition running order, please note this may change during the day due to conditions and event time constraints. Any changes will be communicated through the events communications app (Buccaneer)

If the black flag is raised for a short heat/ competition adjournment all riders should check the events communications app (Buccaneer) For any order changes or competition amendments

Judges

3 Judges, one of which is the Head
+ Trick caller (this maybe the head judge)

Riders, caddies and spectators are not permitted to approach the judges whilst competition is in progress. Any queries can be directed to the head beach marshal and race director.

Safety

Impact vests, helmets and kite safety leashes are mandatory for all riders.

There will be a safety craft in the water throughout the event.
In the event of a rescue being required the black flag will be raised and the heat will be put on hold. Depending on the severity of the situation the Head Judge and race director will make the decision on whether the heat continues or is re-started.

There will be specific first aid provision available which will be identified at the riders briefing.

Foil Freestyle

In addition to the main events we might run a foil freestyle competition should conditions and time allow. All entrants for the main event are eligible to enter the foil freestyle competition.
Format will be an expression session judged on the best trick during that session.

Other awards

Additional awards will be presented for categories such as most helpful, best crash, best trick, best sportsmanship, best newcomer. Categories will be determined to reflect the conditions and action at each event

Age Divisions

Open / Division 1 – No age restrictions
Amateur / Division 2– No age restrictions

Youth (if sufficient numbers) – Under 16 on the last day of October 2026

Ability Levels

Amateur – No Handle-passes. Judged on overall impression. Aimed at non-sponsored riders. Anyone wanting to improve their riding through the motivation of competition.

Entry Fees

Each event will have entry fees which are payable before entry via the link on the specific event page. (Accessible HERE )

There are No refunds for lack of wind (we still have to provide all of the infrastructure and manpower to hold the event even if the wind does not materialise)

All fleets will receive product prizes.

In addition, the best youth, under 18 and over 40 in the Open fleet may receive a product prize depending on number of entries.

The foil freestyle competition will reward 1st, 2nd and 3rd with product prizes.

 

Competition Area

At each event there will be an area for the competitors to rig up their kites on the beach, there will also be a launching area with kite launchers and landers on hand to help you get on the water.

The competition area itself will be marked by a line of feather flags providing a transit on the beach at either end of the zone. The outer flag will be placed close to the waters edge. There may or may not be buoys on the water marking the area. This will enable us to quickly set up the event and will also mean we won’t be waiting for the rescue craft to move buoys around as the tide changes.

The competition zone (scoring zone) is marked by the feather flags and will run at 90 degrees from the beach. 250m from shore is the outer limit. This is down to the judges discretion.

The judges will be placed at an appropriate location for best view of the box, this is usually inline with the downwind competition zone flag.

In Heat Rider Interference Rules

Interference may be called if:

1. a rider changes course to obstruct another rider.
2. a rider not in that heat enters the competition area when a heat is in play
3. there is deliberate unsportsmanlike action with the competitors in the heat.

 

Interference Penalty:

The Head Judge will decide on the penalty, if servere the rider may be disqualified from the event.

 

Crashes

A crash will be determined to have occurred if one or more of the following occur:

• A competitor is capsized, losing control of the board or bar when landing a trick.
• A competitor grabs the safety leash to regain control of the bar.
• A competitor lands a trick but did not control the kite throughout the execution of the trick resulting in the release of the bar and/or the crashing of the kite into water after landing the trick.
• A competitor sinks and is completely stopped when landing a trick.
• A competitor lands on their back and the board is completely out of the water.

Judges may give credit to a landed trick that is not a crash when:

• A competitor butt-checks when landing the trick but keeps riding and control the kite.
• A competitor grabs the chicken loop to regain control of the bar.