Will Airstyle take off as a competitive discipline?
Want to draw a crowd? Boooooost!
It was once called 'old school' kiteboarding, relating to it's origins back in the early 2000's where the pro tour was dominated by big airs and board-off tricks. Now, because it's back in fashion we can't really continue calling it 'old school' riding, so it's been dubbed 'Airstyle'. The name originally got coined by big air master Toby Braeuer, who quickly got overtaken by several pro's on the world tour when what was called 'his' event debuted earlier in the year. The name was adopted by kiters all over the world, and to be fair, it's a good name which sits better with the other disciplines of freestyle, wakestyle and... racestyle? When we get to 'turnstyle' we know the sport is doomed.
Luckily we've got girls like Susi Mai to keep the sport from slipping under the radar. She's been spending a stack of time at home in the Dominican Republic since she quit riding competitively, and is getting right behind the Airstyle movement. As she says in the video, not all riders are into the technicality of freestyle and nor are audiences made up by the general public. So in areas where freestyle is not practiced, or the sport just needs a bit of a boost (excuse the pun) running an Airstyle event is sure to bring kiteboarding back into the spotlight.
Check out the video below, and make sure you turn the subtitles on to read what Susi is saying!
