The Kenya Kite Cup 2022 took place from Friday 28th to Saturday 29th of January at The Sands at Nomad
The Kenya Kite Cup 2022 Freestyle Competition was held at the Nomad Beach Bar and Restaurant in Diani and attracted a total of 21 participants from across the coastline and internationally. The participants represented kite schools in Diani ranging from Kitemotion, KenyaKite and H2O.
The 2-day competition was exciting both for the participants and spectators. Unfortunately, the wind was poor on Friday but around 5pm the organizers were able to start the women’s competition. Each group were randomly picked to be in heats – two competitors went head to head for 7 minutes showcasing participants’ finest skills. The top 5 tricks from each of the participants were scored and judged. After the first round of heats qualifiers entered the semi-finals and finals on Saturday.
Here are the winners of the competition in both Men and Women categories:
Winners Men’s Category
1. Jacopo Catini from Italian/Watamu, 2. Daniel Heinrich from German, 3. Ewan Nicou from Thailand
Winners Women’s Category
1. Martyna Konkel from Poland, 2. Gina Bihn from German, 3. Kiri Belcher from Kenyan
The prize money for both men and women was:
1st Prize Ksh. 50,000/-
2nd prize Kshs. 30,000/-
3rd Prize Kshs. 20,000/-
The event was sponsored by Base Titanium, SGA Security, GA Insurance, Swahili Beach and Brewery 254 who donated very cool t-shirts. Other partners for the event included Ocean Sole (that donated recycled turtles to give to the participants as prizes), Dion Wine/Winebox, Neoworks.
All the proceedings of the KiteCup go to Diani Turtle Watch. Diani Turtle Watch has recently separated from its umbrella organization Local Ocean Conservation.
Sea turtles are phenomenal creatures that are a delight to see and they contribute greatly to nature’s ecosystems. However, they have always been hunted along the Kenyan Coast for food and illegal trade, and their nesting grounds have been compromised. This is why Diani Turtle Watch was created in 2012. Mission statement: “To conserve, protect and preserve sea turtles and their habitat along the Kenyan Coast”
Diani Turtle Watch focuses on recruiting and training local beach operators to become sea turtle monitors. These monitors become the first point of call for sea turtle emergencies e.g., nesting and hatching events, stranding, accidental bycatch and mortality. This enables community engagement in environmental conservation which is crucial for sustaining sea turtle populations long term. Today, Diani Turtle Watch operates with 13 monitors working daily to patrol 40km of the beach from Diani Beach to Funzi Island. In Diani alone, there are seven sea turtle nest relocation sites.
Diani Turtle Watch does not receive any government funding and relies solely on donations and sponsors. Please help us to support this wonderful organization.
To conclude the two-day event a great Hawaiian party was hosted by Dj Stoppa from Watamu who played music throughout and managed to create vibes of very modern and groovy music and nobody could resist dancing.
All in all, the event was a great success!! Everyone enjoyed and Nomad Beach Bar came alive over the weekend.
As a part of the auction, two famous local artists AfroInk and Chelwek donated some fabulous artwork which they worked on throughout the competition.
Here are some sharing moments from the event.
Sponsors
The Voice of Sports & Tourism