 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 22, 1992 Haiku, Hawaii |
| Website | www |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Kiteboarding, Kitesurfing |
| Achievements and titles | |
| World finals | KPWT World Champion 2008, [1] 2009 [2] |
Jesse Richman (born July 22, 1992) is a big-wave kitesurfer and a big-air kiteboarder. He is a two-time world champion [3] and the first kitesurfer to get barreled at Jaws. [4] He is also known for his world record 790-foot tow-up [5] [6] and 170-foot jump over land. [7]
Richman was born on July 22, 1992, in Haiku, Hawaii. [3] He began kiteboarding when he was nine years old with his father and older brother Shawn. [3] He started competing against his brother in events a few years later, including King of the Bay in California, [8] and in 2003 they both signed endorsement deals with Naish Kiteboarding. [4] At the age of 14, he transferred into an online school so that he could travel for world tour kiteboarding events. [3] In 2008, he became the Kiteboard Pro World Tour (KPWT) World Champion, [1] and the following year earned the title of International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) Overall Kitesurfing World Champion. [2]
After being crowned back-to-back World Champion, Richman joined the Naish International Kiteboarding Team in 2011. [9] He stopped competing full-time the same year, to turn his focus to big wave riding at Jaws. [4] Despite the change in focus, he went on to win back-to-back AWSI Kiteboarder of the Year awards from 2012 [10] to 2013, [11] as well as the 2013 Red Bull King of the Air competition. [12]
Richman then got involved with MaiTai Global, a non-profit organization founded by pro-kiteboarder Susi Mai and entrepreneur-investor Bill Tai [13] comprising entrepreneurs, innovators, and athletes focused on giving back to the environment, [14] where has fulfilled roles as a kiteboarding instructor as well as a speaker. [15] He has also participated in the Ocean Gala, a collaborative fundraising event between MaiTai and the Ocean Elders to raise money to expand protected ocean areas. [4]
Richman attempted a world-record tow-up on July 26, 2013, on the Columbia River in Oregon. [6] Richman was towed behind a wakeboard boat, allowing his kite to take him to previously unreached heights. He released the rope and used his kite to safely sail down to the river 790 feet below.
In August 2015, Richman and a team of six other kiteboarders attempted a world record run for the longest kiteboarding journey along the northern section of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. [16] The goal was to raise funds and awareness for motor neuron disease, as well as highlight the importance of the reef's conservation. The team completed the run in eight days on 21 August, after kiting 1237 km from Vlasoff Reef to Cape York and raising over $125,000 for MND Research Centre at Macquarie University. [16]
Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines the aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wakeboarding. Kiteboarding is among the less expensive and more convenient sailing sports.
Robert Staunton Naish is an American athlete and entrepreneur who has won 24 World Championship Windsurfing titles. He is also considered a pioneer of kiteboarding and standup paddleboarding.
Aaron Hadlow is a professional kiteboarder who has won the Pro Kiteboard Riders' Association (PKRA) World Championships five times.
Pete Cabrinha is an American big-wave surfer, windsurfer, kitesurfer and artist. He is the founder and brand manager of Cabrinha Kites.
Anna Sparre is a Swedish kitesurfer. She was, together with Christian Dittrich, the first Swede to enter the world cup (PKRA) in 2003.
Kirsty Jones is a Welsh professional kitesurfer and pioneer in the sport of kitesurfing. She is a three-time British Kitesurf Champion, three-time Kitesurf World Wave Champion, and two-time Master of the Ocean Champion, and holds world records in long distance and solo kitesurf crossings.
The Boracay International Funboard Cup is an international funboard cup competition held yearly on Boracay island in the municipality of Malay, Aklan. Started in 2008, the event is one of the region's biggest windsurfing competitions.
Kristin Boese is a German female kite surfer. In 2009, she was shortlisted by the International Sailing Federation for the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Awards.
The International Kiteboarding Association (IKA), is the only kiteboarding class inside the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). The IKA class rules fall in the category of a development class.
Robert "Rob" Douglas is an American professional sailor known for using a kiteboard in speed sailing records attempts. In 2008 Douglas broke the world speed sailing record on a kiteboard, hitting a top speed of 49.84 knots. Douglas again became the holder of the speed record in October 2010 when he was clocked at 55.65 knots. In 2019 while competing in La Palme France Rob set another world record in kitesurfing by sailing an average speed of 39.04 kts over 1 nautical mile.
Bruno Sroka is a French kitesurfer. Born in Clamart, Sroka began windsurfing when he was two years old. In 1998, Sroka arrived in Brest and took up kitesurfing, intrigued by the new sport. He had a successful career and went on to achieve many titles, becoming a three-time World Cup champion. Sroka also broke several milestones in the sport: he became the first to kitesurf the Cape Horn in 2008 and from France to Ireland in 2013.
Christophe Tack is the 2014 World Champion Freestyle Kitesurfer.
Ruben Lenten is a Dutch professional kite surfer who has won the Red Bull King of the Air in 2005.
Donald Lewis Montague is a Canadian-American watersport athlete and designer. He is President of Kai Concepts, co-founder of Makani Power, and the head of the Kiteboat Project in Alameda, California.
Ben Wilson is an Australian kitesurfer notable for holding the record for kitesurfing the largest wave ever captured on film; In 2011, Ben successfully kited Fiji’s most infamous wave, Cloudbreak at 35-foot. There have been many attempts by the next generation of kitesurfers including Nicolo Porcella and Jesse Richman to best this feat but as yet there has been no successful attempt.
Red Bull King of the Air is the premier big air kiteboarding competition featuring the best athletes from around the World. Riders are judged based upon the height of their jumps, variety of tricks, and style.
Bruna Kajiya is a Brazilian professional kiteboarder. She is a six-time Vice World Champion and a three-time World Champion Freestyle in the World Kiteboarding League (WKL). In 2018, the WKL was replaced by the Global Kitesports Association (GKA) which became the official Kite Surfing World Title organization. In 2019, Bruna was the GKA Vice World Freestyle Champion, giving her her sixth Vice World Championship Title. In 2016, Bruna was the first woman to land a "Backside 315", a trick that combines a 540 degree rotation and double handle-pass.
Gisela Pulido Borrell is a Spanish kitesurfer. In 2004, she became the sport's youngest world champion, at age 10. She has subsequently won multiple world titles.
Wing foiling or wing surfing or winging is a wind propelled water sport that developed from kitesurfing, windsurfing and surfing. The sailor, standing on a board, holds directly onto a wing. It generates both upward force and sideways propulsion and thus moves the board across the water. The recent development of foilboards, which plane very early on a hydrofoil fin and thereby lift off the water producing low friction, represent the ideal complementary hydrodynamic platform for wings.
Mikaili Sol is an American-Brazilian professional kiteboarder. She has held the title of Global Kitesports Association (GKA) Freestyle World Championship four times: 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and the GKA Big Air World Champion three times: 2018, 2022 and 2023. She is a seven time World Champion at 18 years old.
{{cite web}}: |first2= has generic name (help)