How the Kite World title was won

It’s one thing for each Olympic event to create a racing format they find fair and exciting, but the audience needs to understand it too. When Scuttlebutt received the final day report from the 2025 Formula Kite World Championship (Sept. 30-Oct. 5), we needed help. The Sailing Instructions took three pages to describe the plan… here’s a very brief summary:

An Opening Series (OS) advance the top eight to the Quarter- and Semi-Final rounds. The top two in the Semi-Finals plus the OS winner and runner-up advance to the Grand Final. The first to earn two points (two race wins) gets the title, but the OS winner begins with one point, so they just need one race win. Get it?

As for the racing, Jesse Kampman (NED) was the top ranked women’s qualifier, and she won the title while American six-time World Champion Daniel Moroz started the knock-out rounds in seventh, but rallied to get the silver medal in the Grand Final. For the men, Riccardo Pianosi (ITA) topped the OS and won the first race to take Gold.

Details: https://www.kiteclasses.org/2025worlds

Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Sailing Program:
First Week – July 16-20
Men’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class – Long Beach, CA
Women’s Kiteboard – Formula Kite Class – Long Beach, CA
Men’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL – Long Beach, CA
Women’s Windsurfing – iQFOiL – Long Beach, CA

Second Week – July 23-28
Men’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 7 – Los Angeles, CA
Women’s One Person Dinghy – ILCA 6 – Los Angeles, CA
Mixed Two Person Dinghy – 470 – Los Angeles, CA
Men’s Skiff – 49er – Los Angeles, CA
Women’s Skiff – 49erFX – Los Angeles, CA
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17 – Los Angeles, CA

Dates: July 16-28