Abu Dhabi's Corniche will play host to the first stop of the 2010 WWA Wakeboard World Series from March 3rd to 6th. The wakeboard course will be only meters away from the beach and will consist of 3 custom made obstacles which the riders perform tricks over. A boat designed to give a monster wake tows the riders through the course. In each rider's run he / she will perform up to ten aerial tricks using the wake of the boat as a ramp and get 2 hits on each obstacle. The floating obstacles are designed by the world's leading wakeboard course designer Pat Panakos from the USA. The top talent from the UAE will get a chance to compete in the Open event on the Thursday.
The open wakeboard event will see the UAE's finest wakeboard talent battling it out for the open title and a chance to try and qualify for the main event. The top 3 placed rider's will advance into the pro qualifier on Friday.
The world's best wakeboarding athletes will be split into 4 heats of 5 riders per heat and will be riding for a place in Saturday's semi finals and the chance to take home a split of the $50,000 prize money. 2 riders from each heat will progress to the next day's action.
The pro men's and pro women's finals will take place with $50,000 of prize money up for grabs and the bragging rights to the first stop of the WWA Wakeboard World Series. The men's semi finals will be 2 heats of 4 riders per heat. The top 2 riders will progress to the final. The final will be head to head, so will be split into two head to head heats which will then give us a 2 man super final.
Wakeboarding is a subjectively judged sport. Since it conception, riders have been striving to progress and push each other to new and higher levels. Since innovation is occurring on a regular basis, it's crucial that the judging systems in professional events do not inhibit riders to trying new things. Currently, the WWA utilizes a judging system in professional events with 5 officials that are specifically judging 5 different trick categories. With each rider performing tricks in the separate categories, the 5 judge system truly awards the most talented and diverse wakeboarder.
The DRIVE judge system has been adopted in recent years and breaks down the riders runs into the 5 categories of:
D Difficulty
R Risk in run
I Intensity
V Variety
E Execution
This DRIVE format allows for the best overall run to be the winning run.
The custom built Wakestock Pool Gap is the most unique concept in the wakeboard world; allowing highly legitimate wakeboard rail contests to take place out of the water and right in front of the crowd. The pool gap holds 200,000 gallons of water in 2 large swimming pools, in-between each pool are specifically constructed rails and ramps which the athletes perform tricks over. The style of tricks you see on the pool gap are similar to that seen in the sports of skateboarding and snowboarding!
On Thursday evening there will be 3 hour long pool gap free riding sessions where all the riders will be riding, having fun and getting their tricks dialled into the unique setup. MC's will be on hand to shout out the trick names and big up the stand out moves of the day.
Friday evening will see an hour long girl jam with a cash prize for the best trick and best overall rider in the hour. The 16 best men from the Thursday free riding sessions will be selected to compete in the pool gap contest. These 16 riders will be seeded and drawn against each other into 8 heats of 2 riders per heat. Each heat is 15 minutes long and they battle against each other to win the judges votes. With both riders on the pool gap at the same time it is extremely crowd interactive. The opening round of 8 heats will take place in 2, hour long sessions.
On Saturday evening the pool gap action will set off with a girl jam with price money for best trick and best overall rider. Next up is the men's quarter finals in an hour long session. The 4 remaining riders will then progress to a 4 man semi final and then 2 man final to pick the winner.
The pool gap is all about rail tricks! The riders will ollie (jump) onto rails and perform tricks onto, along and off the rails. Transfers from one rail to another are possible and in the middle of the rails is a ramp for big air and big balls moves. The judges are looking for the rail tricks to be executed perfectly, for example if you perform a 270 degree spin onto a rail it needs to be exactly a 270 and not a 230! The tricks performed with perfection will maximise rider's chances of progressing to the next round. Big Balls and performing risky tricks are major bonus points, tricks with high risk of failure or injury will always keep the judges happy. The final aspect the judges want is variety, they want to see all the pool gap rails being used and are looking for originality in the rider's performances.
