Event Overview
The 2018 Triple-S Invitational and Open was a premier park and wakestyle kiteboarding competition held at REAL Watersports in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA, from June 2 to June 8, 2018. This marked the 13th edition of the legendary event, featuring a $50,000 prize purse.
Competition Format and Conditions
The competition format focused exclusively on park riding, judging athletes on their technical execution, style, and difficulty of tricks performed on a custom kite park course featuring floating sliders and massive obstacles like the “Ion Rooftop” and “KOA Kicker”. The Triple-S Open served as the official qualifying event, providing amateur and uninvited professional riders the opportunity to compete for wildcard spots to advance into the main Invitational roster. The week was characterized by volatile conditions, with winds blowing from all directions from southwest to northwest, testing the riders’ adaptability in what was referred to as the “dark side of the slick”.
Highlights
In the men’s division, Aaron Hadlow cleanly landed a “Habbo” off a kicker, marking a Never Been Done (NBD) classic wakestyle trick in kiteboarding. Billy Parker also excited the crowd by landing a 720 rotation (a 7) off a kicker. In the women’s division, Karolina Winkowska demonstrated incredible resilience, dominating the leaderboard despite having been injured the entire 2018 season.
Nightlife and Culture
The event’s parties are renowned as legendary, and the 2018 edition functioned as an extraordinary music festival. Live performances included K-Mani Marley, 2 Chainz, and a finale by The Roots at the awards party.
“First of all, I can’t even believe that we’ve made it 13 years and are still alive.”
— Jason Slezak
Competition Results
Show Competition Results (Spoilers)
Men’s Invitational
1st: Brandon Scheid
2nd: Ewan Jaspan
3rd: Noe Font
4th: Sam Light
Women’s Invitational
1st: Karolina Winkowska
2nd: Julia Castro
3rd: Annelous Lammerts