By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

THE Saipan Windsurfing Association is hoping to hold a bigger and a much improved kite boarding tournament next year following its inaugural “Saipan Kite Jam 2007” last weekend at Micro Beach.
Tournament coordinator Rob Jordan said they are planning to invite kite riders from Hawaii, Japan, Australia, Korea, Russia and the U.S.
“We had only a few months to prepare, but definitely next year we will prepare maybe six months ahead so we can attract more participants,” Jordan said.
“We’ve done kiteboarding and windsurfing competitions in the past but this was our first time to have a lone kiteboarding tournament so were not expecting too much in our inaugural Kite Jam,” he added.
Last week’s “Kite Jam” attracted only nine participants, as organizers had limited time to market the event.
Jeff Elliot won the event beating Dan Westphal in the finals. Placing third was Masanori Yamaguchi, while Wes Bogdan finished fourth.
The wind was not cooperative last weekend and the nine participants had a hard time executing their moves.
The tournament had a double-elimination format with participants graded by five judges based on their creativity, hang time and execution.
“They were given five minutes to make their moves, they call it freestyle kiteboarding. They can do whatever that want, flip, backroll, jump and we grade them on how they maneuver the kite with the board and how they land on the water after each move,” Jordan said.
Meanwhile, Jordan thanked QuikSilver, Pacific Islands Club, Air’s Kiteworks Japan Marianas Visitors Authority, Gatorade, Pepsi, Miller Lite, First Hawaiian Bank, Seafix, PTI, and Universal Kite School for supporting the tournament.