Kristin Boese Sets Historic Kiteboarding Record
Boese enters Guinness World Recordsâ„¢ for winning the most world championships in kite-boarding
From kiteforum.com
TAMPA/LONDON/PERTH, Dec. 15: German Kristin Boese has secured her mark in the sport’s history by winning the Guinness World Recordsâ„¢ for the most kite-boarding world championships attained by a woman athlete. The certificate states: “The most kite surfing world championships won by a woman is nine and was achieved by Kristin Boese (Germany) between 2005 to 2008.”
Boese is the owner of nine World Championship titles, with the ninth title in the wave discipline recently officially recognized.
Ralph Hannah, Records Manager at Guinness World Records comments: “We are delighted to recognize Kristin’s numerous kitesurfing world championships with a Guinness World Recordsâ„¢ certificate for the most kitesurfing world championships won by a woman.”
“Between 2005 and 2008 she has won an incredible nine world titles which are a combination of sanctioned events in wave, boardercross, slider and kicker, freestyle, course racing disciplines and overall titles. This also includes the 2005 PKRA Wave title, which despite being a single event we still considered the winner to be the world leader in wave riding at the time and have therefore recognized it as a world title, just as the male winner was considered the 2005 Wave world champion.”
Boese showed an incredible variety of riding by winning these titles in five different disciplines, 2x freestyle, 2x wave, 2x course race, 1x slider & kicker, 1x Boarder-cross, and 1x Overall Title. This year she is first in the official International Kiteboarding Association (ISAF class) world ranking in course racing and also finished second in the one-off world championship event.
Kristin says: “I remember watching Guinness record attempts on TV when I was little and thinking how amazing it was that these people had done something that had never been achieved before. It makes me proud to actually be one of them now and it is a very special achievement for me.”
Mauricio Toscano, president of the Professional Kite-board Riders Association (PKRA), says: “Kristin Boese is an extremely talented athlete. She has competed in the PKRA Kiteboarding World Tour since 2002 and through the years she has become an icon in the kiteboarding world, by conquering more World titles than anyone else. As the PKRA world tour has always focused on promoting both the sport of kiteboarding and the riders, it is great to see this kind of success story.”
A natural rider, she started competing the same year she began kiteboarding (2002) and ended up ranked twelfth in the world that year, followed by fourth place in 2003 and second place in 2004. When she started her career the only competition discipline that existed was freestyle. As the sport developed she expanded with the newly recognized disciplines with much practice and preparation backed up with motivation. She proved her mettle by winning her first and second titles (freestyle) against competitors who on average were 10 years younger than her.
“When I first started competing,” she says, “I could only dream of maybe being the best female kiter in the world one day and becoming world champion. There was no way I could plan or even think of becoming this successful in the sport. However, after winning a few world championship titles I made it my goal to not only become the female kite-boarder with the most world championship titles, but also to push our sport and support female riders all over the world.”
The blonde beauty is very visible in the media and has also taken the sport to the masses through her modeling and photo shoots for magazines such as Vogue, Playboy and Max plus her kite-boarding videos are shown online in a number of sources.
KB4girls kite-boarding clinics
Boese has just launched her worldwide KB4girls 2010 Tour of kite-boarding clinics with the first event from January 8-10 in Augusta, Western Australia. This non-profit tour has the target of supporting females in the sport, to motivate them and help build local communities. In this tour, demo-gear from Best Kiteboarding and KB4girls tour rash-vests from DaKine will be provided so everyone is equipped with only the best products, enabling the girls to push themselves to the next level.
“Kristin’s generosity in constantly wanting to encourage and teach other women kitesurfers around the world gives us an amazing opportunity to learn new skills from a world-class female athlete. Thanks Kristin!” says coordinator Nicolea Paul, WAChickKiters Network, WA/Australia.
Elea Faucheron, aka “Air Chica”, Air Club for girls, says: “Being a woman in kiteboarding has never been more exciting. Women from all backgrounds and businesses are jumping headlong into the sport. The KB4girls 2010 Tour is an opportunity for woman globally to connect, share and challenge themselves. Thanks Kristin for bringing women together and sharing your incredible enthusiasm with us.”
Water sport environmentalist
Boese is a strong advocate of protecting the environment, especially the oceans and beaches as they are her daily playground. A partnership between an environmental foundation and her KB4girls clinic is currently in the works. Registration fees will be donated towards the protection of the oceans. She advises girls on smart water practices and encourages them to be respectful of water usage and cleanliness in their daily lives.
A list of her titles reads as follows:
2005 PKRA Freestyle World Champion
2005 PKRA Wave World Champion
2006 PKRA Freestyle
2006 PKRA Slider World Champion
2007 PKRA Boarder-cross World Champion
2007 KPWT Overall World Champion
2007 KPWT Course Race World Champion
2007 KPWT Wave-riding World Champion
2008 KPWT Course-race World Champion