Second Big Air team competition in windy Western Cape sets host of new records
GKA Kite World Tour Big Air Challenge 2026
17–24 January, 2026 | Western Cape, South Africa
The second edition of the GKA Big Air Challenge in collaboration with WOO Sports set a host of new records. Team Duotone walked away with the trophy for the second successive year when their top five riders posted a combined height of 149.6 metres for their best jumps.
But the honour of the highest jump recorded went to Team Flysurfer’s Julian Zens, when he landed a score of 36.6 metres at Dolphin Beach, the highest ever on a twin-tip in South Africa. Zens’ leap helped Flysurfer to second place with 134.5 metres.
Team Core took the third podium place with their combined total for their best five riders coming in at 129.9 metres, during the weeklong competition battled out along the beaches of South Africa’s Western Cape between 17 and 24 January.
This year’s competition, using WOO Sports’ popular WOO sensor to measure the heights of the riders’ jumps, featured a total of 257 participants who registered 753 sessions—a new high for the GKA Big Air Challenge.
Thirteen kite brands qualified for the run-off for the perpetual GKA Big Air Challenge, fielding five or more riders. In the windy conditions that blew along the coast during the week, 10 kite brands’ teams averaged jumps of more than 20 metres.
Eighty of the riders, almost a third, clocked their own Personal Records during 114 sessions, 15 percent of all the sessions logged. The Challenge truly was a high-octane celebration of Big Air kiting.
Team Duotone 149.6m
Luke Dixon 31.8m Misty Cliffs
Edgar Ulrich 31.6m Kite Beach
Max Tullet 30.6m Kite Beach
Matteo Lazzaretti 28.8m Kite Beach
Jouk Langendoen 26.7m Misty Cliffs
The winners, Team Duotone, had 61 riders in their line-up. But the most Personal Records were recorded on other brands and models of kites. Slingshot’s Code NXT landed a total of 12 PRs, with the Lacuna Alpha taking 10, the Harlem Peak eight, Core’s XR8 seven, and the North Orbit seven too.
words: Ian MacKinnon
images: WOO Sports