Playa Central, the New Event Site

If event organizers could design their ideal place to hold kiteboarding tournaments, their picture perfect venue wouldn´t be far from what a painting of Playa Central would look like.

Mural in the Playa Central Kiteshop, in La Ventana, BCS, Mexico. Artist: Gilberto Fernandez, from Culiacan, Sinaloa. Inspired by aerial photo taken from a chopper by Adam Koch.

In December 2010 the Mexican Asociation of Kitesurfing, (AMK), held a national tournament at Playa Central, where all of it´s main characteristics like being in a cumfy and windy bay, on a wide sandy beache, with a grassy hill and rigging lawn , a big warehouse, food & lodging services, efficient and friendly staff and personel, were apparently essential for the execution of the event.

National anthem, inaguration ceremony on the front lawn. Photo by Adam Koch, 2010.

For the Copa Playa Central, Torneo Nacional 2010, Playa Central arranged lodging for competitors and spectators. Spectators and organizers had the bakery and pizzeria at their disposal during the event so they remained comfortably onsite; merchandise, beer and softdrinks were stored in the warehouse after event hours; competitors were able to leave their gear onsite during the 4 days; we had a meetting room for the skippers, a judges´ tower and coordination room with internet, printers and fax; and we held all creremonies and parties onsite. Being able to catter to all these needs was an important tool the coordinators were able to use to keep spectators at the event site, offer the competitos close lodging thus being able to remain near the competition area for the parties and ceremonies, and easy social media updates for the coordinators and press.

Group photo on the Playa Central lawn, photo by Rockstar.

La Ventana´s thermal wind is above all the most valuable contributor to Playa Central´s success as an event site. Sponsors, organizers, competitors and spectators can count on the wind and are very likely to support and attend the events. La Ventana also has two international airports, one in Los Cabos and one in La Paz, both within 2 hrs. La Paz has a ferri to mainland Mexico, where kiters from Guadalajara, Culiacan, Colima and other cities can cross over with plenty of kite gear. Highway 1, from San Diego is scenic and also key for kite expos or demos, since kite companies can travel in vans and RVs with kites, baords, other merchandise and shade tents.

Thermal wind, channeled inbetween the island and the bay. Playa Central is located at the star *

Map of airports from La Ventana and photo on highway 1, 2011.

The Mexican National tournament, named "Copa Playa Central, 2010", had a total of 57 competitors and attracted world champions Adam Koch, Sean Farley Gomez, and Mexican champions Adam Withington, Fernando de La Torre, Raquel Arroyo, Diego Tron, Warenka Smutney, Paco Chan and Daniel Koeing.

Group photo after awards party at Playa Central.




President of the AMK, Andres Santacruz, and Playa Central manager, Jessica Withington, worked together as event organizers and chose the format, judges, disciplines and scheduled the competition days. A local kite asociation from CozumelKiteboarding.com came to sanction the event, along with Joe Cool as Race Advisor from San Francisco, CA.

Baja Boardriders sponsored the event with their killer buoys, a special thanks to you guys.

The freestyle results were men: 1. Daniel Koeing, 2. Sean Farley Gomez, 3. Paco Chan, women: 1. Warenka Smutney, 2. Shannon Gromley, 3. Cythia Brown. Results for Downwinder race men: 1. Andrew Koch, 2. Adam Koch, 3. Joey Pasquali; women: 1. Cynthia Brown, 2. Shannon Gromley, 3. Warenka Smutney.

Great photo of Andres Santacruz during Copa Playa Central, president of the AMK. Phto by Adam Koch.

Jessica Withington, manager of Playa Central and event coordinator, with event judges Vicente Cardenas, Kenji Jones and Dave Tyburski.




A special thanks to Litewave Dave, Kenj Jones, Dave Tyburski and Vicente Cardenas for being the judges. Thanks you to Litewave Designs and Liquid Force for sponsoring two boards as prizes. A special thank you to Joe Cool and the Koch brothers for advising on the race, and thank you to Cozumel Kiteboarding for their assistance. A thank you to Adam Koch for photographing the event. An extra special thanks to Joe Cool for making this short video on the event:

Youtube Video of Copa Playa Central:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JessicaWithington?feature=mhum#p/a/u/1/u1pFyD1F49E

Playa Central is located on the best launching beach in the bay.

If you are an event organizer, please contact Jessica Withington for information on having Playa Central host your next kiteboarding event.