It's not often that you get to see both elite kiteboarders and gear heads excited about the same event, but that's what we get every year when the Real kiteboarding Triple S competition is held in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. 

The USA's biggest event of their summer season, the Triple S is an invite only event for the best wake style and surf riders in the world. Organisers Real kiteboarding spend big bucks on building huge obstacles for the event every year, and no matter the weather - everyone always gets to ride behind either a kite or a jet ski. In addition to the obstacles, there's also a surf element of the contest where riders jump over to the other side of the cape and proceed to slash, bash and aerial their day away in the surf. You could say several big names will be in attendance, but in fact ALL the big names in kiteboarding will be there. To name a few, Aaron Hadlowm Andre Phillip, Gisela Pulido, and Susi Mai. 

For the gear heads, this event is always the first time we get to see sneak peaks of the new 2013 kiteboarding equipment from all the big brands. Every year there's stacks of spy pics leaked with new boards poking out of board bags, kites in prototype colours and weird looking harnesses that nobody has seen before. It's a huge deal for the media as well, with these blurry photo's being plastered all over the kitesurfing forums within minutes of their release. When the full release of these products are usually over 3-4 months away, it gives all the interested parties a chance to make their shopping lists and get the bosses permission before they spend up big in September. 

The event starts in June and runs from the 2nd to the 8th. Before then, hopeful applicants for the wildcard spots will be posting bid video's online to win one of the three wildcard places available in what will be a 38 rider line up for the event. These videos are always great to watch, and we'll bring them to you as they get published. 

Stay tuned for more info on the wildcard entries and the event details as they come to light, and get ready for what could be the biggest event of the 2012/2013 season. 

INVITED RIDERS:
AARON HADLOW
ADRIANA HARLAN?
ANDRE PHILLIP?
BILLY PARKER
BRANDON SCHEID?
BRIAN SMITH?
BRUNA KAJIYA?
CHRIS BURKE?
CHAD WORRALL
DAVEY BLAIR?
DYLAN THOMPSON
ERIC RIENSTRA
EVAN NETSCH?
GISELA PULIDO
GREG NORMAN
IAN ALDRIDGE
JAKE KELSICK?
JAMES BOULDING?
JASON SLEZAK?
JOBY COOK
JOE RUSCITO
JON MODICA
JOSH MULCOY?
KRIS KINN
LULU VROMAN
MARK MIEDAMA
NICCOLO PORCELLA
PATRICK REBSTOCK
RICK JENSEN
RUBEN LENTEN?
SAM BELL?
SAM LIGHT
SAM MEDYSKY?
SUSI MAI
TOM COURT

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