Competition rules

1. Eligibility

The championship is open to flyboard athletes who are medically fit, can swim, and accept the inherent risks of powered watersports. Each person may file one official application. The organising committee may verify ability by video or a technical screening.

Athletes must declare their legal name, date of birth and nationality truthfully. A file without a verified email is not a valid entry.

2. Competition format

One entry

Flyboard Open Championship is a single entry. Minimum age: 16. Athletes under 18 need guardian confirmation. A performance video is required. Files are assessed by the technical panel. Athletes do not choose Pro or Challenger at registration.

Qualifier — 1 run

Every approved athlete rides the same course, the same sheet (Technique, Difficulty & amplitude, Composition & variety) and the same three Sea-Doo 300 jet skis. Each athlete rides 1 run. Ties: difficulty & amplitude, then technique, then a 30-second combo, then a draw. Judges mark independently. The secretariat scores each run as in section 4.

Open ranking and Vietnam ranking

The same scores produce two lists: the Open ranking (every nationality) and the Vietnam ranking (athletes who declared Vietnamese nationality). Nationality does not raise or lower a mark.

Split by Open score

Places 1–12 enter the Pro bracket; places 13–32 enter Challenger; later places keep an official qualifier rank and do not ride a bracket final. Pro prizes are paid only to the Pro bracket; Challenger prizes only to the Challenger bracket.

Bracket finals

Pro (12 places): each athlete rides 2 runs; the better score counts. Challenger (20 places): each athlete rides 1 run. Start list: whole field finishes run 1 before run 2. A broken run does not erase a clean locked run.

Host places

If fewer than 6 Vietnamese athletes sit in the top 32, and they have at least one valid run, the secretariat adds the next Vietnamese riders by Open rank to Challenger (at most +6). Nobody already inside place 32 is removed. The Pro bracket has no host reserve.

Vietnam ranking prizes

Vietnam ranking 1st/2nd/3rd follow finals standing (Pro, then Challenger; otherwise Open qualifier) filtered to Vietnamese nationality. Winners may also receive a Pro or Challenger bracket prize.

3. Equipment and safety

Equipment must be in sound technical condition with a working emergency cut-off. Athletes wear approved flotation when the committee requires it. Competition stops if control is lost, an acute injury appears, or weather exceeds the safety threshold. The safety officer’s decision to halt is final.

4. Scoring

Each run is marked by 3 judges. They mark independently and do not confer while the athlete is on the water. The score is posted before the next rider enters.

Each judge marks 3 enabled columns, each from 0 to 10, one decimal place (for example 7.5):

1. Technique — 33.3%. How clean the ride is: axis, posture, landing, whether figures are finished or broken. Weight ×3.33.
2. Difficulty & amplitude — 33.4%. How difficult the ride is: height, openness, and the difficulty of figures that were completed. A high-difficulty figure that is not finished does not take the full mark on this column. Weight ×3.34.
3. Composition & variety — 33.3%. How varied and flowing the ride is: families of figures, combos, few stalls, use of the water. Riders should cover three families: spin, straight flight (Superman / hover), and a flip or dolphin. Missing a family hurts this column — it does not void the run. Weight ×3.33.

Safety is not a positive column. Safety faults are deducted after the score, or mean a DQ (section 5).

One judge’s sheet

Sheet = (3.33 × technique) + (3.34 × difficulty & amplitude) + (3.33 × composition & variety)

A sheet uses the enabled column weights. Example: Judge 1 marks Minh technique 8.0 — difficulty & amplitude 7.0 — composition & variety 6.0.

• 3.33 × 8.0 = 26.6
• 3.34 × 7.0 = 23.4
• 3.33 × 6.0 = 20
• Judge 1 sheet = 70

One run

On lock: take the median of each mark column across judges, then × each column weight, subtract panel faults (the highest fault counts across sheets), and round to one decimal. This is not the median/average of whole sheet totals before weighting.

Configured fault deductions:

• Leaving the competition zone: −1 each time

Runs and ranking score

Qualifier: 1 run. Challenger: 1 run. Pro: 2 runs, the better run. Multi-run start-list rotation (consecutive / heat / whole field) follows committee settings.

A broken run does not erase a clean locked run.

Ties

Two riders share a ranking score. Break the tie in this order:

1. Compare Difficulty & amplitude (the median of each mark column across judges, before the weight). The higher rider places above.
2. Still tied: compare Technique.
3. Still tied: each rides 30 seconds, one combo; the cleaner, harder combo wins.
4. Still tied: draw.

5. Deductions

Deductions come off the run score after the panel score is combined as in section 4 (fault counts take the highest count across sheets):

• Leaving the competition zone: −1 each time

• Repeating the same figure: only the cleanest attempt counts
• Touching unauthorised support, or creating danger for another athlete or an official: the run or the athlete is eliminated

Deliberate endangerment means immediate elimination. The safety officer’s decision to halt is final.

6. Appeals

A technical appeal must be filed in writing by the athlete or coach within 30 minutes of that run’s score being posted. The appeal board is the head judge plus one committee member who did not mark the run. The appeal decision is final.

7. Image rights

By entering, athletes allow the committee to record and use competition images for official championship media. Publishing a portrait and biography on the public athlete page remains a separate consent.

8. Changes or cancellation

The committee may adjust the timetable, venue or cancel the event for safety, weather, permitting or force majeure. Changes are published on the official website and sent to the registered email.

9. Refund policy

The current phase does not charge an entry fee. If a fee is introduced later, the refund policy will be issued as a new rules version before collection starts. Athletes who accepted an earlier version will be asked to reconfirm if financial terms change.

*Legal passages that have not received final counsel review are marked provisional.*