Nah. I watched a race at Elwood years ago when Jason Polakow first appeared as a rising pro. He crashed mid-course and dicked around and the whole fleet passed him. He then got going and lapped the entire field.
The rider with the most skill wins.
Of course, the kiters beat all the other windsurfers.

Contrary to what the story says, the competition had registrations from 20-odd windsurfers and around 50 kiters so the field was not totally dominated by kiters. Sure it was 2:1 but not enough to swamp the windsurfers.
None of the "world's best kite racers" had been in the world championship field and none of the top names were there.
I'm guessing apart from Kevin Pritchard and 1-2 other guys the windsurfers were also just keen guys and not top professional racers either.