congrats to all the people involved with this great event. And to Cabrinha well done not only 1 st and 3 rd two local riders but also well done to Hudson who crossed the line first only to be disqualified. That transport board must be way to go.

axis said...

Why was he disqualified?

There were kiters that started on the yellow flag down which was one minute too soon and then I believe others followed so a few disqualifed.

Have never done the L2L, but I would have thought that one minute is a hell of a head start in this type of racing. No wonder he crossed the line first.

bermand said...

congrats to all the people involved with this great event. And to Cabrinha well done not only 1 st and 3 rd two local riders but also well done to Hudson who crossed the line first only to be disqualified. That transport board must be way to go.

It was also a cabrinha kite that took out Johno Keys on the start line.

:)

Teamwork??????

Da Da Dun!!!!!

is that what happened Jonno?

DAMMMM !
that brings back memories from nationals..

go pro footage please?

Hi Robby

I think there was 4 Airush Sector 60's and a Sector 52 as well as a Airush Monaro V2 that did the race.

I also saw a few of the Cabrinha Free Race boards

Because the L2L is a cross wind drag race and not a up wind or down wind tactical race the "Free Race" boards come into their own for this sort of event.

But until the results are released we don't know who placed where. (its not as simple as it seems as there where so many people that broke the start. there where a lot of people at the front of the pack that had been disqualified for starting on the 1 min gun and not the GO gun.

G'day Damo and Swinginthebreeze,

cheers for info. I've had some blasts on my Sector/One Design and now that I'm fairly familiar with it can squeeze some pace from it, I wondered if it is compeditive. I reckon since the Sector is such an easy board to ride, that ease will soak up poor riding and translate to speed. I'm sure pure race boards are quicker but not if your out of control.

I found the Sector great upwind/downwind but found it really fast on a reach. Damo you might remember how far (8km in a straight line) it is but I did a couple of upwinder/downwinders from Casuarina beach to Mandorah and back. On one trip back I did one tack, blasted back to Cas beach going from a reach to a broard reach in roughly 20 knots of wind. With charts and keeping time with my watch, I managed to average of 20.66 knots over some really rough water in places (especially around East Point and Rapid Creek). I'm sure I went in burst over 21 knots but without a GPS I don't know for sure, anyway, all I know is it felt really fast at some stages.

With this in mind I wondered how the Sectors would go in the L2L? I believe if you practice on the Sector you'd get faster as you get familiar with it, surely it will be sort of competitive. I found with practice I'm getting faster especially on long hauls!

I had a drag race with an A class cat a little while ago and left him for dead on most tacks except when he really pinched upwind, each tack he was 50m upwind of me, next tack 100m ... til I ended up giving up, but all other tacks I had him. I figured if I can basically keep up with an A Class, the old Sector is pretty good.

Anyway, enough blah blah,

cheers for now,

Robbie

ps what board/kite did you use Damo?

pps only 38.97 seconds between first and last in L2L, wow that seems close to me??

axis said...

Why was he disqualified?

The story I got from the horses mouth was that he jumped the gun by approx 5-10 secs max. Hudson had a yachties timer watch on and had synced it to the preliminary flags, so that he could do a flying start, which he did. BUT he crossed the actual start line slightly ahead of the starter flag/hooter. Hudson was not in the group that left a minute early on the yellow flag.

Then he finished well over a minute ahead, closer to 2 mins. Seems like a really harsh decision to DQ him when it he was so clearly faster than anyone else. Surely a penalty of a winning time margin reduction would have been a fairer call?

The board he rode was the Cabrinha Transport, and he was on a 14M Switchblade 2012.

INTHELOOP said...

if you start before the green flag is up you are disqualified. easy as that doesnt matter what your watch says~!

Hudson can show again how fast he is at Nationals

No Marvin, in sailing thats just not true at all, usually the offender has a time penalty imposed, or has to recross the starting line. There is often a race committee that you can lodge a protest with too.

Maybe this was a written and published rule in the L2L race though, anyone know for sure? (if it was then thats the final word, but I still think its poor form and creates a negative vibe)

The guy was a matter of a few seconds early, maybe? He really thought he crossed the line after the hooter so it must have been close. In cases that are really close like this, it makes more sense to impose a time penalty.

He clearly demonstrated that he was fastest by his result of finishing way ahead of the next competitor.

I watched the start of the 2012 Sydney to Hobart, at least one yacht crossed the start line early and was chased and informed they had to recross the start line. This option is not practical in kite race, and thats why I think a time penalty should be imposed. DQ'ing someone that put in a huge effort and invested a lot of personal time and money to compete and support the event is not the best way to deal with this inevitable infraction of the rules.

Kitepower Australia said...

INTHELOOP said...

if you start before the green flag is up you are disqualified. easy as that doesnt matter what your watch says~!

Hudson can show again how fast he is at Nationals

No Marvin, in sailing thats just not true at all, usually the offender has a time penalty imposed, or has to recross the starting line. There is often a race committee that you can lodge a protest with too.

Maybe this was a written and published rule in the L2L race though, anyone know for sure? (if it was then thats the final word, but I still think its poor form and creates a negative vibe)

The guy was a matter of a few seconds early, maybe? He really thought he crossed the line after the hooter so it must have been close. In cases that are really close like this, it makes more sense to impose a time penalty.

He clearly demonstrated that he was fastest by his result of finishing way ahead of the next competitor.

I watched the start of the 2012 Sydney to Hobart, at least one yacht crossed the start line early and was chased and informed they had to recross the start line. This option is not practical in kite race, and thats why I think a time penalty should be imposed. DQ'ing someone that put in a huge effort and invested a lot of personal time and money to compete and support the event is not the best way to deal with this inevitable infraction of the rules.

Hi Steve,

in the competitors manual and in the pre race briefing we were advised that if we crossed the line in the final minute before the green flag is raised we would be disqualified.

The start of the final minute was signified by the lowering of the Yellow flag, after which the Green flag would be raised.

They reiterated this a few times to make it clear.

I think that the group that crossed early (possibly Hudson excepted) mistook the Yellow flag being lowered as the start.

I do believe though they should have allowed competitors to round the end of the line and restart the race (without interfering with others of course)

This is a proper sailing rule and for those that think or actually realised they made a mistake it would allow them to at least compete even if they are not in the top spots.

The only reason not to include this as a rule would be because of a possible fiasco if the offender decided to turn around in a hurry to re round the start line buoy and in the process take out a heap of other innocent people, but he would then be up for more protests so it would be in his interest to make his way safely out of everyone's path and get on with his race.

Just don't cross line before the green start flag. What is so hard about that. If you want to race follow the rules & they were read out to all kiters about 5 times in race briefing just befor race. If you start before the green flag you have no official time in race. Hey that what's makes it so much fun, you gotta know the rules, don't freak out at start and cross early to following others who have. Run your own race. It' s not as easy as it sounds to pull it all together on day. As Marvin said "the nationals 20 km race & CR racing should be fun".

Great race, keep it the same start, then everyone has a red hot chance of winning if they can pull it together over 19 km of Indian ocean from 15 to 30 knots. P.S. in 2012 the crazy French speed dude Aex C will be back , now that dude is crazy way to fast. Things just got way harder for 2012 L2L again.

Go the HoBo

Just a quick one, in the avon descent, the power boats have a milling start as does the L2L, if we go over the start line before the green light its a 15 minute penalty, no chance of winning if that happens but you can still RACE

Kitepower Australia said...

LouD said...

I apparently crossed the start line while gybing prior to race starting and although I started well after green flag, was disqualified which I believe cost me a first ten place.

The manual and the briefing could not have been clearer on these issues and the race could not have been better organised, the judges went through a lot of video footage to make the final decisions, so it was a very fair race and the results should be accepted graciously by all.

They are, the results and the judging decision are totally accepted. I'm suggesting that in a race like this, in future, where people are travelling very long distances and investing a lot of time and money, that a more accommodating set of rules be adopted, thats all, ok?

Im sure if youhave travelled that far, and it is such a long race, that u can afford to start 10 seconds late in accordance withthe rules.its pretty poor form if they held a major event like this, with international riders, and when u started made no difference to the result.i doubt that hudson would have placed 1st had he been forced to recross the start line.

Good on cabrinha for the high placings..... at least they are good for something

Kitepower Australia said...


No Marvin, in sailing thats just not true at all, usually the offender has a time penalty imposed, or has to recross the starting line. There is often a race committee that you can lodge a protest with too.

Maybe this was a written and published rule in the L2L race though, anyone know for sure? (if it was then thats the final word, but I still think its poor form and creates a negative vibe)

The guy was a matter of a few seconds early, maybe? He really thought he crossed the line after the hooter so it must have been close. In cases that are really close like this, it makes more sense to impose a time penalty.

He clearly demonstrated that he was fastest by his result of finishing way ahead of the next competitor.

I watched the start of the 2012 Sydney to Hobart, at least one yacht crossed the start line early and was chased and informed they had to recross the start line. This option is not practical in kite race, and thats why I think a time penalty should be imposed. DQ'ing someone that put in a huge effort and invested a lot of personal time and money to compete and support the event is not the best way to deal with this inevitable infraction of the rules.

Sydney to Hobart is not an Olympic class event. At national and world class level if a competitor is over the start, a sound signal may be sounded and a individual recall flag raised. It's then up to the competitor to decide if he or she is over and restart the race. If you fail to restart the race and you are over the line then you are disqualified. In the case that there are two many competitors over the line and individuals can't be recognised than a sound signal is sounded and a general recall flag is raised and the whole start sequence starts over again from the 5 min mark.

Everything was very clear at the pre race briefing. You even had 2 freaking weeks to read the rules.

People just need to understand they ****ed up!

Accept the penalty.

All these excuses, I'm sorry- its pretty lame. No one "made" you false start.