Just a few comments on the location and rules


Will the judges be up in the carpark this will mean that they will be looking down on the kiters? Which may be hard to judge jump height and spot clean landings etc..

The artificial reef is very choppy if there are no waves (pretty high possibility) it will then be a freestyle event in choppy water, not nice. The chop is a short sharp backwashey type which IMO is not nice to ride in. A better spot would be dare I say it the phone box… little waves on the out side and flat water on the inside. Unless you have to have the comp the 200 meters offshore to satisfy council by laws?????

Will the Judging area be on the artificial reef, if so it will be a long way off shore 300-400 meters to far for crowds and judges.

The diagram shows the priority buoys on the inshore side of the judging area so we will see kiters tacking back and forwards in front of the judging area, if possible put these on the seaward side of the judging area.

Rules state you will be disqualified if some one fetches your board back or some one helps relaunch your kite. Kiting is/should be about helping one another out and friendliness on the water, I think this distracts from what we want the sport to be. Sure 10,000 up for grabs so it would be a good test of character to see if I would return a board to some one……

Anyway just a few thoughts Ian and Gravity team. Keep up the great work its is appreciated should be a great few days to see the best of the west trash the rest……….

Cheers

shane

I agree that the site is less than ideal - unfortunately it is out of my control. Cott was definitely never an option anyway after recent controversy.

Good point about going upwind in front of the judges - the layout diagram is indicative and will be adapted to suit the conditions on the day.

Judges will be on the cliff tops and will have binos to use if they need them. Unfortunately we cannot bring the JZ in any closer because of safety issues and the City of Mosman will not allow any judging towers any closer to the JZ.

The Gravity Games H2O is primarily designed for TV so the organizers are not that worried about being really close to spectators :-(

Safety is one of my main concerns so we need to leave enough downwind safety buffer before the reefs and before kites potentially hit the updraft on the cliffs, especially if we are to allow suicide leashes.

Thanks for the feedback - the more heads to the problem, the better the solution. If you get the time please download the Excel judging sheet and play around with some figures and let me know what you think of the relative weightings, etc.

Cheers,
Ian Young

imo, there is no reason a third party could not assist to retreive a kite or board, but the competitor should not gain any significant advantage by doing so

(and if you want to start an argument about helping them being an advantage itself ... go away ... :)

Agree with internerd , kite relaunch and board return permitted but no assistance to be given to the rider to get upwind .
This way the rider can't be penalised if someone helps them without thier consent .
Rider can tell anyone trying to assist them up the beach to leave them alone .

Chances are slim that both kites would be down at once unless due to lack of wind. I also think that most people at that level are capable of relaunching their own kite.
Also if you were unable to relaunch on your own you'd be grateful for the help of the boat even if you had to wait a bit.

It just annoys me when you see someone do a heap of tricks in the judging area only to be pulled back upwind by helpers when someone is doing their tricks and struggling to go back upwind in the same heat.

If you do want to walk back upwind, thats fine just do it on your own!

If your so powered up that walking back upwind is difficult you are more than powered up enough to kite upwind.

First person to drop the kite is the first person responded to , if second person is down they will probably be assited within a minute of the first being relaunched .
Assistance with a lost board will only be given if the kite has been down . Otherwise you will end up with safety craft having to come in close to the other riders and no advantage would be gained anyway .
If a board is on the beach , this can be returned by anyone as it does not pose a hazard to other riders .
Need to determine with the riders when assistance is given ( a signal) some may prefer to relaunch themselves .