HI guys and girls,

The nats, on the whole were outstanding with great organisation in a technically very difficult environment. I only have a few suggestions as to what I think may contribute to a smoother flow for next year.

The Priority Bouy is a good idea to allow judges to score more accurately each rider, however, it made the heats too slow to be interesting for onlookers and too frustrating for the rider waiting at the priority bouy for his/her next run.

1. I would propose making the judging square smaller for a start, this would make sure that the time a rider spends in the zone, shorter. The rider waiting at the PB had to allow the rider in the square to completely leave the box before making their run. Most of the run in, was through chop on the outside and riders only tricked in the area from the point to the beach inside which was half the size of the judging square. This meant loads of time waiting for riders to clear the unused section of the box resulting in a slow down of the whole routine.

The 10 Second rule is good but needs to be enforced. The downwind area could be smaller to enable riders who crashed and fell under the 10 second rule to exit downwind and not continue their run. Judges could have had a flag (black) which is waved at the 10 sec mark and the rider should then ride/body drag out of the box in the most direct route so as to clear for the next rider.

These are two simple rules which could be easily implemented and would speed things up. A few more ideas would be to allow the waiting rider at the PB to commence their run once the rider in the zone has changed tacks to head out on their second run. The only problem with this is that judges may have to watch and score two riders at once which then puts more demands on the judges.

A laminated copy of the rules and scoring system should be posted permanently on the white board so as riders could see what moves score and what dont. I know we were responsible for familiarising ourselves with it all before hand and I printed out the sheets and brought them with me but didn't reread them (shows how stupid I can be!). If they were available for easy scrutiny it may have silenced some of the critics of the scoring.

The reason I make these suggestions is that I spent my heats in approximately the following time breakdown:-
2 min performing tricks, 4 minutes working back upwind and 4 minutes waiting at the PB. This could have been time that I would ordinarily use to rack more points through more tricks. It tends to favour a best trick scenario and not the variety of tricks.

With regard to the waves, the priority bouy should only be used to ascertain initial order and from the time on, riders should be allowed to gybe or transition onto any wave as long as they do not encroach on normal surfing right of way rules. The current system can be used, if you are mean enough, as a blocking tactic. I didn't see anyone INTENTIONALLY doing this however it did happen a few times without the rider having priority even being aware they were doing it.


I also think that the rescue craft could have been in the water at the downwind outer mark for the freestyle instead of being on the beach, it would then be much quicker to rescue someone in need of assistance.

Perhaps to save the wave judges from losing their lunch over the side, a scaffold could have been built on the inner reef in front of the wave zone which would have been better for everyone involved.

Apart from these few changes, I think the results were good, the event well managed, food was adequate and this truly was an event for the rider and was undisputably the "best nationals ever".

Congrats again everyone involved and I hope these comments are taken only as suggestions and thought provokers.




Good winds and Peace

Great comments KiteHard, I just wanted to add another voice to the PBS system and say that I agree that it makes the comp less spectacular and entertaining to watch. The old style comps of 4 man heats going hard-out with few restrictions definately provided a great spectacle for those on the beach. The riders have the freedom to go hard, take some chances on higher risk moves, feed of each others energy etc. You usually find that the riders fall into some sort of a queue anyway, coming in one by one and heading out to sea to gain upwind ground, before looking for a clear spot to come back in and trick again. I realise this has to be a head-ache for judging though- but this in my view is the only apparent downfall.

My experience at the Nats, after making it through the first heat (placing second) with 3 runs in 10 minutes and riding in 3rd place in the priority system (because the seeded riders had the advantage of going 1st and 2nd)put me through to the second round.

Stoked to have made it through, I entered my heat in 4th place on the starting grid. The 10 minutes start, number 1,2 and 3 go, trick, crash, recover,- by the time I start my heat the 10 minute's is down to about 7 minutes. I did a good solid 1st run- putting points on the board, a trickier 2nd run, and was waiting for the 3rd to try the riskier big scoring moves, when the heat ended!! Damn! I didn't ride badly, but just ran out of time, and probably played it too safe- but look at some of the big names who went for the big moves early, put their kites in the water, exceeded their 10 seconds and got eliminated early on.

From my view, the PBS should be reviewed, its no fun at all as a competitor hanging around a buoy for most of a heat while waiting for your turn at 30 seconds of fame. You will see better kiting if competitors are allowed to keep moving at their own pace.

The pricipals of the PBS are great and should be used, like maybe to start all the competitors from, and get them in some sort of sequence where there is a gap between them, but from then on let them ride free, and have to round the buoy with each run- that keeps them from trying to gain upwind ground in the judging zone. The 10 second rule shouldn't apply- any one riding at the National level should be able to safely trick around a downed kite/rider.

Sorry for whinging- the results were a true reflection of the riders abilities, and the guys who made it to the finals all earned their places and kicked ass. Especially guys like Rich Stenning who fought his way back through the rapid-fire rounds to earn his place in the finals.

The judging sytem was excellent- looking at the score sheet you could see that 'old-school' board-offs and big hooked-in air was going to stand a chance against the wake style un-hooked riding, - look at the final to see how 2 completely different types of riding could be scored objectively- (An awesome show by both Adam and Dan).

great organisation by all, huge efforts by all- Ian, Deano, Gavin and all the many others involved, big thanks,it was great and heaps o fun,

Cheers

Lance

After reading thru all this complex drivel about the contest, no wonder Martin Vari has just signed a new contract with Slingshot having a "no compete" clause in it.

What ever happened to Expression Sessions or is that just too soulfull?

Well put Kitehard, The judges were working very hard to maintain standards of the competition. It was long days and very low appreciation from competitors and 5 days of no Kiting, when there is heaps of wind. Thanks for that understanding, you sound like a very experince competitor.
From the overall point of view the winners 1st,2nd,3rd diserved that attention. Ripping it up in balistick conditions, with height and degree of difficulty was definately acknowledged and appreciated. It takes more than being able to pull the latest tricks. It took Sailing skills, understanding the rules and regulation and consistancy. Anyone with these attribute were scored and graded accodingly.
Some took risks and busted big moves staight of the buzzer, when landed it scored highly because of the risk factor. if it wasn't succesfull and it was an awsome trick, eg. performed with alot of power and in difficult winds. It was marked as style points to remind us when we total variety and style that this person threw an awsome risky trick in the early stage of the competition.

On the first day the priority bouy was bigger than 100mt x 100mt. This was a test set by the head judge so that powered moves, eg Richies kiteloops, could be scored in the judging zone. We found that this wasn't necessary after the first day and so we reduced the space to a more workable size.

I would like to end with a well done to the WA boys for taking on Australias giants of kiteboarding and showed them how easy it was riding and composing in high winds, also that wakeboarding is done with bindings, wake and a boat and Kiteboarding is done with Wind, rolls/waves, kitecontrol, height and footstraps. With that much wind kiteboarding wakestyle moves should only be done with height. One reason, It scored alot higher. I think that it is so difficult to perform in such event and I very much respect those who can and can do it well. Im a soul kiter, the addrenalin is such a powerfull drug in kiteboarding. I feel that I cant have anymore hits, you guys are insane in my world.
KITE ON!!

bonny

no matter how u have it there is always someone who will complain and to date that was the best run best organised nats 2 date so well done to everyone involved no one could of done it better. and if they think they could of they probally would not have put the effort in to organise it anyway so well done gav.

hey Ryland,
of coarse there are always going to people complaining. Agreed this Nats was the best to date, its just throwing riders ideas around how to make it better- for next time.
But you are right Gav, Waksa, Aksa, geraldton, all the volunteers, Deano, Ian, etc, etc you all know who you are thanks a million for you efforts. it wouldn't have been the best nats to date without all your efforts.
Rich

rich