Post by Stephanie on Oct 19, 2014 8:32:15 GMT -8
If anyone has any feedback on the LA Race at Legg Lake we'd love to hear it! I'm especially interested to hear about the online waivers / rostering (yes, we've had it for a while but there hasn't been any feedback on this forum about it), the 5 Special Competitions, and whatever else is unique to this race. This is only our third year putting it on, and it's already over 50 teams strong, so let's fix problems while they're still small enough to handle!
My thoughts: I was only on 2.5 boats, so I can't say very much about racing conditions, but I know Marshalling had a few problems. I think this was partly because the music was too loud! The Marshallers are unable to hear a walkie-talkie so they don't carry one, which doesn't help. Next year we need to tell the DJ to turn it down. Another problem at Marshalling was that teams would take the equipment too early so teams actually needing to leave could not. Also an easy fix: bring more equipment next year and remind teams at the captains meeting to take equipment as they're loading, not as they're Marshalling.
Of the 5 Special Competitions there were also a few problems. The Best Drummer contest went really well. I think everyone enjoyed the demos at the opening ceremony. The other contests were harder because the Judges spent the day watching teams and taking notes but if people are wearing a PFD it's hard to know which team their from. Also I think a lot of teams thought there was going to be another demonstration of sorts for team cheer and whatnot. The official rules stipulated that Drummers would need demo something, while none of the other competitions specified anything like that, but I have a feeling most people didn't read the official rules. For example, we had an entry of Jello in the best food contest. It was very pretty! They had different colors of Jello and made molds of different sea animals; very cool. But the rules stated that healthiness and nutrition were being judged. Much as I love Jello, it's not nutritious.
Anyway, this was the first year we put on this Special Competitions so we'll be much better at writing the rules next year. ...though we'll need people to read it to actually help.
My thoughts: I was only on 2.5 boats, so I can't say very much about racing conditions, but I know Marshalling had a few problems. I think this was partly because the music was too loud! The Marshallers are unable to hear a walkie-talkie so they don't carry one, which doesn't help. Next year we need to tell the DJ to turn it down. Another problem at Marshalling was that teams would take the equipment too early so teams actually needing to leave could not. Also an easy fix: bring more equipment next year and remind teams at the captains meeting to take equipment as they're loading, not as they're Marshalling.
Of the 5 Special Competitions there were also a few problems. The Best Drummer contest went really well. I think everyone enjoyed the demos at the opening ceremony. The other contests were harder because the Judges spent the day watching teams and taking notes but if people are wearing a PFD it's hard to know which team their from. Also I think a lot of teams thought there was going to be another demonstration of sorts for team cheer and whatnot. The official rules stipulated that Drummers would need demo something, while none of the other competitions specified anything like that, but I have a feeling most people didn't read the official rules. For example, we had an entry of Jello in the best food contest. It was very pretty! They had different colors of Jello and made molds of different sea animals; very cool. But the rules stated that healthiness and nutrition were being judged. Much as I love Jello, it's not nutritious.
Anyway, this was the first year we put on this Special Competitions so we'll be much better at writing the rules next year. ...though we'll need people to read it to actually help.
