Post by Stephanie on Apr 27, 2015 9:55:13 GMT -8
I'm still on a bit of high from yesterday's race. It was the first time, in my memory, that we haven't had a single collision or capsize. Not one!! Collisions / capsizes are how I mostly rate the success of a tournament. The other main factor I use is if races ran on time. And we basically did! I forgot my watch so I didn't check the time often, but I think we never got more than 15 minutes behind. And Dr Chen told me that we finished the day ahead of schedule too. In other words, for me anyway, this was our first successful tournament ever. Pretty high standards, I know, but obviously, it can be done!
Not that this was a perfect day tho. There was confusion about when / where the captains meeting was (even who [and for me, what, since I've never led a captains meeting before]). The boats weren't coming over - Jen said she wrangled a bunch of teams to bring them over eventually, but why wasn't this scheduled ahead of time? Or actually, I think it was, since I know Space knew, by Wednesday, that they were supposed to help bring boats over. So what happened to everyone else? There was the usual confusion about how long lunch was going to be. And that's all I have for land stuff. Not a lot, so great (tho I was also only on land twice yesterday so I'm sure there's more).
On the water things were much improved than years past. Boats going out mostly checked two lengths away from the lead race boat, steers mostly turned <4 boat lengths away from the start line (tho they're supposed to turn 2 lengths), steers were mostly responsive to Starters' commands, most steers set boats on the high side of the lane, very few steers tried to sneak in a running start, teams usually stayed well within their lanes and finished in their correct lane. This helped keep the starting line very smooth.
At starting we had to reset very few races yesterday, less than a handful. I think Jen and I had the unspoken agreement to let boats approach the start line with minimal corrections, and then correcting only when they were half a boat length away. I think it was a quieter and calmer atmosphere. I think steers are getting better at watching each other and adjusting to other boats. It's still strange when we're telling boats to give us a paddle forward, and they don't move at all. They can clearly see themselves more than a bench behind, and we try to bring them up, and they don't seem to want to. Also weird is that we'll tell boats to check and the steer tells the team not to. We can hear you! Especially if you're in lane 3 or 4. You do know that you can be penalized for ignoring a starter's commands, right? It's fine if you want to start behind the others, but you're not allowed to start ahead of them, or with a running start, if none of the other boats get that advantage. Please keep in mind that Starters are trying to line boats up to each other (not always the line itself), and that we are factoring in boat momentum. Do not override our commands unless we're telling you to do something unsafe.
Speaking of unsafe, although there were no collisions / capsizes, there were a couple close calls. I didn't see any crazy Ivans, though a couple did hook one way or the other for a little bit. The closest call I saw was a 200m when boat 3 almost hit boat 4. The steer was having problems setting up correctly in the lane even before we started, and the near-collision was almost right off the start line. I head the steer calling a check almost immediately, so that was fantastic. The caller wasn't echoing, but I still had the bullhorn in hand so I called for them to check and I think the caller started calling it then too and they stopped very quickly. Boat 4 swerved a little but got out of the way and everything went fine after that.
Unusual this year was the number of almost accidents before the start line! In one instance, a steer making a turn almost hit another boat's stroker with their dragon tail. Please be aware than boat heads / tails add another 3 feet and that they are raised. In the instance I was just talking about, that stroker would've been hit in the face if she hadn't leaned way back to avoid the tail. I know there isn't a lot of room for maneuverability since we ask boats to make a tight turn right after the starting line, but very few boats made use of the first two boat lengths before the line. Going forward, turning around, backing up may be tiring, but it's far safer than trying to make turns when there isn't room. Don't expect other boats to accommodate you, though hopefully they will.
Fewer than half our steers have taken the tournament written test, so maybe they don't remember, but you are allowed to cut across lanes to get to the starting line (assuming the race before yours is done, and it is safe to do so). You are also allowed to turn ahead of boats, providing that it is safe to do so. We're still seeing a lot of teams making wide turns more than 4 boats lengths away from the line to get around boats when there is plenty of room in front of them. Most steers who needed to back up, only backed up a little bit, so great improvements there.
I don't mean to be so hard on our steers, especially when I consider this Race to be a success (and that's mostly because of our steers). But having seen so much improvement from the bulk of our steers, I'm wanting the others to catch up. Spring Race is a rehearsal for Big LB, but since we don't bring out our Start System, it's not even a dress rehearsal. We encourage our practice steers to steer at Spring Race to get the experience in before the Festival in July. I hope everyone learned something at this race. I know Starter Jen and I did, and we expect to keep improving at Big LB.
Anyway, anyone have feedback? Maybe that isn't steering related?
Not that this was a perfect day tho. There was confusion about when / where the captains meeting was (even who [and for me, what, since I've never led a captains meeting before]). The boats weren't coming over - Jen said she wrangled a bunch of teams to bring them over eventually, but why wasn't this scheduled ahead of time? Or actually, I think it was, since I know Space knew, by Wednesday, that they were supposed to help bring boats over. So what happened to everyone else? There was the usual confusion about how long lunch was going to be. And that's all I have for land stuff. Not a lot, so great (tho I was also only on land twice yesterday so I'm sure there's more).
On the water things were much improved than years past. Boats going out mostly checked two lengths away from the lead race boat, steers mostly turned <4 boat lengths away from the start line (tho they're supposed to turn 2 lengths), steers were mostly responsive to Starters' commands, most steers set boats on the high side of the lane, very few steers tried to sneak in a running start, teams usually stayed well within their lanes and finished in their correct lane. This helped keep the starting line very smooth.
At starting we had to reset very few races yesterday, less than a handful. I think Jen and I had the unspoken agreement to let boats approach the start line with minimal corrections, and then correcting only when they were half a boat length away. I think it was a quieter and calmer atmosphere. I think steers are getting better at watching each other and adjusting to other boats. It's still strange when we're telling boats to give us a paddle forward, and they don't move at all. They can clearly see themselves more than a bench behind, and we try to bring them up, and they don't seem to want to. Also weird is that we'll tell boats to check and the steer tells the team not to. We can hear you! Especially if you're in lane 3 or 4. You do know that you can be penalized for ignoring a starter's commands, right? It's fine if you want to start behind the others, but you're not allowed to start ahead of them, or with a running start, if none of the other boats get that advantage. Please keep in mind that Starters are trying to line boats up to each other (not always the line itself), and that we are factoring in boat momentum. Do not override our commands unless we're telling you to do something unsafe.
Speaking of unsafe, although there were no collisions / capsizes, there were a couple close calls. I didn't see any crazy Ivans, though a couple did hook one way or the other for a little bit. The closest call I saw was a 200m when boat 3 almost hit boat 4. The steer was having problems setting up correctly in the lane even before we started, and the near-collision was almost right off the start line. I head the steer calling a check almost immediately, so that was fantastic. The caller wasn't echoing, but I still had the bullhorn in hand so I called for them to check and I think the caller started calling it then too and they stopped very quickly. Boat 4 swerved a little but got out of the way and everything went fine after that.
Unusual this year was the number of almost accidents before the start line! In one instance, a steer making a turn almost hit another boat's stroker with their dragon tail. Please be aware than boat heads / tails add another 3 feet and that they are raised. In the instance I was just talking about, that stroker would've been hit in the face if she hadn't leaned way back to avoid the tail. I know there isn't a lot of room for maneuverability since we ask boats to make a tight turn right after the starting line, but very few boats made use of the first two boat lengths before the line. Going forward, turning around, backing up may be tiring, but it's far safer than trying to make turns when there isn't room. Don't expect other boats to accommodate you, though hopefully they will.
Fewer than half our steers have taken the tournament written test, so maybe they don't remember, but you are allowed to cut across lanes to get to the starting line (assuming the race before yours is done, and it is safe to do so). You are also allowed to turn ahead of boats, providing that it is safe to do so. We're still seeing a lot of teams making wide turns more than 4 boats lengths away from the line to get around boats when there is plenty of room in front of them. Most steers who needed to back up, only backed up a little bit, so great improvements there.
I don't mean to be so hard on our steers, especially when I consider this Race to be a success (and that's mostly because of our steers). But having seen so much improvement from the bulk of our steers, I'm wanting the others to catch up. Spring Race is a rehearsal for Big LB, but since we don't bring out our Start System, it's not even a dress rehearsal. We encourage our practice steers to steer at Spring Race to get the experience in before the Festival in July. I hope everyone learned something at this race. I know Starter Jen and I did, and we expect to keep improving at Big LB.
Anyway, anyone have feedback? Maybe that isn't steering related?
