Post by yip on Jul 7, 2014 18:23:26 GMT -8
Hi everyone,
I'm one of the coaches of cyc (high school team in sf) and I plan to bring down my team to this year's BLB race. However, I know we will be using the start gate system and last year's debut really worries me. Here are the issues I would like some clarity on:
-starter callers. I was not impressed with how those callers were rushing us steersman to get to a buoy in x amount of time, and then X amount to get to the gate without any outside help or guidance. It's very difficult to line up together with respect to the wind/current and someone threatening for penalty or being left behind is outright disrespectful; it's as if the caller has never steered a race before.
Will the callers this year be more helpful than a person on a microphone simply saying "move up or get left behind? A good example of a great caller would be Kim from Vancouver (the same caller as TI). Kim not only announces the start but advises us of wind direction, whether or not we are far behind, and helps us move accordingly(boat 1 take one stroke and let it run). With a helpful starter, I believe we can avoid collisions/incidents.
-the start itself. I believe this also goes hand and hand with a better starter. So last year it was stressed that we must line up at the gate as fast as possible (without damaging the gates) or be left behind. However, I find that sometimes it's more advantageous to start behind the gate with the unreasonable rush to start. There are two scenarios I will bring up:
1) the obvious one would be because running start. Why be held placed at a gate when you can be back one row and having a moving start? It's clear that this scenario is malicious and teams can/will abuse that. But let's think about the other one.
2) the current has picked up considerably and it's harder to start the races. My boat is behind because we need to adjust. There's 5 seconds til the race starts and my drummer is waving to delay the race but the starter ignores us. Am I better off lining my head at the gate crooked and adjusting during my start? Or should I stay behind to straighten out and left the boat drift during the calls?
With both scenarios in mind, how will this year be handled for not being behind the gate? I understand that we want to keep to the schedule but safety should be the biggest priority without being penalized. To bring up a perfect example: last year during the sprint, I believe (and correct me if I'm wrong) the china team was not straight at the gate, had a strong start and impeded into another lane, creating a chain of events and ultimately causing a dragon head to collided into a shoulder of a ripple paddler (still injured one year later).
As a coach, paddler, a race director, and a former scdbc member...these issues worry me and hopefully we can shed some light on these topics. Look forward to a good weekend of racing!
Chris
I'm one of the coaches of cyc (high school team in sf) and I plan to bring down my team to this year's BLB race. However, I know we will be using the start gate system and last year's debut really worries me. Here are the issues I would like some clarity on:
-starter callers. I was not impressed with how those callers were rushing us steersman to get to a buoy in x amount of time, and then X amount to get to the gate without any outside help or guidance. It's very difficult to line up together with respect to the wind/current and someone threatening for penalty or being left behind is outright disrespectful; it's as if the caller has never steered a race before.
Will the callers this year be more helpful than a person on a microphone simply saying "move up or get left behind? A good example of a great caller would be Kim from Vancouver (the same caller as TI). Kim not only announces the start but advises us of wind direction, whether or not we are far behind, and helps us move accordingly(boat 1 take one stroke and let it run). With a helpful starter, I believe we can avoid collisions/incidents.
-the start itself. I believe this also goes hand and hand with a better starter. So last year it was stressed that we must line up at the gate as fast as possible (without damaging the gates) or be left behind. However, I find that sometimes it's more advantageous to start behind the gate with the unreasonable rush to start. There are two scenarios I will bring up:
1) the obvious one would be because running start. Why be held placed at a gate when you can be back one row and having a moving start? It's clear that this scenario is malicious and teams can/will abuse that. But let's think about the other one.
2) the current has picked up considerably and it's harder to start the races. My boat is behind because we need to adjust. There's 5 seconds til the race starts and my drummer is waving to delay the race but the starter ignores us. Am I better off lining my head at the gate crooked and adjusting during my start? Or should I stay behind to straighten out and left the boat drift during the calls?
With both scenarios in mind, how will this year be handled for not being behind the gate? I understand that we want to keep to the schedule but safety should be the biggest priority without being penalized. To bring up a perfect example: last year during the sprint, I believe (and correct me if I'm wrong) the china team was not straight at the gate, had a strong start and impeded into another lane, creating a chain of events and ultimately causing a dragon head to collided into a shoulder of a ripple paddler (still injured one year later).
As a coach, paddler, a race director, and a former scdbc member...these issues worry me and hopefully we can shed some light on these topics. Look forward to a good weekend of racing!
Chris