Dear Riders

After the PKRA final event of the year in New Caledonia we had a quick riders meeting to inform the riders of the developments of the year, and to discuss possible developments on the freestyle rules for the 2010 season.

Below is a brief summary of the meeting.

As most of you know the during 2009 the PKRA became a member of IKA - ISAF, in an attempt to contribute to standardize kiteboarding competitions, and grow the sport. After the initial disagreements that PKRA and IKA had at the begging of the year, we finally found a good formula to work together, and since then, things have been developing in a very positive way.

One of the changes that the IKA has brought up to the PKRA is the expansion of the riders committee (rules committee under IKA) to include non professional riders to make the decisions about the developing of the freestyle competition rules. I know most of you don't agree this is the right way, since nobody knows more about how the rules should be than the pro riders, but on the other hand it brings another perspective that sometimes pro riders don't see. However because of this development, it is more important that ever that the PKRA riders in the rules committee represent all of you the right way and represent the views of the majority of the riders and not only their own personal views. It is also crucial that these riders get involved in all the discussions about the 2010 rules, until they are set. If they all do then the rules will go on the direction of the PKRA riders but if they dont, then non pro riders will have most of the say in the rules.

At the moment the PKRA riders in the committee were voted at the beginning of the year in Leucate and these are, Aaron Hadlow, Bruna Kajiya, and Randy Hereman. All of them have contribute their ideas this year, some more than others but they know what has being going on.

The rest of the rules committee apointed by IKA are: Pedro Markos (PKRA judge from Portugal) Caroline Dubi (PKRA judge from France), Ian Young (ex-KPWT head judge from Australia), Martyn Hogg (British tour rider), and Myself.

If the 3 PKRA riders and myself stick together on where we want the sport to go, then we can still develop the right rules as we have done in the past.

In New Caledonia it was agreed to have elections to either reelect the current PKRA riders in the committee or to appoint new ones.

therefore I will be accepting nominations for the new election until the 10th of December.

Below is what the IKA rules committee has discussed over the last few months, and some ideas gathered at the New Caledonia Meeting with all riders.



1. IMPROVEMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS TO THE CURRENT JUDGING CRITERIA.

A: Old School Tricks. Old school tricks were discussed, with the intention of seeing if riders would accept to have them in competition.

CONCLUSION: Do not implement mandatory old school tricks. Leave as a second discipline or show discipline.

B: Mandatory Media Session. This was proposed in the IKA rules committee discussions and most riders in New Caledonia though it would be a good idea to have them, provided they are done after the freestyle competition is finished. We will come up with a formula and format on how to do this.

C: Second Disciplines. It was decided that the rules for all possible second disciplines should be drafted, so everybody knows in advance the rules for each specific second discipline and therefore train in advance for them.

D: Trick List. A cataloged trick list with its difficulty was proposed on the IKA rules committee discussion, but as most of you know we have attempted to do that for years without success, because the different wind conditions, styles and ways to do the trick make this task impossible to do.

E: Trick Difficulty: Difficult to define since it is a subjective issue and subject to different opinions, what could be very difficult for one rider might not be for another. Generally it is, but not always and depending on who you talk to. Also wind strength has a very big influence on trick difficulty. For example a kite loop on 15 knots will be much easier than a kiteloop on 40 knots. I am not really sure how to tackle this point. As Pedro pointed out there are too many variable on trick difficulty. I think the best way to approach this issue is the way that is currently done, which is having experienced well informed professional judges who are involved on everything the top riders are doing.



2. IDEAS ON HOW TO IMPLEMENT THEM BETTER SO THE JUDGES CAN DO A BETTER JOB.

A: Head Judge Watching the Entire heat. The only way this can be implemented is by having 3 “head Judges” on the tower. The current problem goes as follows:
During the early heats of the competition, for saving time reasons, the event is run with 4 riders out. A panel of 3 judges watches 2 riders and a different panel of 3 judges watches the other 2 riders. Watching 2 riders at the same time is already a difficult task since sometimes rider would jump at the same time at opposite sides of the competition area. So for the head judge to watch 4 riders in 2 different heats and keep track of what is going on, is an impossible task. To complicate things more, when a rider comes to the tower to check his score sheets or talk about a decision with the head judge, then the Head Judge stops watching the current heat while talking to the rider questioning him, and therefore is unable to watch the current heat.
The only way to get around this is to have two additional “head judges” watching each pair of riders during the heat the entire time. This scenario is not efficient since then this “head judges” would be just like an extra judge, then making an even panel of judges with 4 judges per pair. No practical solution to this issue has been found yet. Sami (PKRA Head Judge) added that as long as we have well trained professional judges their decision are as good as we can get them now.

B: Appealing each judge individually. Judges need to keep on judging the next heat and not be distracted or involved in heavy discussions with a rider that just lost his heat. Therefore appealing each judge decision is not a viable option. It is known that in the PKRA tour, some riders believe that a particular judge in the panel does not like his style and therefore is always ruling against him. This is a true concern, and the following was proposed to remedy this issue:
If a rider that competes regularly in the tour believes that a particular judge is being unfair, the rider will be able to request at the beginning of the event that this particular judge does not judge him through out the event. If a particular judge is requested to be excluded by several riders in a consistent bases then there would be the option to replace that judge with a new one for future events.
Judges try to be fair and unbiased, but I know from experience that when doing the tour on a regular bases after a certain period of events they might start developing a pattern which is not the right way to go.

C. Height and amplitude of the trick. This issue was heavily discussed in the New Caledonia event, and it is highly controversial. Some power riders like Aaron, believe Height and amplitude of the trick should not be rewarded as much because it gives you more time to do the trick. This means that lower tricks with less time to do the trick should be scored more. On the other hand it was noted that the low level tricks don't have as high a risk as higher tricks since when you crash your board stays close as opposed to loosing one minute of your heat to get back to your board after a crash on a high amplitude trick. More discussions on the subject to find the perfect formula should be done by the committee. In my opinion both types of tricks should be included in the heat displaying then better variety.


D. Variety. It was discussed and agreed that variations of the trick are still the same trick. The execution and difficulty of the trick can be higher by doing it one handed or with a grab, but the trick on itself would be the same as counting for variety.

E. Style. In my opinion this is a personal view, what looks nicer to me, might not be what looks nicer to you. Again I think most judges have their own personal opinion about style and I think overall most of them think in the same terms.

F. Electronic System
Pedro Marcos suggested having an electronic scoring system where the public and riders on the beach could see how is winning through the heat. His idea is:

Idea: in a 7 minutes heat:

Each 1 minute the head judge ask (it can be a electronic system where each judge just click 1 button each minute) each judge “who is winning” at that point and with some electronic scoreboard he can show to the public that in minute 1 the score is 5-2 , 7-0 or whatever (having 7 judges in this case). This info will be updated each minute untill minute 5, then the last 2 minutes will be no information so it wont be too hard on judges.

5 riders on the committee. During the New Caledonia Meeting, Kevin Langeree sugested that there should be 5 riders on the committee from the PKRA. Unfortunately that is not for us to decided, since the IKA will decide on this matter. I will push to expand the committee for 5 riders but at the moment is only 3.

Please dont forget to send your nominations for the committee by December 10th.

Regards

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M a u r i c i o T o s c a n o
P K R A T o u r M a n a g e r