The IWT have organised a brilliant wavesailing event in Fiji, as part of the new joint IWT/PWA wave tour. All good, and we wave-buffs have been looking forward to this.
I do know these occasions are often about money, in that events held in far off wave breaks can't attract the level of sponsorship that would allow the PWA to go there - with higher PWA budgets which mean that top wave sailors, and organisers and helpers, and journalists, actually get paid.
I'm guessing that less people get paid on the IWT tour, and that makes it more of a local thing, but maybe that can be good. It's often a bit more grounded.
Fiji is particularly problematic, in that the wave break is itself a 40 minute boat ride from where the sailors actually stay. The competitors then have to rent boat space just to get to their heats, and the same is true for the photographers etc.
So we all want this event to work, with the sailors that could afford to be there having a good shot at winning, and for us, the audience, hopefully seeing the wave rides, as they happen.
If I was there myself, in Fiji, I would be helping however I could - though sadly I can't even afford the air fare to such a far off and unique wave break.
So here we are, in my case in Europe, and I've already understood that there's just one single elimination taking place for this event. And that means we've lost three or four world champions from the pro fleet already - with no second chance for them. Seems wrong.
With limited coverage so far, we have been promised a live stream, if only on finals day, but hopefully that is today, on Sunday. So we wait. We wait not knowing if we have to stay up all night or not.
And now it's after midnight here, UK time, and I have no idea whether I should stay up for the live stream - because there's **** all information coming out of this event. Aaaagh!
No live ticker. No morning forecast. No morning report from the wave break. No breakfast time interviews from the site hotel, or reports from a skippers' meeting. No live reports of the competitors loading their boards on the boats etc. Not even a wind or wave forecast update.
These people have no idea, no ****ing idea, how to talk to us, their limited world wide audience.
I guess we'll eventually hear about this event in the morning, after it's all over and they tell us how amazing it was. Or perhaps we'll get a report some months later in old fashioned print magazines.
Has nobody got a phone signal out there, FFS?
The IWT have their own website and a Facebook page - and then there's Instagram and Twitter - and then there's the Youtube channels - but there is **** all information on any of these formats.
You need to know you are so crap at the basics of telling others what was happening. We love you as our fellow windsurfers - but you need to stop living in your own self congratulatory bubble and start talking to your fan base.
Surely, this is basic stuff - on a level with local paper reporting.
OK. They now say the livestream starts on Sunday at 1pm, Fiji time.
That's GMT+ 12, or BST + 11.
In the UK that means the start is at 2am.
Have you ever been to Fiji?
At the risk of sounding judgey what a load of old rant no offence intended.
It's a world class break in a third world pacific nation where lots of people don't even have shoes.
No there is not perfect phone reception there or satalite, it's very far away.
Boat men are local fishermen with great knowledge of the reef getting a much needed cashflow boost.
Its not the fault of organisers that your in a very incompatible time zone.
This is not the PSA and its resources.
The need to organise diesel fuel and generators and crew to run them etc in order to even get power to try to put out a feed is why there is a blank screen at what would be 3am Fiji time.
This is not a live spectator sport and has not been in any form for 20 years or so.
It is a niche sport followed by die hard lovers of it like us, be happy with what you can get for the reward of seeing some of the best at it. in a place that is arguably the best in the world for it...just a bit later on.
Yes, I know all that.
But they do have phone signals on the boats for updates.
It's 2.06am here in The UK and no live stream yet, despite one being promised.
If the livestream hadn't been promised then maybe I wouldn't be here.
I just need to know if I should go to bed or not.
My point is really about engaging with your audience.
This might be a big step mate but imagine a part of world where not everything will happen in real time. It's national pastime in Fiji, its called bula time.
Select to expand quoteBrent in Qld said..
This might be a big step mate but imagine a part of world where not everything will happen in real time. It's national pastime in Fiji, its called bula time.
Fair enough.
In event management, we call this bed time.
There's actually a difference between 'waiting for wind and waves', and 'not letting your audience know what's happening'.
Maybe in your part of the world but here it's lunchtime Sunday so happy days down under.
Facebook from 1hr ago says rigging on boats and ready to compete
Select to expand quoteGestalt said..
Maybe in your part of the world but here it's lunchtime Sunday so happy days down under.
You'll be able to rely on our cricket reports this summer.
At the Ashes, even if rain stops play, you'll be informed of that.
That live coverage, of news and scores and of weather, is a separate issue from who is going to win.
I've been enjoying the cloudbreak coverage and I'm sure I'll watch Australia kick the poms arses too.
Lot of effort with Fiji Broadcasting Corporation for 250 people to be watching live right now.
The PWA dont do an event unless there is money to pay everyone and have a decent standard of coverage. Its up to whoever is organising the event to get sponsorship, not the PWA, although I am sure they help.
IWT is less well financed, they go to decent wave sailing locations, but the prize money is low. Take a look at the year's rankings and around 8 who do 3 or 4 events, the rest people on their holidays doing 1 event. Coverage has always been below PWA standards. But its holding the event and competition that counts. They go to some great spots, but a lot of them are out of the way and not the best internet connections, than somewhere like Sylt.
There are more slalom events, and now with foil, more results.
The PWA used to ban their sailors from doing IWT events, as they thought it undermined their events. When PWA events didnt happen, they dropped that idea. The PWA only had 4 events last year, 3 actually produced a result.
So now they have joined up with IWT to include their events, even if this one is just a 4* event.
Paul Van Bellen did some decent behind the scenes broadcasts in the build up, and at 1 point he actually said the internet had gone down which knocked things on the head. I liked the day 1 coverage, it takes a while to edit and produce videos.
I was wondering why they dont have the same live scoring and ticker as the PWA. Guess its down to software/hardware, and it needs someone to operate it. The IWT seem to have their own application for scoring, so use that, even though its not as good.
Its all down to money.
This sums it up:
Basher said..
"If I was there myself, in Fiji, I would be helping however I could - though sadly I can't even afford the air fare to such a far off and unique wave break."
How many of the IWT crew live in Fiji?
So I gave up and went to bed, and of course the livestream was there for me to watch this morning.
It is a very good livestream, well filmed and edited, and commentated, and with no technical difficulties.
The Sunday waves were a bit lame but it was still great to watch how those sailors handle those conditions.
You can see how much work has gone into this, and that's much appreciated.
My sole complaint remains however, namely that there were no updates to tell us what was going on, or offering a likely start time.
It feels like these livestreams require half-hourly updates on the day of competition, so that the live audience knows what time the stream is likely to start, and where to find it.
Let's hope they get good conditions to complete the competition tomorrow (Monday).
I can't tell who's who but whoever that is at 51:38-52:15 charges through the sickest ride I've ever seen.
I do wish there were more shots of the outside - how are they catching these monsters in what looks like 5-8kt winds?
Select to expand quoteBasher said..
My sole complaint remains however, namely that there were no updates to tell us what was going on, or offering a likely start time.
Yea .. all that effort for 300 people to watch the livestream and they can't spend 30 seconds to provide updates .. I assume they could start the live youtube channel with a static intro page and then provides updates on the live youtube channel with a 10 second text comment update?
Select to expand quoteAwalkspoiled said..
I can't tell who's who but whoever that is at 51:38-52:15 charges through the sickest ride I've ever seen.
I do wish there were more shots of the outside - how are they catching these monsters in what looks like 5-8kt winds?
I think in that highlights part, they put the heat number and results at the start of the heat highlights. So H4 winner was Baptiste Cloarec. I think the sail number if F-nnn, 3 numbers, its hard to make out. It looks like his white/orange RRD. Bernd/Ben interview, they said he puts the RRD sail together himself, with his tweaks.
www.pwaworldtour.com/index.php?id=7&tx_pwasailor_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=1885&cHash=8e5c296b47305c9eba025d0134e6afc2
Only 1 drone pilot, PVB, and frequent battery changes. I think he said it was windier than 5-8kt on day 1, 15-20 day 2.
