Good Point Sterlings (Joanne & Michele sp?? - apologies in advance)
I have underestimated the psychological as well as physical challenge that seeing a 3 (or a 4 for some) has in front of the numbers.
The mere fact that we can have a 5 page thread with much debate is good, the fact that the thread runs to 5 pages also suggests that the system as it stands must be pretty close to 'right'
Having thought somme more, lets keep it as it is, run it for another year and then change it there are biases.
One option to consider might be a 'special challenge' class for a month. eg: 30 minutes - distance travelled, 1km, 250m, 2km, alpha 100. or alpha 1km - there's 7 different challenges to start with that could add some extra fun.
Dopplers not perfect either ive seen some funny tracks from guys mainly due to signal loss due to crashing on a gybe or the gps being under water.
Sometimes the whole run is invalid which in this case it would matter if it was 2sec or 10sec speed.
Im still in favour of a changing the 2sec max speed too 100m or 10sec though.
If we are going to keep distance there should at lest be a time limit most other sports have at lest set km or time.
ta Vando
I'd like to see a bit of expansion on participants' pages - a few more photos, info about yourself (height, weight, years windsurfing etc). It should remain optional, but I think we have really built a community here and that being able to get a bit more info more will only enhance that.
This is really more down to to the participants to update their page as the facility is already there in a rudimentary form.
How can we encourage more people to reveal a bit more about themselves?
As a starting point, could we introduce an avatar that comes up in your comments every time you lodge a session, much as we have here on this forum?
Interesting points by the Sterlings.
All the divisions are a little strength/weight/endurance based.
Perhaps there should be a fudge factor for females. Still publish their true speeds/distances but in the monthly team category they could have a 49.09/41.25 (Antoine speed verse Karens-both world records) multiplier enacted.
ie the Divas would have 19% added to the values so they could be in with a shot of the team prize but would still have their personal targets between themselves.
Not sure how the women would feel about this but may be worth canvasing.
If a woman is in a predominantly male team again her results could be inflated by 19% so she has a chance of being a regular contributer to the team result (in a seperate field so people would still know her real speed) .
Just floating the idea out there.
The handicap system is in place, why not implement it so the womens teams can be competitive? (if the women agree of course).
If we are going to introduce handicaps based on gender (or inflate speeds) then we should considering doing it on weight and/or height basis instead. Otherwise lightweight, short-arse males like myself will be further left behind the pack
. Lets factor my 33knt/67kg against Antoine's 49knt/95kg. Still only gives me a 46.79knts, but I feel like I am getting close.......
I am very happy with the current format.
Any handicap is going to be unfair to someone. What about the povo sailor who uses old gear? He or she may be poor due to circumstances outside of their control such as a sick partner or being made redundent or perhaps they needing to pay off their mortgage quicker. What about the people living in places that are not very windy or lack the super smooth runs? Similarly the people who lack fitness or ability due to physical ailments? For example I suffer from a heart condition and would never be able to run a marathon or windsurf 300kms in a day. Do I get a handicap on my distance?
A handicap would be impossible to make fair to everyone so it would be disadvantaging some over others. So there would be no difference over the current system of no handicaps. Probably what would happen is the top sailors stay at the top and the middle to lower ranking sailors without the handicap get disadvantaged the most. So you are penalising people who are giving it their best shot but for whatever reason can't achieve the best scores.
Female participation is to be encouraged but not at the expense of excessive rules and probable bad feeling. The way to encourage females or anyone else to get involved is to praise their efforts, give encouragement, and tell people how great it is.
Everyone I've told about GPS sailing and the challenge is quite impressed, especially when showing them tracks on Google Earth. Its amazing how technology is now intertwined with our recreation.
Agree it would be good to post info about sessions. I try to download an image of my tracks, give a bit of a spiel of what happened and have started posting pictures if there are any. Its a bit of a blog of my windsurfing exploits.
I agree with the Board Crazy Girls and Moby. I dont think we need any special handicap and being placed higher in the rankings because of one isnt that rewarding. As a team, we know we are never going to be at the top and dont want to get up there with artificial scores. We are in it for the fun of it and to get the best out of what we sail with. Most of the Divas are on wave gear and are happy with that. I think that teams tend to compete with other teams at their level on the rankings table anyway. There is probably just as much competitiveness amongst teams lower in the rankings as they try to work their way up the ladder. We are quite content whipping the warriors
re handicaps
I believe there is enough data already logged to set up a handicap system.
Look to the difference between the lowest placed team without any penalty points (for not posting in a month) and the top team, your teams handicap would be the difference between your teams points and the lowest teams with say a 10% reduction.
That way at the end of the year everyone will be within a gnats willy of the top and doing a lot of tactical sailing to try and maximise points.
Run side by side with the existing comp I feel this could open up a whole new year of mad addiction where any team can take it out
Now here's one I would definitely like to see;
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN - PLEASE PUT NUMBERS ON YOUR SAILS!!!!
If everyone puts numbers on their sails, we'll all get to know each other even quicker.
With 80 participants in WA alone, you so often find yourself drag racing someone out in the middle of the river and then you have no idea who it was. It we all had numbers, maybe Nebs could fix it so you could search for someone by sail number.
You'll need them for the big race in January in Lancelin anyway.
If you have seen my numbers, they cost $30 each and they are super easy to take on and off. You can design them any colour, font style or whatever.
If anyone wants the number of the guy who did mine, PM me.
Even my number is old school!
The old black sticky-back dacron numbers were a pain-in-the-ass to cut out, stick on & take off again, but the new ones now are a piece of piss, and they look better!
Just because I have the sail number AUS27 doesn't mean I go as fast as choco though...
Nebs, would I be right in saying that it would be pretty easy to add in an optional "sail #" field that could come up next to your name / avatar / total km when you post a session?
Maybe if you put this in, it will encourage people to use it
One idea (and yes it may be the only one I have had) I have had would be "pennants" instead of numbers, like in wave comps where they have the ribbon thing tied on to the mast/boom so you know who is competing and who is just getting in the way ;-)
What about each team have a colour for a pennant attached to the mast top, surveyors tape or similar.
Another idea - just to prove I can have 2 - has anyone considered averages of the best 5 for the Alpha, rewarding consistency ?
