paddling etiquette

[paddlerparent]

Watching the last few div1 races I see a few things I thought should be raised.

1. Doing official practice means do a race practice, not repeats on tricky gates, why do some paddlers and their parents think differently and repeating gates is okay when most paddlers do full run

2. Why swear after the finish line, no one nor, public want to hear that kind of language


Why not simply disqualify for the above if paddlers think it's okay. It's not!

[Dee]

Second thread on paddler etiquette this year!

Is this really a comment on society or am I just getting old.

[djberriman]

Please note paddlers/parents/coaches there is a specific rule (C22.2.1) re official practice runs - you may only make ONE attempt at a gate.

Of course there should be two people running official practice, one at start and one half way down the course making sure only full runs are done. I've never seen the second person (C22.3).

UK C22.2 The Organiser must ensure that the official training runs take
place without interference.
UK C22.2.1 For each official training run it is necessary that:
- There be a specific person who is the general overseer and
that the directions of this person are adhered to.
- The runs take place with start numbers and in numerical
(start) order.
- They are carried out according to the competition rules.
- Usual safety precautions are observed.
- A Rescue Squad is in place when it is required.
- At Championship, and Division 1 events
and at other events when so directed by the Organiser or the
Jury, each gate is negotiated once only. A second passage
of a gate is allowed only when it is one of a combination of
gates that constitutes a single technical manoeuvre so recognised
and published by the Course Designer(s).

[BOMAD]

Hmmmmmmm, swearing............ part of modern day language maybe.

I too, saw and heard at Tully both points as raised by paddle parent. The same individual was also heard to swear along the footpath.
Maybe we should turn a deaf ear ........or we should make a stronger impression on the race officials and have individuals and parents "brought to court".


I an no evangelist but it is a problem.


BOMAD

[jjayes]

Is there really anybody who has never sworn in public out of frustration? An emotion that a slalom run can often evoke?

Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group.

Has slalom really become so middle class?

[TOG]

Rules are pretty clear for official practice - full runs only. That means you get a one-shot deal at the whole course with nobody else getting in your way - bit like your runs actually, unless you are as slow as me.
Unlike free practice, which is when everybody gangs up on the hard/interesting bit(s), hangs about in gate lines/eddies, chats, eats, drinks, attempts to spear each other in various combinations, breaks in just as the upstream paddler trying to do the best part of a full run arrives etc. But that's all part of the fun of free practice. Cue swearing, possibly.
While there's always a bit of an understandable overlap between the end of free practice/start of official practice due to paddlers being on the water at the time, when I've observed most abuse of official practice it's stemmed from junior paddlers being "encouraged" by parents/coaches to stay on and get 'that bit' right without regard to others who have correctly a) got off the water and b) headed up to start for their official practice run - thus leaving the hard/interesting bit free for the 'pushed' paddler.
(I'd like to think that) as paddlers mature, they understand the value of official practice and respect its importance to every other paddler at the event, and thus self-police. It's perfectly possible that then having achieved a level of expertise they may occasionally (frequently in my case ) experience disappointment in their personal performance in their runs, resulting in anger, frustration and swearing. I don't condone the latter in any way - I hear it enough in my work and do not relish its further presence out-of-hours - but can understand it in context, though I'm less sure that there are specific slalom conduct rules governing the use of language.
However, the misuse of official practice time ties in with a previous thread on responsible behaviour e.g. two boats waiting at finish. It's simply about respect & responsibility for others. Where is the difficulty with this? This is a game, after all.

[JimW]

People repeating gates in official practice at Tully was a problem and at times you may have noticed the safety team yelling and waving at competitors to move downstream because the eddies were getting crowded and there were some near misses.

I did have a conversation with someone on Saturday along similar lines - I mentioned that I had 2 attempts to get gate 3 and then gave up aware that the next paddler would be close behind, at which point I was reminded that in official practice you are only supposed to attempt the gate once. I was aware that it was not permitted to re-run sections in official practice (I wasn't), but I didn't remember the exact wording of the rule, which may be important...

Please note paddlers/parents/coaches there is a specific rule (C22.2.1) re official practice runs - you may only make ONE attempt at a gate.

Does not mean the same to me as:

UK C22.2.1
...
- At Championship, and Division 1 events
and at other events when so directed by the Organiser or the
Jury, each gate is negotiated once only. A second passage
of a gate is allowed only when it is one of a combination of
gates that constitutes a single technical manoeuvre so recognised
and published by the Course Designer(s).

Clearly I had breached the first interpretation, by attempting the gate twice even though I didn't get it, but the rule says I can only negotiate it once and in fact I didn't negotiate it at all....
I did get caught up further down the course and moved aside the same as if I had been whistled off.
I'm intrigued now as to which interpretation I should be following. After the conversation I had noted to myself to remember not to attempt a gate more than once in practice.

The people repeating gates 9-13 on Sunday, were in most cases negotiating parts of the sequence more than once in order to learn the best route into one of the subsequent gates, particularly where they had blown the cross from 10-11 and washed through 12 (and sometimes 13) first. At times we had 3 boats moving simultaneously, 1 crossing 10-11, 1 crossing back 11-10 and one trying to break in 11-12, all likely to pass through the same point on the wave.

To be honest it wasn't only a problem in practise, plenty of paddlers were determined to get gates 9 and 11 without incurring 50's and we often had 2 or 3 queued up in the eddy waiting for a gap to try again (even though they must have spent more than 50 seconds trying again). One paddler even got whistled off twice in the same area on the same run, although they didn't appear to hear the second whistle due to being on the far side of the river.

Mistakes are bound to happen when everyone is fired up, focussing on their own race/practise and already tiring from the previous long cross....

As for swearing, I just hope it wasn't me - I would be the last to notice if it was.

[djberriman]

You are correct it is one passage, my wording one attempt is incorrect.

However paddlers should use common sense and ensure they do not disadvantage another paddler when paddling back, check to see if anyone is coming, if there is enough room/time to make the reattempt especially if it is a difficult section and at worst case wait and fit in between paddlers.

Similarly paddlers should ensure they do not cause someone to be whistled off if they miss gates on a run. Do the decent thing and pull over if you have missed gates to make it obvious to judges that you are not a catch up. Similarly you should not really need whistling off, if someone is clearly faster and catching you up, pull over and let them past.

[Toomuchtooyoung]

Nice people don't win races. The emphasis on rapid progression exerted in some parts of slalom will be to the detriment of the sport.

[davebrads]

That's not true, I know lots of nice people who win races. There is no excuse for being self-centred and rude.

[paddlerparent]

That's not true, I know lots of nice people who win races. There is no excuse for being self-centred and rude.

Well said, I totally agree

[TOG]

Nice people don't win races. The emphasis on rapid progression exerted in some parts of slalom will be to the detriment of the sport.

I get it. And many of those who enjoy slalom for a wider variety of reasons, other than simply progressing quickly to the elite, will be turned off.

[jjayes]

Nice people don't win races. The emphasis on rapid progression exerted in some parts of slalom will be to the detriment of the sport.

I get it. And many of those who enjoy slalom for a wider variety of reasons, other than simply progressing quickly to the elite, will be turned off.

Slalom racing obviously attracts many varied people with a wide variety of aims, be it aspirations of one day racing at the Olympics or having a fun weekend away with friends. With the divisional structure, although not perfect the sport probably already has one of the best balances of options as compared to many other competitive sports structures.

Parents and coaches need to be very careful about unintentionally or intentionally exerting additional pressure on young paddlers. It is good for any body associated with any athlete to question their own motives for being involved. Thought needs to be given to the development of the person as a whole and not just as a athlete. The personal gaols and judgement of success should be in the mind of the athlete and not anybody else.

At junior elite level it seems that the development ladder in being pulled away far too early at the moment. Good young paddlers do not always make the best senior paddlers this is often because chronological age can have very little bearing on actual development either physically or mentally.

It would be good to come up with more ideas that would make the sport more attractive many more paddlers whatever their asperations.

The sport needs good numbers in all areas to thrive.

[jjayes]

[/quote]
I get it. And many of those who enjoy slalom for a wider variety of reasons, other than simply progressing quickly to the elite, will be turned off.[/quote]

Here is another view by Eric Jackson on competition....

https://mpora.com/longform/the-eric-jac ... SqSRZhq.97

[Toomuchtooyoung]

Great piece