Half a head!!! - The rules

[Rob Holdway]

Hi folks,

Several of us got into a discussion about the half head rule at Teesside this weekend. This often causes quite a bit of confusion, therefore I think that a clarification would be useful for everyone.

The scenario when this is relevant is if a paddler necks a gate travelling in the correct direction but only gets half his/her head in the gate. The paddler then paddles back and attempts the gate again, this time negotiating it correctly.

These are the relevant rules:

28 Negotiation
28.4 Negotiation of a gate begins when:
The boat or the body or the paddle touches a pole of the gate OR any part of the body (trunk or head) of the competitor (in C2, one of the two competitors) crosses the line between the poles.

and

29 Penalties
29.6 Repeated attempts at a gate without touching the poles is not penalised if the head of the competitor has not passed the line between the poles.

The above rules state that a 50 second penalty has been incured on the gate described in the scenario.

I personally observed two occasions where, in my opinion (-judges may have seen it differently) the above senario occured, one paddler recieved a fifty and the other was clean.
Hope this clarification will help to prevent this in the future, if people were unsure (e.g. gate judges new to the sport).

I must declare that I have never fallen foul of this rule and am aware (after discussing this with Jacky and Jenny) that this senario was discussed at length before being introduced - I appreciate that judges and the ICF etc have thought long and hard about this.
I am also aware that it would be very unlikely that a paddler doing the above scenario would win a race.

This leads me to the discussion from the weekend: Is this rule a fair rule?

It is my opinion that this is may not be the case.
Take three paddlers.

The first one necks the gate and gets a full head (and some
boat) in the gate line - the gate is negotiated cleanly.

The second paddler necks the gate but isn't as successful and none of his head crosses the gate line, he/she then goes back and negotiates the gate correctly - the gate is negotiated cleanly

The third paddler necks the gate more successfully than paddler 2 but not as well a paddler 1, only half his head (and some boat) crosses the gate line, he/she then goes back and negotiates the gate correctly - the paddler incurs a 50 second penalty.

In my eyes, the third paddler should be (would require a change in the rules) judged clear also. When necking a gate it should be black or white, either you go through the gate or you don't. If you haven't gone through the gate, then you should be able to attempt it again!


As I said earlier, not pointing fingers at anyone, just raising a question!

Rob

[Rob Holdway]

Now starting to get my self confused. On reading the rules several times again, I'm not so sure that the scenario that I describe is classified as a fifty by the current rules! (pages 82,83,84 of the yearbook)

Rule 29.6 (as written above) States that the paddler will be penalised but does not say how (deduction would suggest a 50 but it does not categorically state this).

Going back to the negotiation rule (28) half heading a gate means that negotiation has begun. This is also the case for hitting a gate. If you hit a gate on an attempt but get your head no where near it, you then go back and negotiate the gate successfully, a 2 second penalty is the result. Surely the same logic should apply to the half head scenario?

Additional rule that is relevent:
28.6 The following conditions must be satisfied for a gate to be considered correctly negotiated
UK Repeated negotiations or attempts to negotiate a gate are permitted until the negotiation is completed as defined in rule 28.5. Any penalty incurred on any such negotiation stands.

Now thorougly confused, but am inclined to say that the rules are ambiguous meaning that it cannot be determined whether the paddler in the scenario has a 50 or a clean for the gate!!

What is everyone elses take on this?

[Eskimo]

Another similar scenario is getting a 50 after capsizing and going under a gate upside down. It doesn't matter whether you go back or not, you still get a 50.

[Pete Willett]

Hi guys
Myself and Mr Holdway and a number of other premier paddlers from Stone have discussed this rule before and until about a 6 weeks ago I didn’t know this rule existed, more importantly until this discussion neither did several other premier paddlers including one qualified section judge!!!! Which is very worrying for a number of reasons, not least the fact that I have judged at all levels of competition including Prem and Div 1 events in the past, without knowing this rule and with the experience us Prem guys have we should really be aware of the rule.
At the weekend (Teesside) I fell foul to this rule which I can accept as being by fault and didn’t feel hard done by. However I was with rob and witnessed a half head go back for the gate incident which was given clean (As rob states judge may seen differently). This did leave me feeling a little bit let down as the rule had applied to me but not to this other incident.
A possible solution to help stop this from happening would be to clarify this rule in the gate judges meeting, just to make sure everybody is singing from the same hymn sheet so to speak.

Pete

[Guest]

A possible solution to help stop this from happening would be to clarify this rule in the gate judges meeting, just to make sure everybody is singing from the same hymn sheet so to speak.

Occassionally gate judging I agree it is a difficult call and a discussion we held after Tees. Some sort of clarification at at future gate judges meetings would be useful. We want to be fair to all paddlers and all apply rules appropriately. Half heads and half boats were what I remember from my gate judges exam. Necking is hard depending on the angle you are watching the gate. Gate judge and section judge may both see different and it is for the section judge to summarise the event as clearly as possible.

[Canadian Paddler]

I understand that this is the International interpretation of the rule, and so any change in interpretation should come through the ICF rather than from the UK.

Having said that, and considering all the rules, compare the 'head' in a kayak to the 'heads' of a C2 (yep I am Canadian PAddler, so go to C1 rules)
- You have to get both C2 heads through the gate in one continuous motion - aka the whole kayak paddler head in one continuous motion.
- if the C2 leaves the gate line between paddlers a 50 is incurred that can not be converted. In a kayak if the head leaves the gate line without complete negotiation a 50 is incurred that cannot be converted.

Like Rob, I had difficulty with the rule, until considered like this. It is at least consistent, if we allow multiple part head passage, we have to change the C2 rule as well.

Thinking of Robs examples, the same applies to three C2s -one nails the gate, one goes too low, the third gets the front man (or back man) through the gate, but not both - 50 and not convertable.

[Guest]

If part of the boat and ALL the head go through it is a clear. Gate line might be interesting if poles are moving, think you might best describe it as a perpendicular line from the bottom of the pole.

Rule:
"The boat or the body or the paddle touches a pole of the gate OR any part of the body (trunk or head) of the competitor (in C2, one of the two competitors) crosses the line between the poles."


"The third paddler necks the gate more successfully than paddler 2 but not as well a paddler 1, only half his head (and some boat) crosses the gate line, he/she then goes back and negotiates the gate correctly - the paddler incurs a 50 second penalty." scenario

The rule says 'any part of the body', therefore you are deemed to have started to negotiate the gate. Rule about touching a gate, might imply the outer side of a pole??

Anyway if you half neck it and try it again you will have lost valuable time by then!

Full head first time or a 50 would be my tough decision, but agree all paddlers must be judged on the same benchmark.

Feel a novice, but try to be fair gate judge

[Guest]

Talking of half heads and rules, Jenny passed new gate judges at Tully - will they be added to the list on the home page??