ACM Motion 6.17 - 'Just for Fun, to see what people think'

Canadian Paddler · Post by **Canadian Paddler** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:28 am

It is felt that the straight line rule is not a practical way to determine the seperation between events. In the light of modern technology at our disposal to work out road distances and travelling times the Managed Calendar Officer be allowed to use his/her discretion.
The limit of Premier and or Div 1 per venue any weekend will remain
Replace UK 50.1 with
Premier and or Division 1 events only 1 veue per weekend
The Managed Calendar Officer will determine whether other divisional events will conflict with each other.

Canadian Paddler · Post by **Canadian Paddler** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:32 am

I am never happy when we ask someone to use their discretion in things like managed calendar or selection.

There will always be people syaing that 'my event does not conflict with theirs' or vice versa, and without a hard and fast rule, these people will be bringing even more pressure to bear on the managed calendar organiser, and then being aggreived if they do not get their way, or when finding out that an other club has got their way, and you did not know about it.

If technology is rife, and to be used, then define a technology, and a new measure, just be prepared to change it every year as the technology changes.

For the avoidance of doubt, I am against this motion, and urge you to ask your clubs to do the same.

Canadian Paddler · Post by **Canadian Paddler** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:02 pm

Oh go on, tell us what you would amend. . . :rock:

Dee · Post by **Dee** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:52 pm

Leaving things to discretion may not be ideal, but the current rules refer to straight line distances. The problem is that straight lines drawn on a map can cross mountain ranges and water with ease, not so kayak (or even canadian) ladan cars.

Of course we could start using helicopters (tie a boat to each propeller thingy that spins around on top maybe) but this doesn't seem practical.

One option would be to change the distances to road routes but even that is fraught with difficulties - the shortest route is often not the quickest.

The calendar does have to be agreed at the ACM so this does provide a check, but there are some events in the proposed calendar that do not conform to the current rules, so if the rule isn't amended there could be some problems.

Canadian Paddler · Post by **Canadian Paddler** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:16 pm

Just read Nicks posting, I too was not intending to question the integrity of any volunteer, I am just worried about the appearance of integrity when you are disappointed that a decsision goes against you.

John Sturgess · Post by **John Sturgess** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 7:55 pm

We could solve much of this problem if we accepted the principle that Div 3 and 4 races should be laid on by Clubs or consortia of nearby Clubs for the benefit of their own members - as we already do to some extent for Div 4 races with the 'short course' system. Most Sailing Clubs lay on races for their members every weekend in season!

Therefore these races should not need authorisation: Clubs would simply inform the Exec of the chosen dates in time for them to be published. Clubs/consortia of Clubs might choose to publish their dates in advance of the Managed Calendar deadline, so that it could influence their dates; or they might choose to wait until the Prem-Div 2 dates were settled, and lay on races to fill the gaps.

That does not mean that entry would be 'closed' to members of the Club(s): after all, Clubs would want the money from outsiders; and paddlers from Clubs choosing not to run events would need somewhere to paddle.

That would leave the higher division races to be scheduled by the Managed Calendar procedure.

However at the moment we start by deciding how many of these races there should be, then deciding where and when to have them. If we thought rather more like Tesco we might start from the standpoint that our customers who have got through the Div 4-Div 3 stage want to be able to race on water they like on weekends that suit them.

An 'open entry' system would allow us to produce a calendar of races on interesting water through the season. Only then would Divisional ranking status be awarded to particular races.

I suspect that the result would be a considerable increase in race entries overall.

We will, of course, be told that this would be impossible. But not only do the French do it for over half of their races, and the Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, etc for almost all their races, we do it every Winter. We even run a race (Stone Mini 3) where everyone can race, but only for some of the paddlers is it ranking.

Canadian Paddler · Post by **Canadian Paddler** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:10 pm

Amended to instruct the committee to draw up rules based on travel time rather than crow flies, and to use a standard, readily available software for calculation of times.

No loner just discretion