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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN98Af9wzI4



This is a great video, and the slalom race is exciting to watch.

What are the rules? It seems like at the mark rounding at 1:30 in the video Adam Koch (orange/white ASV kite) was clear ahead of Brian Lake (green/White Cabrinha kite) coming up to the mark. In normal racing, Adam would have right of way and Brian would have to stay clear. Brian cuts inside and they bump kites, but the announcer says there are no rules or disqualifications in slalom? Is this true?

p.s. not trying to make any judgements about the riders, just using this as an example for learning the rules. There might even have been an overlap, and I just can't tell from this perspective.

i think you can get dq'd by taking someone out, but "rubbin' is racin'"

coleman wrote:i think you can get dq'd by taking someone out, but "rubbin' is racin'"

There are very few rules.

At the moment the Mark Room Rule (16) states that in an equipment overlap situation the Racer closest to the Mark must given enough room to safely round the mark by the racer farther away from the mark.

During slalom there is direct umpiring. A judge is on a Jetski watching the marks. If there is any dangerous or unfair Sailing then it is up to him/her to decide to DSQ the offending rider. Touching kites happens a lot in Slalom and does not necessarily mean that there is an infringement.

--
Gunnar

There is disqualification!
Sean Farley got disqualified, but don't know why.
Maybe Gunnar knows?

One of the women was disqualified for jumping the start.

In Windsurf slalom they had rules and it resulted in a lot of protests. With heats having to be run in close succession it didn't work well to have to deal with protests. They abandoned most of the rules and it works better now.

Its interesting to see what equipment is used.
In light wind in 2011, course racing boards were used to win.
In windier conditions in 2012 slalom sized boards of about 60cm were used to win.

Here we had race boards taking the first 3 spots in the men's first race in 12 to 15 knots of wind.

First in the ladies was a twintip, but that may be a bit unrepresentative of the best equipment to use.

That looked like good tight racing in the men's final. Hopefully the slalom series will develop that way. The windsurf slalom series is very successful and popular.

No one used a surfboard?

I heard they are faster due to not jibing, just going switch?

Julian is on a slalom board I think, but Brian turns inside him on one mark. You can also see Adam Koch in the back ground at the end, self rescuing by standing on the board and flying the kite off the bridles..... guess he broke some lines No idea how you do that, sitting on my race board is hard enough.

Toby wrote:There is disqualification!
Sean Farley got disqualified, but don't know why.
Maybe Gunnar knows?

I think he was responsible for a tangle at the mark.

--
Gunnar

Toby wrote:No one used a surfboard?

I heard they are faster due to not jibing, just going switch?

yes some did also many twin tips, but race boards dominated...