Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Worlds - reflections
Home now and have been asked the question "how did they compare to previous worlds?". Not really sure but thought I'd put down my thoughts on the positives and negatives.
Firstly the Ocean Spirit festival must be the biggest watersports festival in Europe and I don't even think the ASP get facilities like we enjoyed. This in turn gave us access to the judging system (refresh I think?) that allowed competitors to hear their scores and therefore what points were needed to take the lead. I thought this was brilliant and a major development for the sport (the down side for me was I struggled to hear anything at low tide). Coupling this with using the 2 highest scoring waves and we really are catching up with the standup community. On a negative note the festival's size and the involvement of the other sports ment that kayak surfing was constantly being pushed around meaning as a competitor it was difficult to known when you were competing at times. This in turn ment it was hard to know what time to be on the beach, if it was safe to leave and even when and how much to eat.
I was skeptical about the quality of the surf when the dates were announced but am delighted to say that there was always contestable waves and at times they where excellent (I'd possibly exclude some of the finals). This allowed the standard on display to be high and I think a good advertisement for our sport (especially with so many other watersports in attendance). I also thought the judges did an excellent job and showed consistency throughout. My only criticism was it appeared that a short wave with one big end manoeuvre was scoring high (7-9pts) while a decent wave shredded with quality top and bottom turns, floaters and cutbacks might struggle to get 6pts. Maybe I'm just being old fashioned but I think organisers of future contests need to decide if its a surfing contest or an expression session (and that's not to say that surfing a wave can't incorporate the big moves). I know I'm kind of contradicting myself but it was really good to see David Speller win the HP by surfing the waves.
I really enjoyed the past 2 weeks and would like to thank the Ocean Spirit guys and the WSKA committee for all their work. Even more important to me was the great NI squad who despite staying all over the place came together everyday on the beach to support each other. It was brilliant to see all the guys doing so well and bringing a World Champ home for the 3rd World's in a row was just fantastic. Finishing 3rd as a team also was a super achievement (especially with such a new and young team) and I applaud every single member.
Personally I was delighted to reach the IC final. Obviously I would have liked to have placed slightly better or seen Dessie take a very much deserved World title but I would like to congratulate Urko from the Basque country on an excellent final.
If you've bothered to read this far then well done. Said enough now but would be keen to hear other thoughts on Portugal.
Cheers
Jonny
Firstly the Ocean Spirit festival must be the biggest watersports festival in Europe and I don't even think the ASP get facilities like we enjoyed. This in turn gave us access to the judging system (refresh I think?) that allowed competitors to hear their scores and therefore what points were needed to take the lead. I thought this was brilliant and a major development for the sport (the down side for me was I struggled to hear anything at low tide). Coupling this with using the 2 highest scoring waves and we really are catching up with the standup community. On a negative note the festival's size and the involvement of the other sports ment that kayak surfing was constantly being pushed around meaning as a competitor it was difficult to known when you were competing at times. This in turn ment it was hard to know what time to be on the beach, if it was safe to leave and even when and how much to eat.
I was skeptical about the quality of the surf when the dates were announced but am delighted to say that there was always contestable waves and at times they where excellent (I'd possibly exclude some of the finals). This allowed the standard on display to be high and I think a good advertisement for our sport (especially with so many other watersports in attendance). I also thought the judges did an excellent job and showed consistency throughout. My only criticism was it appeared that a short wave with one big end manoeuvre was scoring high (7-9pts) while a decent wave shredded with quality top and bottom turns, floaters and cutbacks might struggle to get 6pts. Maybe I'm just being old fashioned but I think organisers of future contests need to decide if its a surfing contest or an expression session (and that's not to say that surfing a wave can't incorporate the big moves). I know I'm kind of contradicting myself but it was really good to see David Speller win the HP by surfing the waves.
I really enjoyed the past 2 weeks and would like to thank the Ocean Spirit guys and the WSKA committee for all their work. Even more important to me was the great NI squad who despite staying all over the place came together everyday on the beach to support each other. It was brilliant to see all the guys doing so well and bringing a World Champ home for the 3rd World's in a row was just fantastic. Finishing 3rd as a team also was a super achievement (especially with such a new and young team) and I applaud every single member.
Personally I was delighted to reach the IC final. Obviously I would have liked to have placed slightly better or seen Dessie take a very much deserved World title but I would like to congratulate Urko from the Basque country on an excellent final.
If you've bothered to read this far then well done. Said enough now but would be keen to hear other thoughts on Portugal.
Cheers
Jonny
