completly selfish suggestion - but reviewing cockroach data we keep getting flogged on distance - not being blessed with regular strong winds we have to make 'hay while the sun shines' - and in practice after work sails are those times - doesn't leave much time to get dist up

rather than suggest ditching dist - whats thoughts on a 'drop' each month - ie best 5 out of 6 categories count....

Ditch distance That was my only little claim to fame, and disappearing fast

What about Kato's 300+, that's a target like a 50 knot max, I'd love to see someone push it even further.

I'm in the "drop the 2sec" camp. It's just too inaccurate and if you get a really good one, stick it in your comments for bragging rights. I recently had a 2 second peak that was 1.4 knots above the max speed reading on the unit (it wasn't a spike).

100m would be a good substitute, but if there is no more room, leave it off in favour of the 500.

I'm also a big fan of the NM and would hate to see that go, as well as the one hour and distance simply because you can have a crack at these just about anywhere and in "just average" conditions, whereas the real high speed stuff requires exceptional conditions that are just unrealistic for most.

The prob with distance it really comes down too how much free time you have.
And i would say for the most of us thats not much.

If we are limited to 6 div I would like too see 100m, 5X10sec, 500m, NM, Alpha 500, 1hr

must admit even though i was concerned with some of the earlier changes (regards how many people need to submit) i think the format is brilliant and that small change did improve things.

i like the 2 sec peak though.

No disrespect Vando, you're the man in Qld But saying most people don't have the time for distance, is like saying most don't have flat water for speed, I think it's another interesting aspect of the GPS Team Challenge. I don't think I could ever get to 200 K's, as it doesn't blow long enough here, but boy was I blown away when Kato did over 300. At the moment it's not a speed challenge, it's a team thing incorporating speed, corners, Hr and distance, a good mix.

My vote is for 100m, 5X10sec, NM, Alpha 500, 1hr & distance.
But then I don't know how close 100M and 5x10sec is ? May be 500M instead of the 100M, the speed guys will know the best one

my preference would be to keep the 1 hour,nautical mile, best of 5-10 sec ave (same as gpsss) alpha,2 sec for navi (display speed foretrex) and (not sure how you would implement this ) some way of scoring points for number of times sailed.

i thought the challenge idea was supposed to foster the social aspect of sailing the number of times sailed would deal with this to some degree by virture of the fact you would be at and on the water more often.
the distance thing i dont really have a problem with, how ever i do,personally, find it to be a bit of an anti social aspect of the sport and at times, a boring, repititious low quality form of wind surfing-thats if its possible for sailing to be boring.
of course this is just my opinion,
at the end of the day the whole concept has been a great success and i would have no probs with it staying with the current format if thats what the masses wanted.

Thanks Vando, I think I have it worked out now

snides8, I had a BBQ for all of the challenge sailors in FNQ, had to invite my wife and boy so I wouldn't get lonely

Repetitious

kato said...

Opps...forgot my other favorite the 1 hr

does that means you have 7?

I could never leave FNQ snides, but a summer holiday would be great, I actually have family & mates in WA. Born there but disappeared over the horizon 31 years ago

Not sure about dropping the 2 sec max as it is one of the landmarks that people look at for a PB even it it is prone to being less accurate/reliable than other divisions. The 100m is 5-6 seconds and is a distance that many places can find reasonably flat water for but it is a bit close to the 10 sec which is roughly 200 m. The 5 x 10 sec is the most interesting and should definitely be in there.
I think there is no point in having 500m at all. There is usually a very close correlation between the GPS-SS 500m and 5x10 sec rankings for most sailors. That is the beauty of it and you don't need a primo speed strip so much as for 10 sec runs.
The NM, 1 hr, Alpha 500 and Distance add the variety that lets different pairings of individuals shine at different venues.
My Vote:
Keep 2 sec max, 5x10 sec, 1 hr, NM, Alpha 500 and distance.

Doppler?

There is no doubt that Doppler speeds are more CONSISTENT and less prone to error than Trackpoint speeds. The fly in the ointment is that they are also consistently about .2 to .3 knots slower than trackpoint speeds. This presents a major issue if some people do not have Doppler capable units (Navi/GT-11). Those people should still be encourage to take part but will always have an advantage over Dopper posters. GPS-SS is trying to come up with a way to rationalize this as they want to change over to Doppler for their main rankings in 2008. I would be inclined to stick with trackpoints in the GPS-Speed Challenge for a little bit longer to see how it all works out in GPS-SS. Perhaps we can learn from their experience.

The big advantage of Doppler is that it is a very good validation tool for Trackpoint accuracy and errors. ie, it makes trackpoint errors much more obvious. That alone is enough justification for encouraging people to switch to the GT-11, not to mention the speed genie and other enhancements.

decrepit said...

jp747 said...



Oh ok! my fault really didn't check out the rules anyways since i don't know the intricacies of doppler as well as the other divisions in which one can be on top i just have to read on...thanks

Sorry John, "doppler" isn't a division, it's the more accurate method of calculating speed that the navi GT11 can use.
Most of the others use the trackpoints only to calculate speed, but with navi you have the choice.

wrong choice of writing it decrepit, i really meant i knew doppler was part of a gps system making it more accuratei saw a video once i think that was ka sails and after their runs he shouted 'and it was on doppler!' regarding his speeds..am trying to get my friend if i bump into him to join and the brit guy an hour by plane from us and if they go for it..that'll be fun

I suggest that you have a meeting place or form where people can register interest in joining a team, or a team may advertise for members.
I have looked but not found an obvious one.

Maybe a way of contacting team captains if interested.

Typically people form teams with mates or other sailors who sail regularly in one spot.

My 2c

Tony

grumplestiltskin said...

Gracie, glad to see you made a quick and "correct" decision to join a good team

Those bloody Pinnas are picking up members all over the place in an attempt to rise from the bottom of the ranks

Ahhh the great rivalry of the cellar dwellers. Hmmm, now let me see we posted first this month Not one to brag so have kept it quiet