There are 2 main questions the coaching/ judging panel will be asking themselves
1) How can I help this kid to improve their surfing?
2) How are they going in the heat and where are they coming and why?
For the first 3 days Blast Off is considered more of a coaching program than a traditional surfing contest – for this reason the panel do not give a numerical value to a wave but assess the surfers performance with a view to improve their surfing.
Finals day is when we convert to a more conventional event format and numerical scores are given.
During the first 3 days at periodic times throughout each heat the panel will discuss the heats progress and placements and assess the performance’s taking into consideration the coaching points and current positions.
In between these discussions the panel will write notes and observations on their individual assessment sheet as reminders of what has happened so far and for coaching advice on the final sheet.
At the end of each heat, there is a summary discussion and decisions made placing the kids from 1st to 6th based on their total performance and the consensus of the panel.
The panel will focus on coaching and then the result.
INTERFERENCE RULE
The panel will not assess the wave of any surfer who drops in on another surfer. They will not consider the surfers ride in their assessment of his or her overall heat performance.
The surfer with the inside position at the point of take-off has the right of way.
FINALS DAY
Finals day is when Blast Off turns from a coaching program to a conventional contest format.
Progression to finals day is determined by your overall tally from your previous heat positions,
ie your place in each heat over the early rounds is added together to give you a final tally.
Eg 5th + 3rd + 2nd = 10 (final tally points)
Your division, if very large, may need to be halved after 2 rounds, or it may go straight to semi-finals after 3 rounds. Your progression to these rounds depends on your tally of previous heat results ie if 48 surfers can progress to round 3, the lowest 48 tallies will advance. Please note all participants will surf a minimum of 2 times before reducing the field.
In the event of having too many on the ‘cutoff’ tally total, we will run a “surf off” heat to determine who will progress.
Please refer to the “Surfing Format” document to see how your division will run at Blast Off.
THESE ARE THE AREAS OF SURFING THAT THE PANEL WILL BE
LOOKING AT TO ASSESS YOUR PERFORMANCE:
- PADDLING
- POSITIONING IN THE LINE UP
- WAVE SELECTION
- LENGTH OF RIDE
- STYLE
- TECHNIQUE/ BIOMECHANICS
- WAVES SCORING POTENTIAL UTILISED
- SPEED
- FLOW
- ENERGY IN YOUR SURFING
- MAJOR MANOEUVRES
- MINOR MANOEUVRES
- TURNS TIGHT IN THE POCKET OR OUT ON THE WAVE FACE
- SURFBOARDS PERFORMANCE
- SPORTSMANSHIP
- WAVE SELECTION