I just got on guys. A lot of good input from all of you. We will probably get together soon and discuss the ideas that have been brought up. Give us a few days to respond.

I will be one of the last to leave the beach as a safety precaution, to make sure riders make it at least to Clearwater. From then on they are on their own.

Jayson and Damien each paid me $50.00 to take out as many people as possible. If I took out Kent first they would each give me $100.00. :P

-Chris

Thats funny, those guys paid me to take Kent out too!!!

Agreed kent et all,We need to organize the start better!
 

The current starting scenario will make a huge impact on the finish positions. As it stands now the guys upwards of 50th in the starting order are going to be giving up some serios time to the ones starting downwind of them; and there is major concern for tangles even before we get off the beach with the system currently being used.

And we have no system for redress if someone takes out a rider as we have nor right of way rules so far for this sport. Its going to be a free for all.

Hopefully we can develope a better system to organize the start so it will be more fair and safe for every one.

Maybe the first thing to do is to find riders who are just racing for fun and focusing on just finishing the race. Maybe a separate start for them would work.

I agree with Paul Menta's comments, the racers are racing for money, for prestige and some just to finish. We need to thinhk this through a little bit better as we are setting a presedent.

I was the starting rabbit at the 2006 RSX Olympic Windsurfing World Championships in Italy about a month ago and started over 120 racers of world class ability, plus many of regional and national ability and we had some serious crashes; and these windsurfers have done thousands of starts each.

Now imagine kiters who do not have much, if any racing experience, let alone starting experience and we could have a real mess on our hands.

The on the water start with a proper starting line, and two fleets sounds the safest to me.

Or have riders go by a mark on the beach and take their times at the start and finish.

just my 2 cents.

Gebi

The following images may help in discussions:

http://www.fksa.org/albums/album210/...oon3.sized.jpg

http://www.fksa.org/albums/album210/...oon2.sized.jpg

http://www.fksa.org/albums/album210/...oon1.sized.jpg

http://www.kiteforum.com/phpbb/files/dsc00485_212.jpg
Here is the spacing used for the crossing to Bimini. It appears to average about 40 ft.. For 50 guys launching at a time, this would equate to about 2000 lineal ft., for 25, roughly 800 ft..

http://www2.worldpub.net/images/KB/1...itemasters.jpg
Here is the spacing used in last years Bay race. There must be a higher res. version of this image out there. Still, the spacing between the riders seems to be around 40 ft. and in some cases quite a bit more.

We have discussed letting the serious riders start first and then have the adventure riders hold off for a minute and then start at their own disgression. This should help out a lot considering we only have at most 25 serious riders.

Thanks for everyones' input on the starting line. I know many of you were at the preparty and heard the starting line scenario but I'll
re-address some points here.

- Yes, this is going to be a bump and grind start but it won't be as bad as you are imagining.
- NO, there is no system of redress if you tangle kites with someone else. THERE ISN'T ONE IN BORDERCROSS AND THAT'S A 4-5 PERSON HEAT THAT TAKES ONLY 5 MINUTES.
- There are going to be approximately 25-30 riders in the first group. Once the leisure riders step back then these 25 will all condense towards the #1 (furthest south) starting position. If each rider gets 20 feet then this is about 500' of layout.

THIS MAY SOUND LIKE A DISADVANTAGE BUT THOSE WHO KNOW THIS RUN KNOW THAT IT ACTUALLY ISN'T. THE OUTSIDE TRACK IS ACTUALLY BETTER FOR THE BEGINNING. THE NORTHERN RIDERS WILL HAVE THE ADVANTAGE TO THE OUTSIDE REEF.

Most important is that everyone just be safe and careful. Remember guys and gals, this is for fun so enjoy it!

And you have 25 miles to catch those guys... just dont loose your board and you will gain on them when they do...

So there are two classes ? Professional and fun class?

Just want to make it clear because this is the first time that two classes have been officially set with different start times ( would've been great to have finalized that aspect at the pre race party )

Raul, all of this was discussed at the pre-race party. This is why Jayson asked us to raise our hands if we were in this race to win, then a show of hands if we were in this race for fun or just to accomplish a goal. He then mentioned that some of us should hang back that were in it for fun or just to accomplish a goal.

We don't even need 2 starting times because you can stand on the beach for 15 seconds, launch and then go to give the serious contenders a chance to get ahead of us, then subtract 25-30 seconds off of your finish time if you really want an accurate time...it's all good, if you aren't taking it seriously enough to think you are a contender, a couple of seconds off your time won't really matter all that much. :D

not everyone knows that there are two race classes since not everyone that signed up for the race was in attendance and does not know these changes to the two classes