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SPORT
KITE
COMPETITION
RULES

1999


Copyright: H. Jansen op de Haar 1998, 1999


| content | introduction | rules | compulsories | procedures | formats |


II. RULES

A. General

.a definitions

[only ment for this rulebook]

competition

one or more games, of which scores are combined in any way; either during one event, or over more events

competition area

the terrain which the organiser has available for the competition, including field(s), training area(s), meeting place(s) etc.

competition field

the area within the public boundary, included the stage-in and stage-out area

competitor

an individual, a pair or a team, taking part in a game

compulsory

a short series of primitives and moves accurately described, to test certain flying skills of competitors

contact

unintentional contact (touches) between kite and groud, line, kite etc..

event

one or more competitions held during one or more (consecutive) days, by one organiser.

event terrain

terrain available to the organiser during the event

field:

the area within the public boundary, included the stage-in and stage-out area

flying field:

the area in which flying (for the competition) is allowed

format

set of specified rules and procedures that describe a game

four/ two line kites

kites with two or four steering lines (kites with three steering lines are, for competition, considered to be the same as four line kites)

game

a contest between a selected group of pilots, following a prescribed form, with a specific type of kite.

[f.i. precision compact (the form) for two-line kites (specific type of kite) for masters (selected pilots)]

heat

separated parts of a game, to be held if the number of competitors for a game is too large, or the running time of a game is too long.

improper beginning:

of a routine with music, a beginning of this routine (lasting about 15 seconds of flying) that shows no clear relation with the music in any way

improper ending

of routines, an ending (lasting a maximum of about 15 seconds of flying) that shows no clear relation with the routine so far in any way;
of a routine with music, an ending of this routine (lasting a maximum of about 15 seconds of flying) that shows no clear relation with the music in any way
If a routine is broken off because of (technical) problems with the kite(s) or with flying only if one of the above is applicable it will be regarded as an improper ending

manoeuvre

set of moves, done by one or more kites

move

short set of primitives

official

someone appointed by the sanctioning body, chief judge, organiser to perfrom a certain task at an event

pattern

like in drawing, painting, tiling: a new image made out of smaller (almost) equal parts by repeating, mirroring, shifting (with kites both in space and/ or time!)
and like in music, with rythm, a theme etc.

performance

all actions of the pilot needed to be in the game , on the flying field. including bringing in kites, preparation, flying etc.

primitive

movement of a kite as a result of a relatively short steering action, like a straight line, curve, corner, (short) trick.

routine

a set of primitives, moves and maneouvres.

sanctioning body

the person, or group of persons, that can change rules and regulations, as well as decide on sanctioning events, license officials and competitors etc., etc. In general part of or based on a kiting/ kite flyers organisation.

stage-in/ stage-out area

part of the competition field, used to store and prepare equipment by a competitor just before, during and just after the performance.

steering lines

one of the lines to the kite, that can be moved -almost- independently from the other line(s) in order to change the angle of attack and position of the kite

.b Related documents

This Rulebook should be part of a set of documents, dealing with the different relations between flyers/competitors, organisers, officials, sponsors, public etc.
The following documents are assumed to be in use (the names of the documents used are not "fixed"):

.b.1 Charter

at least dealing with the relations between flyers(members) and with the way they are organised in the Sanctioning body.
This Charter should contain a reference to the Rules as well as the Regulations. It also should state the necessity of using the Rules and Regulations .

It should state the way (who, when, how) the Rules and Regulations can be changed, within the limits set in these Rules, as well as the time between publishing and using changes.

It will describe the basics for an independent judging structure

It will also refer to the Sanction Form

.b.2 Sanction Form

This deals with the relations between organiser and sanctioning body (on behalf of the flyers). It should state the responsibilities of flyers/ competitors; organiser; sanctioning body and officials. It should make the use of the Rules and Regulations mandatory.
It will describe the way the Chief judge for events is selected, as well as the selection of the other judges/ officials for an event

.b.3 Regulations

At least stating
who (and by what way) competitors and officials are licensed;
possible divisions in (capability-)classes;
the way to combine scores;
ranking (over more than one game, competition or event)

.c Rules/ Procedures/ Formats

a rule contains in general:

a procedure describes how to perform a certain action,in order to make a decision as described in a rule possible

a (game-)format is a rule describing the forma game can have by stating the following properties of a game:

All within the constraints given in these Rules

A compulsory figure is a short set of primitives and moves specifically designed to test certain flying skills of a competitor. A compulsory figure is defined by it's diagram and description. The Compulsory Figures (it's definition by the diagram and description) shall be treated as procedures

The list of compulsory figures can be divided into groups, based on the necessary skills. This division is made by the sanctioning body. It is allowed to limit the choice of figures for certain classes to one or more groups of compulsories.

The lists of compulsories are to be treated as "Rule"

The list of compulsories to be included in Ballet Compact and similar Formats shall not include more than 15 figures, and is to be treated as Rule also.

[Explanation: to prepare a ballet routine takes usually more than 60 days. Any changes to the list should be announced as early as possible.]

classes

if the regulations describe classes of -licensed- competitors, then:

- only capability classes are accepted/ to be sanctioned.

- in case a game or competition is open for more than one class, all (and only the) standard rules shall apply

- if certain rules, procedures and formats (or parts thereof) are marked to be applicable to a certain class, no competition shall be held with a "mix of rules", that is a combination of rules and procedures stated to be applicable to different classes

safety

Any competitor who, during the event, causes deliberately very unsafe situations (these are situations in which people could get hurt or wounded by kites, lines, competitors) shall be disqualified for that event

[this means even already given scores will be withdrawn].

The Chief Judge shall investigate thoroughly the incident, and at least hear personally eye-witness(es) and the flyer, before deciding.

[explanation: sport kite flying is not a dangerous sport, and it takes really strange actions to make it unsafe. F.i. only barely control a kite in rough weather, but still go on flying near people is on the edge of what should be allowed]

B. Initiating

.a. organiser

the organiser is a person (or group of persons) responsible for all that is needed to make an event happen. This will include field; materials; some of the officials; overall time schedule etc. etc.

.b. sanction information

the information on the sanction form shall include (at least)

Not later than immediately after sanctioning of the event, AND not later than 30 days in advance all this information is send to (possible) competitors and known officials
If, at that time, selection of competitors and officials is not completed, this information is send (again) to all competitors and officials as soon as they are known

The Sanctioning body shall withdraw sanctioning if these demands are not met

[ see also rule changes ]

.c. field

[see also drawing of Field Setup ]

- size

For flying with two-line kites the minimum size of the flying field shall be:

For flying with three or more line kites each of the minimum sizes can be reduced by 10 m

- shape

either square (with the minimum size given); rectangular or circular or any other shape, as long as a square of the required dimensions would fit in.

- properties

- markings

- Stage-in/ stage-out area:

directly alongside the disqualification boundary of the flying field a continuos area at least 5 m wide, and 60 m long (in total, if around a corner of a flying field) will be designated the Stage-in/ Stage-out area. The markings for the public boundary will be on the outside of this area.

The Chief judge (before a Supervisory Committee has been chosen ) or the Supervisory committee shall postpone or cancel game(s) if the field does not meet these required properties, but only if they cause safety-risks and/ or make it impossible to hold fair and honest competitions.

Fields that are too small, or are not surrounded by proper markings shall not be used at all and game(s) shall be postponed until this is changed, or the game(s) will be canceled.

.d. (game-)formats

the choice of game formats is to the organiser of an event. S/he shall ask advice of Sanctioning body and/ or Chiefjudge.

The chosen game-formats shall be stated on the Sanction Form (and so in the information to the competitors)

.e. time schedule (event)

- the organiser shall state (on the sanction form, as well as in the information to competitors) the earliest starting date/ time and the latest ending date/ time of the event.

- no competitor or official is obliged to start before starting time, or continue after ending time with the event; only a unanimous decision of both competitors and officials shall change these starting and ending dates/times, if requested by the organiser.

.f. materials

the following materials shall be available during the whole event

The Chief Judge (before a supervisory committee is formed) or the supervisory committee shall postpone the proceeding of the event if these demands are not met.

.g. personal

required personal (minimal):

If this personal is not available, the game shall be cancelled by the Chief Judge (before a supervisory committee is formed) or the supervisory committee.

[preferred personal
although the personal mentioned above is the minimum, it is not the optimum for good events. So the following personal should be available also:

The Chief Judge (before a supervisory committee is formed) or the supervisory committee can postpone the proceeding of the event if these demands are not met.

.h. competitors

- the Sanctioning Body shall describe, in the Regulations, the way competitors are licensed for sanctioned events

- (possible) competitors shall follow the procedure to subscribe for a specific event as mentioned on the sanction form

- the organiser can exclude competitors from the event if they have not followed these procedures

- the chief judge can allow competitors to fly at the event, even if they are excluded by the organiser, but only if there is strong evidence the competitor did everything possible to follow all procedures to subscribe, in time and has a valid license.

- the competitor (from the pair or teams at least one member at the general pilots meeting) shall attend both the general as well as the game-specific pilots-meetings. At their own risk (of missing information) competitors can ask somebody else to represent them at the general pilotsmeeting, but a person can only represent one competitor (or pair or team)

Competitors (or if allowed their representative(s)), who do not show up at both the general pilots meeting and the pilots meeting at the beginning of each game (if held!) can be disqualified by the Chief Judge.

.i. judges

- the Sanctioning Body shall describe in the Regulations the way in which Officials shall be licensed.

[as long as there are no Regulations, this will be done by the Chief Judge, separate for each event]

- the Regulations shall state that all officials except the judges can be licensed by the Chief Judge for a specific event.

- shadow-judges: people who need experience as a judge, but are not licensed yet can be allowed by the Chief Judge to act as judges; they then will work as and be treated as judges, but their scores will not be used. The number of shadow judges shall not be more than the number of judges in a game, minus one. The Chief judge shall inform the organiser in time about the number of judges and shadow judges.

C. Starting

.a. delays

any delays shall be announced to all competitors and officials as soon as they are known to the organiser.

.b. pilots-meeting

a General Pilots' meeting shall be held as soon as (after the stated starting date/time) the Chief judge has checked and approved field(s), materials etc. etc.

the Chief Judge is strongly advised (or to advise each head judge) to hold small and short pilots meetings just before each game, to check on the flight order, check whether every competitor is aware of the selected compulsories, the time schedule of the game-format etc. At the general pilots meeting these short pilots meetings will be announced

.c. supervisory committee

.d. time schedule (game)

No game shall last for more than five (5) hours; counting the time between the first and last start. If more than five (5) hours have past since the first start the Head Judge will announce the game to be cancelled.

[this time includes all delays!]

{no fair competition is possible if judges have to be concentrated for more than this length of time.}

.e. heats

.f. flight order

flight order shall be random. The draw can be done before the General Pilots' meeting, but at the request of the competitors (a majority of the group of competitors) it shall be done during the first general pilots-meeting. The Chief Judge is allowed to change the flight order, if necessary to avoid problems for competitors who participate in more than one game.

.g. ground crew

- each competitor shall arrange for a ground crew

(if all competitors agree, the procedure for ground-crewing by fellow-competitors can be used to do so)

- the number of people in a ground crew shall not be more than two people more than the number of flyers in a performance, with a maximum of eight.

D. Setting-up

.a. equipment

.b. music

- the music will be handed over to the Field Director or Sound Engineer during the last Pilots meeting before the game the music is ment for
[which could be the first pilots' meeting!]

- the Sound Engineer will play the music as is . If lack of proper marking, queuing on cassette, c.d. etc. causes the wrong music to be played or the right music with the wrong start etc. the competitor is obliged to fly on (with) that music, unless the cassette, c.d.etc. clearly belongs to another competitor.

.c. stage-in reporting

- each competitor shall be in the stage-in area in time for their performance, following the Stage-in procedure

The Head Judge can disqualify competitors if they show up late (that is they are not there when the Field Director will signal for their entrance on the field) if this seriously hinders the ongoing of the competition.

- the Head Judge shall allow competitors who are late, to fly as soon as they show, not following the flight order set at the pilots meetings,only if:

.d. entering the field

.e. time-schedule (performance)

any time-schedule for a performance (as stated in a Game-format) shall specify the following:

these maximum/ minimum times will overlap if more than one of the above applies.

at the end of preparation-time the Field director will call "IN" and the judges will start watching and judging the routine or compulsory

.f. delay

in case the head judge announces a delay (f.i. in finishing the judging procedures), the field director will inform the competitor(s). As soon as the judges are ready, the field director will inform the competitor(s) and they then will have again a minimum preparation time as mentioned above for a compulsory or a routine.

.g. early start

if a competitor wants to start a compulsory or routine, while there is still more than 15 sec. of the preparation time left, s/he shall ask the field director to check whether the judges are ready,and wait until the field director confirms this by calling "JUDGES ARE READY". The competitor can then call "IN" inmediately, but in any case before preparation time ends.

E. Flying

.a. ground crew

.b. preparation flight

.c. "IN" call

The "IN"-call is done at the beginning of each compulsory and each routine by

.d. coaching

no coaching in any form is allowed during flying compulsories or routines. Field Director or Head Judge shall disqualify a competitor if it is clear s/he used any information specifically given for that purpose by others to influence hers or his performance.

.e. wind speed/check

.f. weather

- The Head Judge can postpone or cancel a game:

- if it takes a competitor more than three times the maximum allowed time to finish the performance, but only if caused by repeated Wind Recesses

- Either the Chief Judge or a majority of the judging panel for that game can cancel or postpone a game:

- If the weather is so extreme, it does not allow a fair and honest competition.

Extreme conditions are: very variable windspeeds, close around the set limits; heavy and continuous rain, hail or snow; or repeated, big changes in wind-directions (more than 90 degrees in two minutes) even if this is caused by a combination of a specific wind direction and nearby buildings, lines of trees etc.

.g. safety calls

the Field Director shall stop the performance (by calling STOP ) for the following reasons:

The competitor shall stop flying if anybody on the field or outside the field could be in danger of being hit by kites, lines or competitors. If the cause is anything else than the competence of the competitor to fly the kite, and if no red flag is waved by the line judge(s), the Head Judge shall decide that the competitor can restart the compulsory or routine if the call was justified.

Any official and/ or the competitor shall stop the performance if there is a clear risk of lightning to strike.

.h. "OUT"-call

the competitor will call "OUT" at the end of each compulsory and each routine

the field director will call "OUT" at the end of the allowed time for the routine, if the competitor has not done so already.

.i. Leaving

the competitor will leave the flying field, carrying kites, lines and other equipment, assisted by the ground crew immediately after the last out-call of hers/ his performance.

the field director can disqualify the competitor for the game, if leaving the field is done while seriously hindering the next competitor;

F. Scoring/ Judging

.a. Judging criteria

The judging criteria describe the way competitors can gain a higher score, and as such describe also the way judges should judge.

.1. compulsories
.2. routines

all routines are judged according to the following criteria, a score for each will be put on the score-sheets:

{Comment: this is an attempt to describe an analysis of what could be discriminated in flying a routine and to make the judging of it more objective. The content; execution; choreography -split can be described shorter in " what, how, why" ; what actually is to be judged is: what is flown, how well is it done, and why are certain moves selected at certain times -to form one, unified, logical, good routine-}

Judges are allowed to give scores for each separate item (like small accuracy or music-use ) mentioned, but they will write down one, integrated score each for content ; execution and choreography on their score sheet.

.3. deductions

.b. judging

the supervisory committee can, but only unanimously, decide to exclude a judge from the judging panel, but only

.c. scoring

.d. calculation

- only calculation-methods approved by the Chief judge will be used

- for each competitor, and for each score (of the compulsory and of the routine(s), the content, the execution and the choreography) the average score will be calculated. Unless specifically stated at the first General Pilots meeting, the highest AND lowest separate score will not be dropped and all scores (from all judges) will be used. Always at least three scores will be kept.

- for each competitor the result for a game will be calculated by multiplying each separate score with the appropriate factor, add all and round off that figure. The result will be a whole number between 0 and 100.

.e. publishing

The Chief Judge will decide which scores to publish during competition. S/he will announce which scores will be published during the first pilots meeting.

Scores will be published per judge, but without the names of the judges, unless a unanimous decision is taken by all judges of the event to do otherwise.

.f. combining scores

[ combining scores is an issue to be dealt with in the Regulations.]

The Regulations should contain the following text:

G. Evaluating

.a. protests

.b. reports

the Chief Judge will prepare a report,including the list of judges, the reasons for postponing or cancelling games, and the names of those disqualified for safety reasons not during a game. This report will be included in the information send by the organisator to all competitors and judges afterwards.


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