PKRA WAVE RIDING RULES

I REGISTRATION.

1.1 Registration. Riders planning to participate on a PKRA World Cup event should pre-register for the event online at the PKRA website at least one week prior to the start of the event. Final registration and fees due will always be done the day before competition starts. Every rider needs to complete registration in person before the official registration period ends. All official registration periods will be posted on the PKRA website under the corresponding event page.

 
   1.1b If circumstances beyond a riders control disable the rider to complete registration for the event by the published time as per the PKRA website www.pkra.info that rider must contact the PKRA Head Representative via email mau@pkra.info and advise of their delay and gain consent to have their registration period extended. The rider must supply the PKRA with evidence to support that the circumstances were beyond their control. Note: that failing to do the above will prevent a rider from participating in the event.

1.2 Mandatory Riders Meeting. The first day of official competition there will be a mandatory meeting for all competitors at the judge’s tower at least a half hour before the start of the first heat. The official time for the meeting will be announced to all riders at registration. Riders failing to attend, or to show up on time for the mandatory meeting will be given a warning. After the first offence, riders will be given a fine according to the fine schedule Below.

1.3. Heat Participation. Any registered rider who does not participate in their assigned heat without notifying the Contest Director, will be fined according to the fine schedule below.

II RIGHT OF WAY RULES

2.1 Opposite Tack

a)    When two competitors cross each other while one of them is surfing, the one surfing the wave has right of way. The competitor going out should stay clear of competitors surfing the wave.

b)    When two competitors in opposite tacks cross each other when not surfing a wave, then the windward rider should keep his kite high to avoid a tangle with the leeward rider.

c)    When two competitors in opposite tacks and equally upwind, the Starboard Rider has right of way over the port rider. Starboard Rider should cross-upwind keeping the kite high while the port rider should cross downwind keeping the kite low. 

2.2 Riders in the same wave.

a)    The competitor that catches the wave the earliest will have right of way over the other riders, and the other riders should get off the wave to avoid obstructing the rider who has preference.

b)    When two or more riders catch the wave at the same time, the one farthest upwind shall have right of way.

2.3 Transitions.

a)    A competitor changing tacks should keep clear of other competitors on a tack.

b)    When two competitors are changing tacks at the same time, then the competitor to windward should stay clear of the competitor to leeward.

2.4 Right of way doesn’t exonerate a competitor who abuses the right of way, and deliberately makes contact with the competitor who is blocking his way. Safe kiting rules apply here.

2.5 When a competitor drops his kite and is swimming in the water, the other competitors shall avoid riding or jumping across his lines, whenever it is physically possible.

2.6 As a general rule, competitors should give themselves room and keep each other sufficiently separate to not get on each other way.

2.7 Any competitor not following the above rules could be penalized or disqualified from his heat.

2.8 When a tangle occurs the rider at fault will be disqualified from his heat, and the affected rider will either, advance to the next heat in case the heat had only two competitors, or his heat will be reran in case the heat involved a third competitor.

III INTERFERENCE

3.1 The competitor with priority on the wave has unconditional right of way through the whole wave.  An interference will occur when the majority of the judges assess that a rider with priority wave score has being prejudiced due another rider blocking his way.

3.2  A rider who is marked with interference while riding a wave will be penalized by counting this wave with zero points in all the judges sheets and counting this score as one of his best waves.

3.3  A rider who is marked with interference while not riding a wave will be penalized with the lost of his worst counting wave in the scores.

3.4  When only two waves are counting for score in the heat, the penalized rider will be penalized by the lost  of 50% of his worst wave in the final tabulation.

3.5  Interference rules will be applied to riders in the previous or following heat in case they interfere with the riders competing in the current heat.

3.6  When a competitor performs two interferences in the same heat, he should abandon the heat immediately and return to the beach. Riders not complying with this rule could be fined, or even disqualified from the heat or event.

IV ASSITANCE

4.1 Riders that during their heat end up downwind of the competition area, will be allowed to make their way back to the competition area by walking upwind on the beach either by themselves or with the assistance of another rider without being penalized.

4.2 While competing a rider could get assistance to re-launch his kite from a rider, only when the downed kite is out of the competition area. (Example when the kite drifts to the shore brake).

4.3 Riders who during their heat get assistance inside the competition area from the rescue boat, press boat, Jet ski, or any other craft, will be disqualified from that heat.

4.4 In the event if a rider looses his kite from equipment failure, the rider will be allowed to replace his kite during the heat only outside from the competition area. The rider has to get out from the competition area by his/her own means. If the rider is not wearing a leash, he will not be scored from the point he looses his kite.

4.5 No forms of communication shall be permitted between a competitor and any team member, rider or representative during competition. No radio communication devices or hand signals shall be permitted from the beach by anyone trying to assist a rider during the heat. The above will be considered outside assistance, which could lead to disqualification from that heat if, in opinion of the Head Judge, such assistance materially prejudiced the result.

V STARTING AND FINISHING SIGNALS

5.1 Starting signals:

a) The signals shall be:

      Warning Signal   -----------------  Red Flag Displayed
Preparatory Signal --------------  Yellow Flag Displayed
Starting Signal --------------------  Green Flag Displayed

b) The interval between the starting signals is at the discretion of the Contest Director and shall be posted on the Official Notice Board, or in the way indicated in the Riding Instructions. Each signal may be lowered before the next is raised. It shall be the sole responsibility of each competitor to know in which Contest he/she will be racing.

c) Each visual signal may be accompanied by a sound signal. However, times shall be taken from the visual starting signals, and a failure or miss-timing of a gun or other signal calling attention to any visual signal shall be disregarded.

5.2 Heat duration could vary between 5 and 30 minutes. The actual duration is at the discretion of the Contest Director and shall be posted on the Official Notice Board

VI JUDGING

6.1 The judging panel shall consist of 3 international judges with a background in kite wave-riding or surfing.

6.2 The point scoring system, on the basis of 0.1 - 10 is broken up into one tenth increments as follows:

            0.1 - 2.5 BAD WAVE basic maneuvers, no control.

            2.6 - 4.1 AVERAGE WAVE basic maneuvers, good control.           

            4.2 - 6.1 GOOD WAVE major maneuvers, good control.

            6.2 - 7.9 VERY GOOD # of major maneuvers, very good control.

            8.0 - 10.0 EXCELLENT WAVE radical maneuvers, good control.

6.3 If a judge misses a wave, or part of a wave, he will put an M in the square of the manual sheet, and that score will be tabulated at the end of the heat by the Head judge and will be the average of the other two judges scores.

6.4  The contest director will determine the number of waves to be scored on each heat at the beginning of the competition, taking into consideration the wave conditions for the day. This could be modified at the beginning of each round if conditions change drastically during the day.

6.5  The scoring sheets will be shown upon request to a competitor, as long as that competitor competed on that heat.

6.6  The judge’s decision cannot be appealed.

6.7  The head judge has the power o rerun a heat, only when he was able to watch the entire heat and he firmly believes there is a big discrepancy in the judging scores.

VII JUDGING CRITERIA

7.1  The judging criteria will be based in the following:

The rider must perform radical maneuvers in the critical section of a wave with Speed, Power and Flow to maximize scoring potential. Progressive wave ridding as well as Variety of Repertoire, will be taken into consideration when rewarding points for waves ridden. The rider who executes this criteria with the maximum degree of difficulty and commitment on the waves shall be rewarded with the higher scores.

7.2 The criteria shall be broken into 3 main sections for evaluation.

a) Radical Controlled Maneuvers

This is by far the most important part of the criteria. Modern day maneuvers basically constitute change of direction of the board on the wave (not the surfer on the board). Such maneuvers would include re-entries, cutbacks, floaters, aerials, tube rides etc. How radical they are, followed by the amount of control and commitment put into each of them, will determine how high they will score.

POWER COMMITMENT CONTROL

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE, EVEN IF A SURFER HAS COMPLETED 90% OF A MANOEUVRE, IT WILL NOT SCORE IF HE LOSES CONTROL AND FALLS OFF.

B) Most Critical Section

This part of the criteria describes the positions on the wave manoeuvres should be performed to score the maximum points. THE CRITICAL SECTION OF THE WAVE IS THE \\\"POCKET \\\", CLOSEST TO THE CURL. The degree of commitment and the risk involved in performing close to the curl is the reason that it scores higher. The most important critical section of the wave is the first section \\\" OUT THE BACK\\\". Degree of difficulty and risk taken = reward.

 C) Best Waves

WAVE SELECTION IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR FOR A SURFER IN HIS HEAT. The wave that he selects will dictate the maneuvers he is able to perform. Today there is less emphasis put on wave size in small to medium conditions due to the fact that the best waves may not necessarily be the biggest.

However in a contest with big wave conditions, the most important part of the Criteria would be the size. The surfer who is prepared to catch the biggest waves and do the maneuvers shows the greatest commitment.

A surfer does not automatically score high because of wave size or quality. The surfer must comply with the first section of the Criteria and wave selection to capitalize on full scoring potential.

7.3  When a rider is going out to see and he makes a transition maneuver to change direction and catch the wave, such action wont count in the wave riding score and the judges will only start judging the wave once he riders starts riding it.

7.4  When a riders wipes out on the wave his score will be counted until the point at which he wiped out.

7.5  If a rider is already riding a wave when the heat ends this wave will count on its entirety and the judges will score it.

7.6  Using the energy generated from the kite to surf the wave wont penalize the rider, however a rider that uses exclusively the energy generated by the wave to surf the wave will score higher than a rider that uses the energy of the kite during his wave riding.

7.7  The use of foot-straps wont penalize the rider that uses them over one that doesn’t. However it will be taken in to consideration when doing maneuvers like aerials, floaters, 360, etc…. due to the higher difficulty of performing such maneuvers without foot-straps.

VIII PENALTIES

8.1  A competitor could be disqualified by the judges for making a fault against another competitor.

8.2  A competitor could be disqualified from a heat or the event for violating the PKRA Wave Riding Rules.

IX AWARDS CEREMONIES

9.1. Riders who place on the top 3 of each discipline are required to attend the Official Award Ceremony of each event. The Penalty for missing the awards ceremony will be a fine equal to their prize money.

X PRIZE MONEY

10.1 The prize money distribution will be done according to the following schedule:  

XI FINES

11.1. Misconduct behavior or disregards for competition procedures will incur fines.

11.2. Tour fines:    

a. First offence: $50.00   

b. Second Offence: $100.00    

c. Third Offence: $500.00

XII CONDUCT RULES

12.1. GENERAL ATTITUDE

All PKRA members must, by their actions & general attitude, during all events and at all times while within the precincts of the site of a PKRA recognized or sanctioned event, promote the image of the sport, the sponsors of the event, the PKRA and themselves in a professional manner.

Any failure to do so immediately prior to, during and immediately after a PKRA event may result in appropriate fines being levied by the PKRA. More severe cases of bringing the sport into disrepute may result in the suspension or expulsion of a member from the PKRA after due consideration by the PKRA management board.

12.2 OFFICIAL ATTENDANCE

All competitors may be required to attend a post heat/Contest media conference immediately after, or within 15 minutes of the end of heat/Contest, whether he/she is a winner or loser. Members must wear the event sponsors’ advertising vest or a suitable supplied by the organizer during this conference.

Competitors failing to attend a post heat/Contest media conference or to wear the correct bib/lycra will be penalized.

12.3 DISCIPLINARY CODE OF CONDUCT & FINES GENERAL CODE & FINES

The rules set forth under this section apply to the conduct of each competitor while within the precincts of an event site.

Fines levied for breach of this code are payable to the PKRA and members fined shall not be allowed to compete further in any event, Contest or heat recognized or sanctioned by the PKRA until the fine is paid.

The PKRA representatives, Head Judge or Contest Director may discipline and fine members. In all cases the Contest Director &/or Head Judge shall consult with the PKRA representatives before imposing any fines or penalties under the code.

When imposing a penalty or a fine, the committee involved, will consider the seriousness of the offence, the current ranking of the rider and if the rule violation is repetitious.

Riders will be notified of any fines levied in writing by the PKRA. Any rider wishing to appeal against a fine may submit a written appeal to the PKRA. This appeal will be considered by a committee consisting of the Contest Director, the Head Judge, a PKRA representative and a Management Board representative.

Failure to obey written or verbal instructions at an event: A member failing to follow clear written or verbal instructions at an event may be subject to a fine of not more than $500.

12.4. COMPETITION AREA VIOLATIONS

Riding in the course/competition area when not competing : Violation under this rule will incur a fine per violation and/or warning or disqualification from the series, event or elimination.

12.5. LITTERING

Members found to be littering or causing any other environmental damage within the precincts of the event site will incur a fine per violation.

12.6 AUDIBLE OBSCENITIES

Any member using an audible obscenity will incur a fine for each violation. For the purpose of this rule, obscenities are defined as words commonly know and understood to be profane and uttered clearly and loudly enough to be heard by any officials in the proximity.

12.7 VISIBLE OBSCENITIES

Any member making an obscene gesture of any kind will incur a fine for each violation and/or disqualification from the series/event or elimination. For the purpose of this rule, a visible obscenity is defined as the making of signs or gestures by a competitor using his hand, body, or riding equipment that commonly have an obscene meaning to a reasonable person.

12.8  VERBAL ABUSE

Any member heard to be verbally abusive of an official, opponent, spectator, member of the media or any other person will incur a fine for each violation and/or disqualification from the series, event or elimination. For the purpose of this rule, verbal abuse is defined as a statement directed at an official, opponent, spectator, member of the media or any other person that implies dishonesty, or is derogatory, insulting or otherwise abusive.

12.9 ABUSE OF EVENT EQUIPMENT

Any member abusing or damaging event equipment, on purpose, will incur a fine for each violation, and/or disqualification from the series, event or elimination.

12.10 PHYSICAL ABUSE

Any member found to be physically abusive of an official, opponent, spectator, member of the media or any other person will incur a fine each violation and/or disqualification from the series, event or elimination. For the purpose of this rule, physical abuse is the unauthorized touching of an official, opponent, spectator, member of the media or any other person.

12.11 UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT

Any members failing to conduct themselves at all times in a sportsmanlike manner and or give due regard to the authority of officials and the rights of opponents, spectators, members of the media or other persons, will incur a fine for each violation and/or disqualification from the series, event or elimination. For the purpose of this rule, unsportsmanlike conduct is defined as any misconduct that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport, but does not fall within the prohibition of any specific on site offence contained in these rules. In addition, unsportsmanlike conduct shall include but not be limited to the giving, making, issuing, authorizing or endorsing any public statement having or designed to have an effect prejudicial or detrimental to the best interests of the PKRA, the event, the organizers or the sport.

12.12 COACHES, MANAGERS

Members take responsibility for the presence of their coaches, managers and any ancillary staff and the violation of any of the above rules by any of these will result in the appropriate penalty being applied to the member.

12.13 FUTURE DISCIPLINARY ACTION

When the PKRA representatives, Contest Director or Head Judge excludes a competitor from further participation in an event or takes further disciplinary action against the competitor after a gross breach of good manners or unsportsmanlike conduct, his action shall be reported to the Management Board, who may reconsider the matter after further investigation.