LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Got something you want to say about letters posted here, the printed newsletter, this website, the Coalition, or surfing in general? Tell it to the editor and it will be posted here.

Coalition Retreat

I think a coalition retreat would be a good idea. Finding a date is always a challenge. Maybe sometime in April would be best (The Ventura Arden Taylor Memorial Contest is in late March, maybe something could be done in conjunction with that event-enhance participation and allow everyone to plan on that time frame?

We do not have the O'side Club Banner and paid for it many moons ago. I thought Spence was bringing them around to the contests but turned them over to Oztar after the blow up years ago. I am probably wrong...

Bill Harris
OLSC

Mark and DLSA

Thanks to the Doheny Club for a really fun event and your club member staff was really friendly and helpful.It was well worth the long drive down to your event and  we all had a great time.
 
Thanks again for your good work and we hope to be back next year.

Tom Kunz, Ventura Surf Club

Hello Mark

Mylocallineup.com has published its coverage of the Gathering of the Tribes. There are over 100 photos, an upcoming video, and a little blurb about the event. It's all FREE! Download the photos you want, watch the clip, and read the piece and don't pay a penny. Several of the photographers who were out that day shooting the event will likely submit their photos to the site. So check out what we've posted and stay tuned for more. Perhaps, you can blast that mass email of yours, so that people will know where they will likely find something on themselves. Thanks for all the work and congratulations for the superb event.

Best,

Andre Niemeyer
Mylocallineup.com
Team Member

Mark and company at DLSA

Thanks for a fun weekend. The contest was fortunate to go off with great waves. We as a club enjoyed ourselves and look forward to attending again next year. Following in the tradition of the 2007 MSA event in which they asked for feedback, i figured i'd send you unsolicited feedback regarding your event. Overall we as a team felt the event went well, judging seemed consistent. I'm not certain how i felt about the 15 minute window for written challenges as sometimes not all team captains are present on the beach throughout the event, but given i was unable to attend the team captains meeting due to work and missed the dialogue that created this rule, i'll go silent. Overall i was very happy with the way the contest was run (thought, for example, that the inside out jersey north peak idea worked well) and organized, though i did want to voice some concern regarding loudspeaker commentary.

I would caution in the future the overly enthusiastic play by play on certain surfers waves versus silence on others due to possible swaying or influencing of the judges. We all know how hard it can be sometimes as a judge to keep full attention on each surfers wave, especially at Church with the strong glare it picks up. Thus, the emcee's comments, if overly glowing, might pump up a surfers score. Seems to me that unless someone is emcee-ing and commenting equally and unbiasedly for all waves ridden, which is near impossible with 12 surfers in the water at your event, its best to not give a blow by blow account of any waves and stick to music and other talk. Let the surfers rides create the scores alone! Maybe i am alone on this one? Any one else have opinions?

Again, thanks for a great weekend, looking forward to next year.

Andrew Buck
SBSC Team Captain

Mark

First and foremost I would like to thank you and your crew for another fantastic
weekend. I can only imagine the
amount of time and effort that is involved for
such an event.

Great idea to have a designated area for protests. They are going to happen
regardless of how good the judging is and you just deal with it.

In regards to the commentary influencing the judges, I agree with you and your
point about them not being swayed. You guys have paid judges that do this up and
down our coast. Check out an NSSA or any of the other surf series for that
matter and the blow by blow wave commentary is non stop. That doesn't mean some
more music time wouldn't be cool!

Thanks again to DSLA for putting on a kick ass event!!

DC
Sunset Cliffs Team Captain

Mark

Glad to hear your contest last weekend was up to its usual standard of the best coalition yearly event. I've missed judging it but understand your club's decision to only use professional judges. I have seen Henry Ford's group in action and admire their professionalism and competence.

As to the comment about scoring being in any way influenced by an announcer's praise of a rider's performance, we both know that crowd cheers, like an announcer's praise do not influence an experienced judge's scoring. This is particularly true if a judge is progressively scoring, i.e. using Mike Spence's system of accumulating points as the wave is ridden. By the time the announcer or the crowd reacts, the base score has been established and the only question are the last points, and most judges are too busy at that point to take notice of extraneous noise.

A good head judge will also monitor scoring and make sure the scores are even, consistent and judges are not being influenced by anything other than the rider's performance.

I hope the afternoon glare wasn't bad this year. I am experimenting with special Celestron binoculars that have polarizing filters that can be lowered internally to combat the late afternoon sun glare. I hope these binoculars and their filters will help distinguish colors when the sun gets low. I will let you know how they perform. At present, the only contest I have scheduled to try them out will be the Swami's contest this fall.

Sorry to have missed the event. However if I am not needed as a judge, its tough to make that 5:00 a.m. drive to Basilone Road. Give my best to your bride. Have a great 2008!

Tim

Mark

Our surf team members all had a great time and DLSA gets all our thanks and appreciation!!

Only problem with a heat i heard, was one of our surfers on north side i think whose waves didn't get seen due to the fog..bummer! but they had a great attitude anyway.

Everyone enjoyed the awesome surf during free sessions when they didn't advance.....

Good job,

Lorraine Schmalenberger
Secretary, LJ Shores Surfing Association

Mark

On behalf of the Malibu Boardriders Club and speaking for myself I would like to say Thank You to you & DLSA members and all the people who helped put on such a wonderful event this past weekend.  I / We really look forward to " Gathering of The Tribes " event each year.

We were definitely blessed with great  weather and  good waves. The Aloha Vibe and Stoke was in full effect the entire weekend. The camaraderie within the Coalition at each venue should be as profound as it was this past weekend....!

Aloha & Sincerely John Welch

Gathering of the Tribes 2008: Some Questions

1. It is my understanding that at the Team Captain's meeting Friday night (Doheny), it was stated there would be on each of the two judging stands, a total of five judges, three paid and two Coalition. Did this actually happen or were there most of the time only three judges?

2. In the past, were these paid judges usually associated with judging longboard contests or are they usually judging short board contests?

3. A conversation was overheard between several surfers and one of the people associated with one of the judging stands (head judge?). The surfers were told that there was no such thing as length of ride being used to come up with a ride's score in this contest and that nothing related to length of ride was even mentioned in the contest rules. The pro and con of that situation was discussed for a short period of time and then everyone left. Later, I looked at the Coalition rules and it plainly states the following: Competitors will be judged on style, wave selection, LENGTH OF RIDE and controlled functional maneuvers. My question is are all judges fully aware of the Coalition rules?

4. At one of the contests last year, it was not unusual to find no head judge on the stand. This can lead to many types of problems , such as the judges get into talking among themselves and others, their scores are not observed for irregularities, sheets can be handed to the tabulators that are incomplete and without judging names, etc.

5. When two surfing locations are used. it is imperative that the riders do not overlap. We saw many cases where surfers on the south side took off north of the buoy. Did they get penalized one wave? Many times the north surfers rode deep into the south area and often were on the same wave as a south rider. Were they penalized?

From a Concerned Coalition Member

To Print or Not to Print, That Is the Question

Why bother mailing a copy to the clubs? Why not just send out the digital copies via email and allow individual clubs to print out a few copies to circulate at their meetings? Seems more cost effective to me. By the way, I like the look of the newsletter, it looks great. I just feel its a waste of money to print and mail copies. Between posting it online and emailing it out, it should get circulated.
Andrew Buck
SBSC Tresurer / Coalition Team Captain

I agree with you completely, however, when Bruce King asked me to produce a newsletter, he specifically wanted at least a few printed copies for those who are not computer literate, which included himself (he said he has one but rarely uses it). Also, the Surfing Heritage Foundation in San Clemente has requested a printed copy of each issue for their archives. If your club wishes not to contribute, I can certainly understand and will leave that decision up to you.
Editor

it's not so much [our club] not wanting to contribute [to the cost], we've yet to even get there as a club, its just some initial thoughts. we deal with this same issue when we produce our own newsletter and end up printing and mailing it quarterly, costing us $500+ per year. I've always felt the non-computer literate folks must have friends or fellow club members who can help them out and the Surfing Heritage Foundation certainly has an email address they can receive it at.
Andrew Buck
SBSC Tresurer / Coalition Team Captain

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