How is freestyle windsurfing judged
Freestyle windsurfing is one of the most popular disciplines on the Professional Windsurfers Association (PWA) World Tour. However, from a spectator's perspective, it is never easy to understand, interpret, and evaluate the sailors' maneuvers and skills while competing professionally in front of a panel of judges. Here's everything you need to know about scoring freestyle windsurfers:212
Freestyle windsurfing: one of the most popular windsurfing disciplines Scoring and the Judging Panel There are always one or two judging panels with, at least, three judges. Whenever a windsurfer performs a trick, each judge awards points on a scale that goes from 1 to 12 in each category, including increments of 1/10th of a point - for example, 7.10 points.213
Before the competition begins, the PWA Representative and the Head Freestyle Judge post on the Official Notice Board the number of categories that will be counted toward the result and the multiplication factor for each category. The winner of each heat is the one who gets more points. In case of a tie, the windsurfer who has the higher single score in the priority category wins.214
Whenever the categories are weighted equally, the tie shall be broken in favor of the sailor who has a higher score for overall impression. If the tie remains, a decision is made in favor of the athlete who has the higher score for technical performance. If the tie still remains, it shall be decided in favor of the windsurfer who has the highest single score of all the remaining categories.215
It is also important to note that the score sheets of the judges shall be shown only to the athlete on their request. They may be copied by a windsurfer only after consultation and approval from the PWA representative. Last but not least, the scoring and the decisions of the judges may not be appealed. Freestyle windsurfing: the overall impression of an athlete's performance is key to success216
The Freestyle Windsurfing Guidelines According to the PWA Rule Book, the expression "free" defines the principle of this windsurfing discipline; it is the pillar and the foundation of the sport. But judges will be looking for an overall impression of each windsurfer's heat, and not on eye-catching, individual maneuvers. In other words, they want to see the whole heat and how sailors paint the whole canvas.217
The PWA notes that the athlete who performs just one big move and little else will not be scored as highly as a windsurfer who can perform several high-class tricks throughout the heat. The concept of overall impression includes the following variables: Diversity: athletes should be able to perform a wide range of maneuvers and variations during their heat. Tricks performed on different tacks will earn more points.218
Technical Skill: windsurfers should display maneuvers with a high level of difficulty in order to earn extra points. Uncontrolled tricks will not be awarded points. Style: athlete performing moves that display a personal touch or attitude shall score more points than those who play safe or repeat the same maneuvers over and over again.219
Judges are particularly wary of scrappy or disjointed maneuvers. They want to see clean, stylish, difficult, varied, and complicated moves. They are also keen to evaluate the windsurfer's overall choreography and how he or she decided to execute the whole sequence of moves. The windsurfer who demonstrates a higher degree of fluidity in individual moves between different tricks in a routine shall be scored more highly than sailors who perform a broken and disjointed heat.220
Scores for diversity, technical skill and style will all be multiplied by a factor of 1 and, after giving a final score for overall impression, it will be multiplied by a factor of 3. The scores will then be totaled, and the freestyle windsurfer with the highest score will win the heat. 221
The Windsurfing Hall of Fame Inductees WINDSURFING Windsurfing Hall of Fame: a tribute to the world's greatest windsurfers As the first attempt at a Windsurfing Hall of Fame (WHoF) by the Professional Windsurfers Association (PWA) crashed out in 2007, the need for someone to pick the ball up and get it rolling again was calling. Having been involved in the sport as both a windsurfer and creative journalist for 50 years, I decided to pick it up as a side project. How much work could it be? Certainly not as much as writing my book, "Maui Glory Days."222
Or could it? It could. How was the inaugural windsurfing hall of fame class of 2021 selected? Preliminary polling was conducted in an open Facebook group named "Windsurfing Hall of Fame." But the idea was just for fun - merely a seed - a kernel of the project. And so I posted a different poll for each segment and discipline of the wind sport: fame, racing, freestyle, speed, Olympics, adventurer, shaper, sailmaker, media, and eventually, the plan grew. I wanted these polls to figure out what weight each category carried by counting how many voted and who to get on the ballot. Jonathan Weston: the founder of the Windsurfing of Hall of Fame223
Not a Popularity Contest The initial design proved to be fruitful - and a bit sour, too - as in some cases, we ended up having a popularity contest. Soon, I discovered that a few candidates were benefiting from email campaigns. Actually, one completely internationally unknown Italian had more votes than Robby Naish. I investigated and contacted the people to let them know that there would perhaps be a locals-only hall of fame one day. So, some of them were left off the official ballot - this is the hall of fame, not the hall of friends. Nice try, though. I eventually sent out an online poll to a hand-selected voting body. There were write-in votes. I was one of them. I then got more serious and created another closed Facebook group - the Windsurfing Hall of Fame Voting Body (WHoFVB) - inviting a geographical and gender-diverse group of knowledgeable and well-wrinkled folks.
A few invitees invited a few others. Though we ended up with well more than the 100 I had hoped for, only about 100 of those voted on the online survey ballot. Mike Waltze: Windsurfing of Hall of Fame Class of 2021 Inductee The Criteria The ballot indeed was US-Hawaii heavy because it was where the sport began and blossomed, and Hawaii then became the arena, the Mecca, the proving ground. But, there were indeed some people that I tossed in myself, having a bit of memory left in the bank, and tried my best to give representation to countries ill-represented. The three major criteria for voting were achievement, longevity, and character. The rider had to be over 50 years of age - sorry, Antoine Albeau - and garnished at least 60 percent of the vote from the voting body of 100. Results are pretty much what you see on the website, so the WHoFVB did a pretty good job.
However, a few big names were forgotten, and a few right on the border. So, just to make sure nobody critical was left out, the captain of the lonely ship, along with Selection Committee (SC) Chair Scott O'Connor, formed a selection committee that was at least geographically diverse. We have Australians, Europeans, Americans, and even two editors from Germany's Surf magazine on board. The SC deliberated on those who rode the borderline on votes, with some committee members voicing themselves louder than others. All arguments came to a stalemate, and a closed ballot for the SC was created for those on the 40-50 percent border. Four more made it in; two men and two women.
The founder-president used his one trump vote to select one final candidate and, hopefully to his credit, a woman. Jenna de Rosnay: Windsurfing of Hall of Fame Class of 2021 Inductee | Photo: Archive Making History Certainly, a host of other legends can be argued, and the private messages are coming in where the votes were for Jurgen Honscheid, Bep Thijs, Arnaud de Rosnay, Cesare Cantagalli, Mike Eskimo, Nathalie Lelievre, Eric Thieme, Robert Teriitehau, etc. The list goes on.
So, why not this person or that? And the stock answer is, "there's always next year, and a stronger class it will be." Congratulations again to those who made it in, and thanks again to those who participated in the voting process. The next task for the Selection Committee is to lay down the bylaws for next year's voting process. There will most likely be no more than 12 inductees each year. We will also have a vote for officers every two years, in which I will gladly hand over the Presidential Seal to some poor sap and a webmaster with nothing else to do with their time.
There are also irons in the fire with some major world sailing organizations about verification and taking the reigns. I'm happy to have just been the instigator, and maybe when I pass the baton, I can get in here and eat some chili myself one day. Just to be fair, yours truly was voted in, but who would put themselves in a Hall of Fame they created? Don't answer that. Robby Naish: Windsurfing of Hall of Fame Class of 2021 Inductee
Share and Support One person has not acknowledged his induction at the time of writing - Stephan van den Berg. I believe he's just shy. One more peripheral inductee wanted nothing to do with it, but everyone else was all in, including Naish, Dunkerbeck, and Schweitzer. As for a concrete WHoF, that is something well beyond my scope of fundraising. But, with pandemics and sailors from all over the world, where would it live?
It's a good question for the future, but not for now. It has been a fun ride herding some cool cats. If anyone wants to forego their cup of Starbucks and donate five bucks, hit the website's support tab at windsurfinghalloffame.com. You'll get a free eBook with pretty pictures of windsurfing and a bit of history. All proceeds from "Maui Glory Days" go to the WHoF. These things don't exist on the web by their own accord, so if you want to see it keep going, forego that cup of joe.