With six man season just around the corner for many of us, I was just wondering how clubs from around the world select their crews when race day comes. Time trial, coaches decision, favoritism? How does your gang do it? I was especially curious about the Top Tahitian teams if anyone is tuning in down there...
Submitted by Jim on Sat, 01/26/2008 - 9:13am
With a combination of violence and sarcasm
#1 Sat, 01/26/2008 - 9:51am
blatant cronyism.
#2 Sat, 01/26/2008 - 11:23am
We use a combination of seat races and oc1 time trials to masquerade as a selection process but in the end its the top six guys who have, historically, been the fastest and although they may not actually show up to practice or even live
in the same state, if they arent boated in the "A" boat we run the risk of losing them. I dont blame any one for this, its just the ugly truth.
#3 Sat, 01/26/2008 - 11:41am
thats a tuff one somone will hate you . no mattert what. even if you win. you could make an educated guess and gamble. we have a small crew and dont have that problem to often. they all train hard so take the numbers and make the fastes crew.
#4 Sat, 01/26/2008 - 3:59pm
We also prefer the blatant cronyism method, sometimes combined w/ the we know someone better than the guys we practice with method.
#5 Sat, 01/26/2008 - 3:59pm
1968, that's a photo of the "Spanish Inquisition" skit. I believe the violence and sarchasm phrase is from the "Piranha Brothers" episode. Please thoroughly research all obscure Monty Python references prior to posting.
#6 Sat, 01/26/2008 - 4:02pm
whats worse jumping ship for a better crew or getting hired hitters.
#7 Sun, 01/27/2008 - 7:29am
Mulus I personally think jumping ship shows a weak character. But thats assuming that being loyal to your team is honorable. The problem, however, is that outrigger teams are historically not very loyal to its crews. For instance, Im sure we've all seen instances where you have a group of guys busting their asses to make it into the "A" or "B" boats, only to have a "ringer", who has not been a part of the concerted effort to "earn" a seat, show up race day and be seated. Even worse, most of the guys in the boat that gets the ringer are stoked to have him but would cry "injustice!!!" if it were them who were being bumped. Then you have the trickle down effect. The guy who was on the bubble in the "A" boat gets bumped to the "B" boat, and the guy on the bubble in the "B" boat gets bumped to the "C" boat and the guy on the bubble in the "C" boat gets bumped to coed.....so on and so forth. And yet if an individual paddler, mirrors the protocal of most clubs, and looks for the best seat placement, not just within "our" team, but across the board, in any club, that paddler is considered a disloyal parasite. Unfortunatley if you want to be competitive you must do what most other clubs do. Untill all clubs ban "ringers" nothing will change.
#8 Sun, 01/27/2008 - 7:59am
Jim,
I stand corrected, and bow to your superior obscure Monty Python knowledge. That being said, we still do employ a combination of violence and sarcasm (albeit with a good dose of cronyism as well). I really can't think of a better way yo do it though (as long as I am the one making the decisions).
Later,
J
#9 Sun, 01/27/2008 - 8:53am
Its ironic when your 7 guy get the shaft and gets on a crew that whoops you.
#10 Sun, 01/27/2008 - 9:06am
Short distance regatta season - crew selection about performance; these are qualifiers for the states.
Long distance - friends paddlling together over years. I think that is ok.
#11 Sun, 01/27/2008 - 10:09am
If you're talking about Lanikai, the "friends paddling together over the years" selection process has produced five molokai victories since '95. I'd have to say "performance" must've been worked in there at some point!
#12 Sun, 01/27/2008 - 12:04pm
In our club it's who does the work (i.e. the paddler who turns up for training will get preference over someone who doesn't provided they're reasonbly equal in ability/experience). This way there's no argument like 'Im a better/more experienced paddler' - answer - 'He/she has been doing the hard yards. Where have you been? End of story.' Everyone knows the policy and realises that if they don't show up for training, they'll find themselves in the B, C or short course crew on race day. Seems to work.
Cheers.
#13 Sun, 01/27/2008 - 12:45pm
The Tahitian Va'a Federation has rules that allow a small number of paddler from another club. For Hawaiki Nui your team can be up to 15 paddlers with only 2 coming from another club.
Last year they were talking about making it more restrictive, i.e. only one paddler or even none at all...
All Stars teams are not allowed, except for paddlers from another country...
#14 Sun, 01/27/2008 - 1:25pm
Jim, Lanikai happens to be very successful. They have outstanding paddlers and, more so, real ambition.
The 'friends over years' is a definite factor, don't you think so ?
- has nothing to do with the fact that those friends in Lanikai happen to be great in their sport.
#15 Sun, 01/27/2008 - 1:53pm
The friends thing matters, but if someone's not performing at a certain level, they'll be replaced regardless of relationships. Also, this being a team sport, chemistry and team work can be big factors in picking crew. The top nine in a one man time trial are not always the best team.
#16 Sun, 01/27/2008 - 2:04pm
Agree on chemistry; I paddled long distance once with people I hardly knew. It wasn't bad, but it was a different experience all together.
#17 Sun, 01/27/2008 - 3:55pm