The decision to approve an Overlapping Heat competition format was made by the ASP Board of Directors during its latest meeting held in Hossegor, France on September 24th. Blessed by the competitors on the World Professional Surfers (WPS) and likely to be put into use between now and the end of the year, I thought it was proper to report what went down in Biarritz on September 20th during the last and final trial run of the recently approved "Overlapping Heats System."
The concept was first brought to the ASP by 8X World Champion Kelly Slater during the 2004 "Kelly Slater Invitational" event in Fiji. Since then, the ASP Technical Committee has been fine tuning the system and creating rules and regulations to make sure its usage at top level official competition is acceptable and all facets of professional competing surfing are covered.
The Overlapping Heats System will be used in official Foster's ASP World Tour competition for the first time during this year's Billabong Pro Pipeline Masters. The concept is to allow competition to take place with two man-on-man heats running simultaneously. This way ASP event organizers and competitors can have a normal 48-man format event finished in little over half the time.
To make it easier to understand, I'll list the advantages of the new system:
To make it easier to understand, I'll list the advantages of the new system:
- It will allow us to run man-on-man heats in places like Hawaii, where local's permits prohibit two-man heat usage. They will take place simultaneously, with one heat time overlapping the other.
- It will save us event running time. In places where swell consistency is an issue, like Mundaka and Jeffreys Bay, if an event is running out of time due to lack of swell, the option is now available for ASP, the event Licensee and the competitors to utilize the system, effectively cutting the remaining running time for the event almost in half.
- It will improve action for spectators, both web, TV and on site. With more competitors in the water at once, more action is guaranteed.
Quiksilver stepped up to the plate help the ASP and the surfers do a test-run with all of the necessary infra-structure to run a proper event. We were able to conduct a definitive trial at the Grand Plage in Biarritz last week.
The Grand Plage was the former venue of the Quiksilver Pro in France, from 1986 through 1996. The event area was set beside the Casino, where in previous years we ran the "chic-est" event on the ASP Tour. The test run was also a way for ASP to thank the city of Biarritz for the many years of support and to acknowledge the 50 years of surfing that the French surfing community is celebrating in 2007.
It was back in 1956 when Hollywood screenwriter Peter Viertel, when working on the production of the movie "The Sun Also Rises", brought the first surfboard to Biarritz. The huge balsa was "officially" put in use by 1957, by the likes of Bruno Reinhardt, Michel Barland, Jacky Rott, Joel de Rosnay and Jean Brana. The boys went on to found the famous "Waikiki Surf Club" in Biarritz.
French surfing historian and Zuma TV production owner Alain Gardinier, recently released the ecletic "Les Tontons Surfeurs" - The Uncles Surfers, capturing the allure and flair of the beautiful history of surfing in southern France.
Back at the beach, 28 out of the Top 45 attended and with two judging panels, two sets of announcers and two separate scoring systems set up, the event took place with great success.
Since its inception during Slater's event, important rules were created and added to the system to incorporate the Priority System of man-on-man competition. For you to have a clear idea, I highlighted hereunder the more important ones:
Priority Rules
- The first half of each heat is run without priority. Heat Priority begins exactly half way through the heat. If both surfers are sitting in the take off zone, standard beginning of the heat priority rule applies: heat will continue with no priority until the first wave has been ridden. After that, priority will go automatically to the remaining surfer in the take off zone.
- If only one surfer is at the take off zone at the half way mark, than he will have first priority.
- If neither surfer is in the line up, than priority will go to the first surfer who reaches the take off zone.
- If both surfers arrive in the take off zone at the same time and it is impossible for the Head Judge to determine who reached the take of zone first, than the heat will continue with no priority until one of the surfers catches a wave.
Priority Allocation Rules
- The heat allocated with priority will have unconditional right of way over the heat without priority during the allocated priority time period.
- If a surfer with priority paddles outside the primary take off zone - the same zone determined by the Head Judge where the surfers gain priority - he will lose priority, either first or second priority.
- If a surfer with first priority paddles outside the primary take off zone he will lose first priority. He will only gain second priority when he returns to the take off zone. This is to avoid surfers utilizing the priority rule to block competitors in different heats.
- A surfer with no priority can split the peak with a surfer with priority, providing he surfs in the opposite direction of the surfer with priority.
The ASP Technical Committee also developed a new set of Rash Vests to facilitate priority operation. With the photo examples you see here, it will be easier to visualize the main differences from normal competition Rash Vests. Here are some rules to guide its usage:
Competition Vests Colours
- Competition vests to be in only 2 colours: Red and Yellow.
- Both Red and Yellow colours to have 2 sets of vests each, with arms and neck panels in Black colour, and 2 sets of vests with arms and neck panels in White colour.
- Competitors in the same heat will have the same colour vests, e.g.: Red, but with different colour arms and neck panels. Black and White colour will identify which surfer has priority; Red and Yellow colour will indicate the surfers in the same heat. When one of the discs matches their vest's colour (Red or Yellow) it will indicate their priority time period.
To address the colours in the water the Technical Committee also developed a specific set of Priority Discs. The rules that will regulate its usage are:
Priority Discs
- A set of two discs will be placed within vision of the judges, one disc above the other, preferably in the same mounting frame.
- Top disc to have Red and Yellow colours. It will indicate which colour heat has priority at the half way mark.
- Bottom disc is to be Black and White. It will indicate which colour surfer has priority from the half way mark onwards.
The ASP and the WPS are excited about this advancement for professional surfing and even more excited to share it with the world at Pipeline this year. And happy 50th Anniversary to Surfing in Biarritz too!
Renato Hickel
Foster's ASP World Tour Manager
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 and bottom disc which surfer has priority in that particular heat (Black or White).'))
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