Gold and silver fleets continue at the 2024 French Championship ... only better. Explanation:
With the aim of making the French championship accessible to as many people as possible, the principle of two fleets, gold and silver, has been retained from last year, but adapted even further.
Last year's objective, with strong to very strong winds forecast, was to allow riders who were a little technically weak to be classified without being out of time, on the one hand, and to have time to refuel between the heats to follow, on the other,
By registering in the silver fleet, these racers chose to run all the heats on a single lap instead of two.
While the aim was to make racing in strong winds more reasonable for the less experienced, it turned out that in light or moderate winds, these same racers were perfectly capable of racing the two laps of the gold fleet.
This year, we're making a change by keeping the principle of a gold and silver fleet on the same principle as in 2023, but only from a wind limit threshold. Below this limit, all racers will follow the same course, whether they are identified as part of the gold or silver fleet, and will be ranked equally.
The distinction between the two types of course for those registered in the SILVER fleet will be made by the warning signal preceding the start procedure (the usual 5 minutes). This signal has been extended to 10 minutes instead of the usual 5. Less haste for all!
For heats run in 1-lapa pavilion R (for Reduced) in YELLOW will be sent out with the warning signal, i.e. 10 minutes before the start of the starting procedure and 5 minutes before the final start.
For heats run in 2-lapthe traditional ORANGE flag will be sent, for all (gold and silver).
In order to be visible to everyone from afar, these two pavilions have been chosen in a substantial size: 150 x 90 cm!
For even greater flexibility. Once everyone has completed the same two-lap course under the orange flag, the principle tested at the 2024 spring nationals in Biscarosse will be applied. To avoid having runners out of time, a motorboat will set off X minutes after the arrival of the first runner, to go back up the fleet and establish a ranking. It will signal to these runners to go to the next start area and be ranked. These racers will then take a shorter course and be classified, without being out of time.
So, this year, for the introduction of the two gold and silver fleets :
Racers in Raceboard or Division 2 will have to register, on their own decision, in the gold fleet or the silver fleet at registration confirmation. This system is therefore applied to both practices.
FOR RANKINGS :
If the R flag is hoistedIf the R flag is hoisted, racers in the silver fleet will be ranked in their order of finish and will be included in the overall Raceboard or Division 2 scratch rankings, where the first racer ranked in the silver fleet will necessarily be ranked overall for the round after the last ranked gold racer.
Whether in the gold or silver fleet, any competitor failing to start or finish the race or being disqualified will score the same penalty points counting towards the overall ranking.
If the R flag is not hoisted, all competitors in the gold and silver fleets must complete the same course and will be ranked in order of finish, regardless of whether they belong to the gold or silver fleet, and the result will be used to calculate the overall ranking.
