Essential Level Challenge Competition

[Paul Arden]

So... for the Sexyloops meet in Bosnia this year, I’m thinking we have the Sexyloops Challenge Competition in addition to the usual Shootout event. We will run through the challenge as a competition scoring everything.

It’s probable that Advanced and Elite Levels will be ready then as well. Perhaps for the Competition we pick 10 tasks total from the three levels.

So what I’m basically saying is practise your curve and collapsed casts It’s all about to happen.

Cheers, Paul

[bartdezwaan]

It’s probable that Advanced and Elite Levels will be ready then as well.

[John Waters]

Hope I can make it,

John

[Paul Arden]

That would be awesome John!!!

[Paul Arden]

Since everything (pretty much) is into a target it should be easy to score. We’ll have to put a target in place for the curve casts and a bar to cast under for the horizontal rod plane exercise. Might play around with the hoop diameters to make it more challenging. Or we could have two levels, one with large hoops and one with small ones.

I have a video of teaching this from the weekend. I’ll go through the footage to see if it’s usable

Cheers, Paul

[Dung Fly]

Not wanting to be labelled a spoilsport....

The Covid-19 virus is on the spread in many places around the world, with many countries taking extreme measures and strict quarantine being applied.
Do you think this might hamper any sporting gatherings (e.g. World Championships etc.) ?

Recently, I experienced first hand what has been put in place at UK airports and others in the Caribbean (where there hasn’t been a single notified case) of additional controls.

Just a thought....

[Paul Arden]

I don’t know Andy. We will have to see what happens. Personally I think that the whole thing has been blown out of all proportion. But it’s that that we have to deal with and not the disease itself.

They just had a marathon in Japan with no spectators. Maybe we’ll just have to turn away the tens of thousands of spectators from the World Fly Casting Championships too. It will be a shame, but it’s probably for the best.

Cheers, Paul

[bartdezwaan]

Paul. I am thinking about doing the essential level at one of our Fly Casting Sport NL meetings.
However, I am still not sure how it is meant to be done.
Are we just examining each other while drinking a beer? And then afterwards we shake hands to the ones that were able to do it?
Is there some kind of setup you have in mind?

Cheers, Bart

[bartdezwaan]

Oh, and like the idea you suggest on today's front page.
Make it a competition. That would perfectly suit our competition setup and makes the above question redundant.

Cheers, Bart

[Paul Arden]

There are several uses for it Bart. it's possible to be "certified" - and more levels are coming. We will give them a certificate they can download and a hall of fame posting. To pass they have to be witnessed by an instructor or casting club, successfully hitting each target in at least one of the three attempts. It's very easy to judge because either the fluff (or preferably competition fly) goes in or it doesn't!

A more significant use for me, is that it gives me as an instructor and students as learners, a comprehensive syllabus for organising their casting practise sessions. And then, after some significant practise - two or three months at least! - they can then take the challenge and it''s a worthy goal. They can then start training for the next level! But always I would hope that these "core casts" remain part of their casting practise.

However the competition game I think is also an excellent idea. As the level of the caster increases we can make the ring sizes smaller... The only adjustments that I see to the game for it to be a competition, is that for the side casting exercise there should be an object that the rod tip and loop must pass under without ticking on either side for two false casts. And the curve cast will need a target - this was originally not in the challenge because it's already the hardest cast in the challenge. In the case of the competition for the collapsed casts I think the the fly and most of the collapsed line will need to enter the target.

Cheers, Paul