rule bending....

WWA rules state that no competitors shall ride on the tournament course 3 days before comp. At least 3 winners from Wake Games did. Unfair advantage? Yes!!!

You can't be serious. It's a body of water, not an outdoor national motocross track.

Yes, that is a very odd rule, like wakeboardSTL said its just water its not like a Golf Course where you would have a distinct advantage by practicing early.

It you were allowed to hit the sliders and transfer box it could be a advantage to practice on them. It's not unusal for a few local riders at some stops ride the site for media day so the local news and news papers can film and interview them to promote the contest.

If they were riding the actual contest course w/sliders,rails,and such then I would say it is,but just free riding the body of water is no real advantage.

Seems to be an adopted rule from waterskiing (so most of you should automatically hate it), but I would disagree that it is not an advantage. When you go to a new location (for jump skiing) things are lined up differently, bouys may be in different spots, set up time is different, and there is an overall different feel. Now you're telling me that if you could ride OWC a time or two before a contest, it wouldn't help you know things like when and where to start, overall orientation using things located at the lake, etc. Then you would have an advantage over the kid that just showed up and didn't realize he could have gotten an extra trick in at that end, or needed to whip out at the start to get them all in. Let alone these guys are good enough you could determine proper rope length and speed to better set yourself up for the location. I don't care if someone did it or not, but your excuse that they may have broken a rule but it doesn't matter because it is of no advantage is not true. It's all about comfort, and if you ride a site before hand you will be more comfortable. Most people just watch others' rides before them to orient themselves, but think how much more you'd get from riding it yourself.

Yup.

I agree with what A-dub said, and as far as I'm concerned, if you break the rules you lose...otherwise why have them? That being said, how lame is that rule? You can practice on the course 4 or 5 days beforehand, but not 3 days before? That means everyone should show up a week before to practice if it really made that much difference. I guess the only reason it would matter is if the 'rails' weren't setup until 3 days before.

It does get the host site more money the week before, especially if they are a "school" or "training" site.

A-dub
Is spot on to a point. I know if I could ride a spot before a comp then it would make selecting rope length and speed a lot easier.

But you would have to ride the same boat and weight configuration to be a true advantage.

(Message edited by whitie on May 23, 2008)

i say its illegal and keep to contest rules! dif lakes have dif tempuratures so say colder water makes your board ride higher. then that rider knows what expect

i'm w/ greg... i think for it to be a true advantage you'd have to be in the same boat w/ same weight configuration... the sliders can be a big advantage... if you're good enough to notice your board riding differently in colder water you're also good enough to compensate on the fly... i think it's all splitting hairs to be honest... you know your run before you get to the water that day and you know what you have to do to execute your moves... outside of that its looking for a place to blame a bad ride or inconsistency... the consistently good riders will ride good consistently and the consistently ok riders will ride ok consistently... i agree w/ the comfort and surroundings thing also to an extent but you have to think the pros ride so many different spots so often they're used to riding different stuff... as said before... it's not like a golf course or a race track... it's the wake and the water conditions and YOU