The Event

Following the tradition of the ancient Greek hero Odysseus the event is called the Odyssey of Speed. Like in the adventures in the myth of Odysseus the contenders in our Odyssey have to deal with various challenges and the Odyssey of Speed is comprising different disciplines of speedsurfing.

The philosophy of this challenge should be to bring together people from around the world, which enjoy the same passion of windsurfing in strong winds at high speeds. Therefore the participation is open for everyone in the windsurfing community from all skill levels from fun sailors up to serious including professional level.

Rather than focussing on maximum speed only, the Odyssey of Speed is dealing with various disciplines of speed/slalom surfing. By this way we would like to motivate also the 'normal' Greek Summer windsurfers to get involved, who might be reluctant to compete on pure and specialized speed events and/or who might not have the highly specialized equipment. This year we will also have a dedicated ranking for those competitors, which are competing with non-speed equipment (see details below).

The Odyssey of Speed will be based on current GPS-measuring standards and rules. Due to generous sponsoring we will have LOCOSYS GT-31 GPS Units incl. waterproof AQUAPAC cases available on-site for renting at no cost. We also try again to have attractive offers available on-site for purchasing the GPS equipment.

Finally our sponsors are giving very attractive prizes for the winners of the event.
 

Location

The Odyssey of Speed will take place on the island of Karpathos, Greece.

The island of Karpathos is famous for its steady and strong wind conditions in summer and also well known from past World Cup events and championships in Speedsurfing. The three bays of Afiartis named Paradise, Gun and Chicken Bay are the perfect location offering various kinds of windsurfing conditions, plenty of space on the water and perfect infrastructure at the various surf stations.

However, the event shall not depend on a certain location and venue, except sailing in the waters of Karpathos.
 

Date

The Odyssey of Speed will take place from the 01.06.2012 until 30.08.2012.
 

Rules

The Basic Rules of www.gps-speedsurfing.comVersion 9.0 (ref. 1) apply.
(http://www.gps-speedsurfing.com/default.aspx?mnu=item&item=BasicRules)

This year the event will include two different classes with two different rankings.

1. ‘TITANS’ Class for Speedsurfers with Speedsurfing gear
    
2. ‘EXITE’ Class for Freeriders using on non-speed equipment or rental equipment from the local surf stations

As the 'EXITE' class is supposed to be the class for freeriders, serious speedsurfers are advised to compete in the 'TITANS' class. Any sailor can participate in one class only, either 'TITANS' or 'EXITE' class. Note:Beside this, windsurfers who have on www.gps-speedsurfing.coma Max Speed (2sec) recorded higher than 38 knots are not allowed to compete in the ‘EXITE’ Class.
 

Scoring / Results

1.‘TITANS’ Class for Speedsurfers with Speedsurfing gear

Within the course of the event the following speed/slalom categories will be considered for the ranking:

• Cat. A:       2 sec GPS max. Speed
• Cat. B:       5 x 10sec GPS average
• Cat. C:       1 hour GPS max.
• Cat. D:       500 m GPS max.
• Cat. E:        Alpha Racing (500m)
• Cat. F:        Maximum Distance travelled during one day (24 hours)

For the ‘TITANS’ Class each session result needs to be uploaded to www.gps-speedsurfing.comusing the automatic upload function of the approved evaluation software (see ref.1. §8). Multiple sessions during a day are allowed (see ref.1 §.11), however should be avoided. Sessions shall be uploaded not later than two weeks after they have been sailed. Uploads are possible until 30.08.2012. 18:00. Any session uploaded after this deadline can not be considered for the ranking.

All GPS tracks needs to be available for verification by the event organization at all times.

Scoring: For the event’s ranking points will be awarded for the best performance in each category during the period of the event. For each category all competitors are awarded points equivalent to their ranking position in each category, except the first place, which is awarded 0.7 points. Competitors who will not supply a result for a category during the event or who are disqualified score the points awarded to the last possible finishing position.

The Overall ranking will be based the accumulated points out of all categories.

2. ‘EXITE’ Class

In order to keep it simple in the ‘EXITE’-Class only the Cat. A: 2 sec GPS max. Speed during any session will be considered. The GPS tracks must be also uploaded to www.gps-speedsurfing.comand marked as ‘EXITE- Class’ in the comment space.  Alternatively the recorded GPS session file (*.sbn format) may be mailed to info@odysseyofspeed.orgfor evaluation and consideration in the ranking.

The ranking will be made considering all posted results in the entire period.

The updated results will be communicated on the event website www.odysseyofspeed.org,on www.gps-speedsurfing.comand at the participating surf stations on-site in Karpathos.
 

Sailing Equipment

Only windsurfing equipment is approved.
 

GPS Equipment

The official GPS of the 'Odyssey of Speed' is the LOCOSYS GT-31/BGT-31. This are the only GPS units currently recommended by International GPS Speed Sailing Organizations. Only sessions recorded by GT-31 (and GT-11) units will be recognized.

LOCOSYSGT-31 GPS Units incl. waterproof AQUAPAC cases will be available on-site for renting at no cost. Please contact us before the event to reserve a GPS unit if needed.

At the participating surf stations on Karpathos we will give support for setting up the GPS units, for the use of the evaluation software and the data upload to www.gps-speedsurfing.com.

We also plan to have attractive offers available on-site for purchasing the GPS equipment. Details to be announced.
 

Facilities

We intend to offer special arrangements on-site at the various surf stations (Club Mistral, Pro Centre Chris Schill, Planet Windsurfing Centre) for airport transfer, storage, rental equipment, etc. during the event. Further details to be communicated soon.
 

Entry fee

The Odyssey of Speed is free and there is no entry fee.

Awards

We do not plan to have prize money.

The winner in the ‘TITANS’-Class will be awarded with the title ‘Odysseus of Speed 2012’ and will along with that receive the travelling trophy of the Odyssey of Speed.

We will have nice diplomas for the Top riders in both ‘TITANS’ and ‘EXITE’-Class in the Overall ranking of the contest.

In addition each participants of the event will have the chance to win one of the attractive prizes given by our sponsors.

Prizing ‘TITANS’ class

Prizing ‘EXITE’ class

Safety

Each participant should take responsibility for himself and can be disqualified if he/she exposes herself or others at unnecessary risk. If extra weights are used a vest must support the weights or equivalent that provides a positive buoyancy of the weights. Wetsuit, etc. are not counted as flotation devices. Sailors who refuse to provide help to those who show emergency signal will be disqualified.

Disclaimer

Every rider has responsibility for himself. He/she has to have all insurances needed. The organizer will not take any responsibility for rescue operations nor racing accidents.

Sponsors

The 'Odyssey of Speed'  is supported by the following sponsors:

• NETtoSUN Travel
• LOCOSYS Technology
• AQUAPAC International
• VECOTORFINS Maui
• MAUI Ultra Fins
• Thalassa Suites
• SURFTOOLS
• www.gps-speedsurfing.com

The event is open for further sponsoring.
 

Organization

The event is organized by Tim Otte, Manoli Kritsiotis

Contact:         info@odysseyofspeed.org

Notice of Race can be also downloaded here : http://odysseyofspeed.org/Odyssey/Notice_of_Race_files/NOR_Odyssey_of_Speed_Ver2.2_120525.pdf