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Canoe/Kayak Racing/Orienteering Blog/Advocacy

Posts Tagged CKO Race Design

Winning USCA Canoe/Kayak Orienteering

Jan 11

Posted by phibious in Strategy | 1 Comment

CKO is a timed race in which one- or two-person boats start at staggered intervals.

Winning Canoe Orienteering
A Seven-Time US Canoe-Orienteering Champion Reveals All
By Aims Coney, USCA Canoe-Orienteering Chair, 2008

What’s the first secret of successful canoe-o?  It’s pick your partner wisely.  Many thanks to Bob Allen, Barry Fifield, Ernst Linder, Andy Hall, and especially J-J Cote’ who endured so much, taught me so much, and ensured the success for which I later got credit.

Since 2001, championship-level canoe-o has gone through a miraculous evolution.  Back then J-J and I won the USCA Nationals by being the only team to bother portaging and dominated local meets by merely showing up with a racing canoe.  Nowadays the racers who enter the Nationals make far better decisions and local meets attract plenty of fast canoes.  It’s getting more competitive all the time, too.  At the 2001 Nationals there was a 2-1/2 hour margin between first and last places but last year the total gap, first to last, was only 38 minutes.  At local meets the long course often used to go unused, but now is often the most popular.

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CVOC White Bank Park CKO (Aug 13, 2011)

Aug 27

Posted by phibious in Races | Comments off

CKO orienteer finding a control by kayak. Some controls during this race where submerged.

The Central Virginia Orienteering Club (CVOC) held a Canoe/Kayak Orienteering (CKO) event at White Bank Park in Colonial Heights, VA on August 13, 2011. The CVOC reported an attendance of over 40 water-bound orienteers that headed out to find controls set throughout a beautiful wetlands area off of Swift Creek.  There were 20 control flags to find of differing difficulties, including some that were submerged.

Date: Sat Aug 13, 2011
Venue: Swift Creek, White Bank Park
Location: Colonial Heights, VA
Event Director: Tim Gilbert
Course Setter: Tim Gilbert
Event Website: CVOC White Bank Park CKO

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CKO Race Guidelines

May 8

Posted by phibious in Race Design | Comments off

Canoe/Kayak Orienteering (CKO) borrows the best features of canoe racing and orienteering. Some events are canoe races with maps; others are orienteering meets with canoes. Meet organizers have considerable latitude to design events that are best for their venue and participants.

Canoe and Kayak Orienteering sanctioned meets should follow three rules in the interest of fairness and fun:

  1. The Team Finish Rule: Competitors start and finish with all crew members and equipment. One or all teammates may leave the boat during the event, but at the finish line the crew, boat, and all equipment must be back together again.
  2. The Designated Wet or Dry Rule: Control locations are designated “wet” or “dry” in the control descriptions or clearly on the map. A dry control is approached by land and is on firm ground while a wet control is punched from a boat. Dry controls are found on hilltops, at trail junctions, or other land features, but never in swamps. Overhanging branches, pilings, or buoys are good places to hang wet controls.

    Note to course setters: Some meets ban swimming or wading to controls but this is difficult to monitor. It is better to place wet controls so that swimming or wading will be a disadvantage over using a boat.

  3. The Nothing Yucky or Damaging Rule: It should never be necessary for a paddler to disembark into mud or unsavory water nor to run a boat up on rocks in order to punch a wet control. Additionally, punches on wet controls should be hung so they can be punched without rising from the center seat of an 18’6″ solo cruiser.

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