Rule 21 - Charging

[troy]

Editorial change – add missing words in sentence 2: "Charging does not disallow CONTACT FROM a player in possession who has stopped paddling…"

[Nick B]

I agree with the editorial change Troy suggests. However, I would like to see the last sentence...

"a player attempting to make their way by paddling forcibly into or over an opponent in their path is charging"

...removed. I think the intent of this sentence is covered in kayak tackles and jostling (and is not included in ICF rules).

[Juno]

I agree with Nick here, as long as the rule is written in a way so that it is interpreted in a way that allows a player to paddle over a boat as long as the player does not make contact with the openents body or the initial contact is deemed to be an illegal kayak tackle or the player illegally uses their paddle to continue over ie. gaining propulsion of the oppenents boat. This rule is one that stood out and disadvantaged the way we dealt with it while in Europe and needs to be addressed.

[SeanT]

Certainly this rule needs to be reviewed, I'm fine with Troys suggestion. I don't know what ICF says but I suspect internationally people can paddle over your boat at mach 7 without penalty. This seemed popular with the NI teams last year after the worlds and attempts were made to deem it legal by some shonky definition of "forcibly" in the charging section, nevermind the "potential to break the opponents kayak" in the kayak tackle rule ( eg I just happen to lift my rail as you try to fly through....)
I'm not a fan of this being legal but feel that we should be consistent internationally here as it's a hard aspect of your game to try modify / combat and consistancy would solve this

[Juno]

From my experience a player that wants to paddle over a player to gain postion does not hit an oppositions kayak, but paddles over and is no more damaging to kayaks than going under. To gain the best advantage as an attacking player you contact the oppositions kayak at the ends (the part that goes under or up easier due to boat volume and leverage), not in the middle which is deemed to be an illegal kayak tackle in our current rules. To go over someone more effectively you also lift the nose of your kayak up this means contact is made with the hull of your boat spreading the momentary impact over a larger area. How many times have you been T-boned by a player "attempting" to go under your boat (I looked at many european boats and there is absolutly no cracks outside of the impact zones, about half a metre from each end). Why is it that when a player paddles over the back of a kayak, which is deemed illegal in our current rules is allowed in current interpretations?

As a defender you can combat this not by puting your boat in the way (what happens to a car when it hits a wall), but be more agressive as a defender and go out and meet the threat before it becomes one I know I personally would rather be hit by a car traveling at 5km than 50km (not saying I would like to be hit by a car).

More emphasise needs to be placed on where you can make momentary contact or continuous contact on a kayak. ie trying to push a player with your kayak, pass over a kayak or illegaly hitting a player.