A statement has been made by Johan Soe on facebook:



I'm very thankful for all your supportive comments that I've read regarding the hard work and performance, that I've been putting in to show my talent on the PWA. As you have all read, I was ranking first for the title, but due to one of my sails, which the PWA judges decided that was not fitting the specs by some millimeters, I've been disqualified from the event in Japan. I need to stress that I never used this sail during the event in Japan. Unfortunately, as I did not do the full tour, I had no discards to keep the first place, and was disqualified for having exactly that sail.


This year, I was not expecting to be able to rank first on the tour, as I could not do all the events. I was busy with finishing school and had no time to train in the summer, as I had to sit for exams the days after important events, or just before. I had to skip the PWA in Gran Canaria due to the same reason. With one event less, half time not training, I was still super stoked to have a better level of a couple riders who had tried the same for over 10-15-20 years.



Generally, we riders are all working hard to bring our equipment to the max of its performance. I worked double harder than the others as I had a limited time, and I'm sure that this has been seen because being only 20, I was there fighting with the best, or better, being in front of them. When you are busy in so many details, working with a team for such important goals, the variables and details are a lot. Even if I appreciate the work done from the PWA in making sure that the rules are being followed, I'm not sure that the decision taken towards myself was correct, as I never used the sail in Japan.


Next year no room for other excuses.


WOW
Only by some millimeters, thats hard!!!

If a sailor damages a sail do they send it back to the brand for repair, or get a local loft to do the repair. I dont know.
Replace a top panel and if the cutting is out, you could end up with a tighter or looser leech.
It could be a quite innocent mistake.

I thought it was an open "secret" that top level PWA wave sailors often competed on custom boards, which sometimes even were from completely different shapers, painted to match the brand looks. Or is this just a thing of the past?

Anyway, Johan Soe points out that the disqualification is questionable. The rule book from the PWA website states:
[i]"Any sailor found to have been using equipment that has not been registered, or equipment that does not meet the registered specification for that particular item of equipment, [/i]shall be disqualified from the entire race discipline for that event".

That language is quite clear. Unless the PWA changed the rules and did not bother updating their website, if Soe never used the sail in a race, then the disqualification would never hold up in court, or even unbiased arbitration. The "unbiased" is the key, though - in the past, PWA had shown strong bias to favor established sailors over newcomers.
--
Edit: the PWA has updated rules, with modifications, on their web site at www.pwaworldtour.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Rule_changes.pdf

There is one relevant addition (2.5.3 f):
"...the protest committee who may prohibit the use of any item if it breaches the rules or if they feel it is an attempt to significantly alter the performance of the board or sail in question from its intended design"

Sorry, this disqualification smells really bad.

Doesn't pass the smell test. At the very least the sanction seems disproportionate to the rule breach -- if there was one.

More details are needed, and will no doubt come out, but for now the optics are bad.

The only thing that can be said is that Johan -- who clearly stood out in Japan -- has at least another decade of title races ahead of him, and he doesn't seem like the kind of personality that gets phased by this kind of adversity. Wishing him all the best.

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boardsurfr said..
I thought it was an open "secret" that top level PWA wave sailors often competed on custom boards, which sometimes even were from completely different shapers, painted to match the brand looks. Or is this just a thing of the past?

For slalom, thats last century, before they insisted on production kit. For wave thats current, you can use a different custom for each event if you want to.

ps Every year when the new kit comes out you hear about all the changes which give fantastic performance gains. I doubt they are doing changes involving centimetres, it will be minor tweaks in millimetres.

Nope this stinks, he didn't use the sail... He didn't gain an advantage, whoever protested should feel pretty small right now.
If he gained an advantage my opinion would be different, but to DSQ after the last race of the season when he already has his hands on the title is piss poor.

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windsurftom said..
Nope this stinks, he didn't use the sail... He didn't gain an advantage, whoever protested should feel pretty small right now.
If he gained an advantage my opinion would be different, but to DSQ after the last race of the season when he already has his hands on the title is piss poor.

Agree, I think it may have been a few established sailors bitching that got him DSQ

That's racing in any top class. Protests and equipment checks are common and used by other competitors to gain an advantage.

it's up to teams and competitors to get this detail right. Tweak to the redline and not go over.

I just want to congratulate everyone collectively for...Not spelling batten as "battern" . Every time someone writes "battern" a gust of wind dies out just before it hits a windsurfer.

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Reflex Films said..
I just want to congratulate everyone collectively for...Not spelling batten as "battern" . Every time someone writes "battern" a gust of wind dies out just before it hits a windsurfer.

Gusty winds are mainly caused by the ongoing planning - planing malapropism

And light winds are caused by lightening which hopefully doesn't hit your sale. And then you can't plan.

Somethingk like that, anyways.

We are lucky if this kid comes back to the tour next year. I guess i would definitly quit and go to IQ, ifca and anything else.

It would be interesting to have a statement from point7 and from PWA.

I wonder what measurement they are refering to... Luff length or boom length printed on the sail and specsheet? or some very specific measurements like in sailboat classes.

I read somewhere the sail has been "modified", here it's the "measurements" that doesn't match (Is there a refence table with production tolerences ?)
This sounds like a very arbitrary verdict. Also this type of judgements on the rules sounds very weird in such a poor sport where teams and riders are miles away to being able have a lawyer to defend their case.

After the mess of the non-broadcast wave grand final, this is a pretty pathetic end of the contests season.

Sorry to say that, because on the other end, filming, broadcast and racing where really good !

What bothers me is the way they disqualified him, seeing Nico Prien's video he leaves the judges' room alone; he may be big and strong but he is just a 20 year old boy who has just finished high school and had to go alone in front a commission of several judges without a lawyer or at least his team principal to defend him. If it had happened to Iachino he would certainly have known how to defend himself and most likely Severne/Starboard were with him with their entire team to support him. I think I won't watch the PWA anymore and I say this as an Italian who is rooting for Iachino

Perhaps this is just one last effort of the old guard to get a slalom title. Johan Soe is just one of many examples where youngsters wo don't have to unlearn old windsurfing habits don't give the top windsurf racers with decades of experience a chance.

This is not the first time the PWA acts in such a peculiar fashion. When Kiri Thode came up in freestyle and threw down 2 or 3 times as many tricks as anyone else in a heat, they changed the rules to limit the number of tricks that count, and kept him from getting the world title a bit longer. This certainly looked like it was directed squarely at one guy back then - a young guy with crazy talent. If Kiri had trained as systematically as, say, Steven Van Broeckhoven, he would have dominated men's freestyle the same way Sarah-Quita dominates women's freestyle.

Johan Soe's result top finish is even more impressive if you consider that he had limited time for training, and missed one event, because he was finishing school. Many of the other top racers spend months every winter training in Canaries against other top racer (e.g. Michele Becker), or frequently train with national teams full of top-level riders. I think the only things that could keep Soe from dominating foil slalom in future years are distractions by olympic racing, and other young racers.

So many opinions and so few facts...

Sails are to be production with no modifications to the sail other than masts and battens, which are removable items. One of his registered sails was modified, which is a breach of the rules and a very clear breach of the intention of the rules. Sails from several competitors were impounded and inspected. Soe is the only one that had a modified sail.

Not sure how you can interpret this as the old guard protecting themselves. The old guard is enthused to have an injection of young talent to help raise the level.

Gutted for Johan

'Something Is Rotten in the State Of Denmark' - W. Shakespeare

A post on the PWA FB pages says a full statement will be issued shortly. Hopefully it will clear everything up, there is far too much speculation and allegations on social media, everywhere.

{2.5.3} Equipment Scrutinizing (SLALOM)
(a) Scrutinizing of equipment will be performed either by a PWA Representative, or any
member of the PWA Race Crew. A sailor must make his/her equipment available for
scrutinizing at any time whilst the event is in progress. Failure to present equipment for
scrutinizing may result in disqualification from the respective race or from the entire
discipline.
(b) Equipment used by sailors must meet all registered specification and shall not have
been modified in any way without prior approval from the protest committee. Modification
from the normal specification as delivered by the manufacturer shall not be permitted. For
the purposes of this rule, the addition of any extra tack or clew cringles or positions,
puncturing of the sail to allow any attachment to provide tension other than devices supplied
with the sail as standard or any other attachment or modification that is designed to alter the
shape or performance of the sail from the standard supplied configuration shall not be
permitted. For the avoidance of doubt, brochure / website specification and or the majority
specification of other identical items of equipment may be used as evidence of the standard
supplied specification by the protest committee.
(c) Batten types and tension, mast type and tension, adjustment of camber inducers
including sanding / filing and the addition of any spacers or other optional devices that are
supplied as standard for the adjustment of battens, masts or camber inducers, shall be
excluded from this rule and may be adjusted at the discretion of the sailor in question.
(d) Any sailor found to have been using equipment that has not been registered, or
equipment that does not meet the registered specification for that particular item of
equipment, including the conditions outlined above, shall be disqualified from the entire race
discipline for that event.
(e) If a sailor is in anyway unsure as to the legality of any modification or piece of
equipment, then they must seek and obtain permission to use that equipment, either from
the PWA in advance of the event, or from the protest committee, before using that item of
equipment. Otherwise they may be disqualified as described in the rules.

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jdfoils said..
{2.5.3} Equipment Scrutinizing (SLALOM)

(d) Any sailor found to have been using equipment that has not been registered, or
equipment that does not meet the registered specification for that particular item of
equipment, including the conditions outlined above, shall be disqualified from the entire race
discipline for that event.

as boardsurfr has already written this is the point, Soe says that he hasn't used the sail and I don't think it's very difficult to verify if this is true

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PhilUK said..
A post on the PWA FB pages says a full statement will be issued shortly. Hopefully it will clear everything up, there is far too much speculation and allegations on social media, everywhere.

The PWA facebook page says: "a full statement on the situation will follow in due course". I frankly have rarely seen something more arrogant and unprofessional than that. And this is the pinnacle of windsurfing racing?

We'll see what they say but I think that they are kind of out of their minds. PWA is already close to disappearing, they are close to not have enough entrants in the women races and men numbers are down significantly. Do they really need to blow up everything for a sail that was never used? and do so in the most obscure way?

In general terms, if you enter a sailing race then you have accepted the rules of that race.
If you then demonstrably break those rules and are disqualified you can have absolutely no complaints. None. Whatsoever.
The onus is on you, the competitor to ensure you and your equipment is compliant at all times, not the sailmaker, not the board builder nor anybody else. Mostly you won't be checked, so it is really important that competitors take their personal responsibility seriously. In this context disqualification is justifiable, you are being held to a high standard of integrity.

That said, the details matter. The details of the rules and the details of the breach. The rules MUST be clear and the breach must be demonstrable under those rules. Ambiguity or arbitrary variation by race organizers/classes are just as unacceptable as non compliance of the rules. Unfortunately in windsurf racing administration ambiguity and arbitrary has been normal for 40 years.

So the details will matter in this case, let's not rush to judgement without the facts being made clear.

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duzzi said..

Do they really need to blow up everything for a sail that was never used? and do so in the most obscure way?

Point 7 statement on instagram says about the sail that was "practically not even being used in Japan". Somewhere else I read that the sail was used in a race that was cancelled or something like that.
I was definitely rooting for Johan but am not sure the disqualification was done in an obscure way. Just because we don't know what actually happened it doesn't mean it was obscure. Johan and Point 7 know. Pretty sure most PWA and people involved with the race already know. We will know at some point. Rules are rules and nothing points to the rules being misapplied. so many people are really upset with the PWA and I think many of those will be happy if the PWA disappears. But I am pretty sure those same people won't do anything to replace it.


Still, I'm pretty bummed for Johan.

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WillyWind said..

duzzi said..

Do they really need to blow up everything for a sail that was never used? and do so in the most obscure way?

Point 7 statement on instagram says about the sail that was "practically not even being used in Japan". Somewhere else I read that the sail was used in a race that was cancelled or something like that.
I was definitely rooting for Johan but am not sure the disqualification was done in an obscure way. Just because we don't know what actually happened it doesn't mean it was obscure. Johan and Point 7 know. Pretty sure most PWA and people involved with the race already know. We will know at some point. Rules are rules and nothing points to the rules being misapplied. so many people are really upset with the PWA and I think many of those will be happy if the PWA disappears. But I am pretty sure those same people won't do anything to replace it.


Still, I'm pretty bummed for Johan.

Fair points. Does it seem a bit weird that they are limited to only production gear. Was that to stop an arms race? Or were manufacturers hoping regular joes will be looking for 500 cm front wings and go like bats out of hell on a broad reach until we blow up?

Is it possible that all this development of racing production gear, that I suspect sells in low quantities, is raising the prices of the gear we buy?

Precisely because of the PWA's own approach to rule enforcement (or rather, lack thereof), the bar for meting out a sanction of such seriousness should be set pretty high.

While more details should and hopefully will be provided soon, it seems difficult to argue at this point that that bar was met, both in terms of the substance of the breach (which clearly had no impact whatsoever on the results; the sail wasn't used in Japan, the only race for which he has been DSQ'd) and the process by which the decision was made (literally at the 11th hour, with at least questionable due process in light of the gravity of the decision).

If the PWA wants to have any credibility, they need to enforce their rules.

Doesn't matter if the sail was used. If it is a registered sail in the competition area, it needs to be compliant. (Otherwise race management would need to verify each sail every race, which is not a reasonable burden. )

The change to production gear was to slow the arms race and provide more equal opportunity for competitors.

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bel29 said..
Precisely because of the PWA's own approach to rule enforcement (or rather, lack thereof), the bar for meting out a sanction of such seriousness should be set pretty high.

While more details should and hopefully will be provided soon, it seems difficult to argue at this point that that bar was met, both in terms of the substance of the breach (which clearly had no impact whatsoever on the results; the sail wasn't used in Japan, the only race for which he has been DSQ'd) and the process by which the decision was made (literally at the 11th hour, with at least questionable due process in light of the gravity of the decision).

More good points. I am assuming this kind of post event gear investigation is rare?

Agree, they need to enforce their rules. All of them.

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jdfoils said..
So many opinions and so few facts...

Sails are to be production with no modifications to the sail other than masts and battens, which are removable items. One of his registered sails was modified, which is a breach of the rules and a very clear breach of the intention of the rules. Sails from several competitors were impounded and inspected. Soe is the only one that had a modified sail.

Not sure how you can interpret this as the old guard protecting themselves. The old guard is enthused to have an injection of young talent to help raise the level.

"Production' must be a pretty loose term... I can't imagine there are more than a couple of dozen challenger race sails in the world in some sizes

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windsurftom said..

jdfoils said..
So many opinions and so few facts...

Sails are to be production with no modifications to the sail other than masts and battens, which are removable items. One of his registered sails was modified, which is a breach of the rules and a very clear breach of the intention of the rules. Sails from several competitors were impounded and inspected. Soe is the only one that had a modified sail.

Not sure how you can interpret this as the old guard protecting themselves. The old guard is enthused to have an injection of young talent to help raise the level.

"Production' must be a pretty loose term... I can't imagine there are more than a couple of dozen challenger race sails in the world in some sizes

Probably some of the most expensive sails "produced" in the world