C-Forum

I wonder how the new boats would do on a long course like this?

http://youtu.be/RbiLP59uTc8

Ahhhh. The good ol' days.

Wow. Very impressive... It seems like the larger course (more space between gates, bigger features) led to less "ballet-like" moves through the gates, versus London 2012, but perhaps that is just the change in style over 16 years more than the course.

Shep

I think the smaller courses are a product of economy - to build a bigger artificial course with more flow costs more. The Ocoee was sort of a real river - you had river-scale flow and an actual sized riverbed to alter.

That's about right, Scott. I understand the '89 Worlds on the Savage River was logistically a nightmare and crowd control was tough to monitor. Those who were there can speak up about that. It would be great if Scott W. was still hanging around this forum. He should know how much it cost to install the Ocoee course. It was not cheap. Probably in the same neighborhood as a world-class level artificial whitewater course. Back in the day, paddlers needed more strength and endurance strength to run those 1/2 mile long courses. But please do not take that as a knock on today's slalom racers. They train hard too. It's just different training on these shorter, tighter courses.

Wow, what a course!!

That boat was a cut down 92 fanatic .

That makes me wonder. The 92 Fanatic (Fanatic 2) is a Fanatic with more volume added to it specifically for the '92 Olympics. So my question is, does a cut-down 92 Fanatic revert back to being a Fanatic? Or was Martikan's Fanatic modified differently with the cut in the volume?

Okay, that was 2 questions.

KNeal wrote:He should know how much it cost to install the Ocoee course. It was not cheap.

Memory is fading, but I believe it was $6 Million to modify that half mile section of the upper Ocoee, put in the grandstands, athlete facilities, etc - There was a documentary that I cannot find anymore about the modeling work that was done before the first rock was moved. It was a fun stretch of river before the modifications - and just got bigger when they narrowed it up for the Olympics. Grumpy got downright sticky...

KNeal wrote:Or was Martikan's Fanatic modified differently with the cut in the volume?

Martikan's boat was based on the Fanatic, but he was only about 140 lbs at the time - so it was specially cut just for him