Code of Conduct for Canoe Racing

1. Keep off the bank except if permission has been granted.
2. Maintain friendly relations with landowners.
3. Do not litter. This includes removing boat wrecks.
4. Where applicable, pay the required entrance fees.
5. Wear a life jacket and paddle in small groups.
6. Do not disturb the natural fauna and flora.
7. Make sure you are registered with a club and GCU.
8. Get out of the water at prescribed points.
9. Always obey race marshals and officials instructions.

 
Download

• GCU's Complete Race Rules
  These include age categories, advertising and branding regulations in addition to competition regulations.
• Canoe South Africa's Rules

New Rules

• NEW QUALIFYING AND SEEDING RULES
  The new rules were passed at the CSA Executive meeting on 10th July. The new rules are below - read carefully and make sure you realize the ramifications. Basically - 1. Proficiency testing is as before. 2. CR and BR ratings have been combined. 3. K1's and K2's are treated equally. 4. A beginner requires 6 river races to get to AR and all the major races are now at least A Class. 5. For AR paddlers the points system is out. 6. All races will be seeded by using the National Ladder. 7. Your percentage on the national ladder degrades with time - so if you want a good seeding you will have to race a lot.
  Read on:-
  
  Proficiency and Race Qualification
  1. New paddlers are required to complete the Flatwater Proficiency Test before being permitted to enter any race. They are then required to complete a minimum of three Flatwater races or club time trials before completing the River Proficiency Test.
  2. The three Flatwater races or dices may be replaced by trips co-ordinated by the paddler's club Safety Officer. This is to be done at the discretion of and under the strict control of the signing Safety Office
  3. Once the paddler has passed the River Proficiency test they will become CBR rated and permitted to enter both C and B Class River races
  4. The paddler will then be required to complete six C or B Class river races within 175%, or a lower percentage to be decided upon by the Union Safety Officer, of winners time before attaining an AR rating and being permitted to enter A Class River race
  5. All testing is to be done by the Club or Union Safety Officers or their designated assistants. The tests as set out in the CSA Safety Booklet are to be strictly adhered to and conducted in a formal and responsible manner
  6. The signing Safety Officers signing the CBR proficiency must inform the new paddlers that it is advisable to do a balance of events graded from easy to difficult through the 6 races prior to the attaining of an AR rating. They should explain the dangers of B and A rivers and the need to progress and learn progressively on increasingly more difficult stretches of river. Paddlers should try not to rely only on easy C grade stretches for qualification and it is strongly recommended that paddlers do as some B river races as part of their 6 river qualification event
  7. AR rated paddlers must have completed a minimum of three A Class races before being permitted to enter A+ Class race
  8. A paddler will never loose their AR rating. After an absence of three years a CBR rated paddler will loose their race credits an have to complete all six C or B class races again before attaining an AR ratin
  9. In these rules the front and back paddlers in a K2 are treated equally. Only whole races count not each leg separately.
  RIVER SECTION RATINGS

  These are listed in Appendix A of the CSA Safety Booklet

  Notwithstanding these river section ratings the following races have an A Class rating:-

  Berg Marathon, Breede Marathon, Fish Marathon, Vaal Marathon, 50 Miler, Dusi Marathon, Drak Challenge. Orange River Marathon.

  And, the following races have an A+ Class rating:- Lowveld Croc Marathon, Umkomaas Marathon, Tugela Marathon, Ithala Challenge, Bushmans to Weenan Road, Hella-Hella to Josephines Bridge, Josephines Bridge to Riverside.

  SEEDING and BATCHING
  1. In SA River Championships, and other major events where applicable, the starting arrangements should be made to suite the venue and the circumstances in consultation with the CSA Marathon Chairman. When considered appropriate or when the numbers dictate the Junior classes can be started separately. The ladies should always be started separately in a way which will not allow assistance to be gained from other classes. If necessary the rule which prevents riding the wave of boats in other classes can be enforced [Dec02]
  2. Seeding and batching for SA River Championships and all other races where seeding or more than one start batch is required must be done using the National Grading System for K1s and K2s.. This must be updated after every event and published in all CSA media, including the CSA website, and any other relevant websites.
  Using the Grand Prix events as the base an initial National Ladder be established. Any paddler who did no GP races in the year prior to setup will start at 175%.
  1. The ladder will be used very strictly to batch day 1 of all races where batching is required. This ladder will be based on the paddlers percentage of the winners time averaged over his best three results, or his only three results or only two results or only result in the year prior to the establishment date.
  2. In the case of K2’s, each paddler in the combination will take the same percentage as his/her personal percentage on the ladder. There will be no separate K1 and K2 ladders. However, K1 and K2 race percentages are considered separately.
  3. When a K2 enters a race the individual ladder percentages will be averaged to get the combinations percentage for seeding or batching purposes.
  4. Each race percentage earned will degrade as follows – 1st 30 days = 1%, 2nd 30 days 2%, 3rd 30 days 3%, 4th 30 days 4%, 5th 30 days and thereafter 5% every 30 days.
  5. All races all around the country will be used in the updating of the National Ladder updated on a weekly basis.
  6. If the race is a GP event the results in the main class will stand as they come. However if the race is not a GP event or the class is not the main one in a GP race the winning boat’s starting percentage will be the ceiling for percentages in that race and all other results will be relative to it.
  7. In the case of a race with a restricted entry all the entries will be placed on a ladder created from the National Ladder percentages and priority given to acceptance from the top down. Rejected entries will have their entry fee refunded.
  8. The only cases where manipulation of the batching is allowed is in the case of visiting paddlers and the final seeding within the first batch at races and where seeding trials are held for the starting positions within the first batch.
  9. If a paddler wishes to drop a race from their National Ladder calculation for sweeping or beginner assistance reasons they may apply to the race organizer to be classed as a sweep. If this is acceptable, that race will not count as a grading race. All designated sweeps will be excluded from the grading.