Latest Seed List

Some examples to illustrate calculation - Scroll down for complete calculation description
a) Gigs - last event was Port Alfred 2022, placed 1st. So his particiaption factor is 5.1 as he skipped 1 year.  Calc (1 + 5.1 = 6.1)
b) Stevo - last event was JBay 2021, placed 4th. Particiaption factor is 7.6 as he missed 2 years. Calc (4+7.6 = 11.6)
c) Tom - participated in Lamberts 2023, placed 3rd. Participation factor is 0. Calc (3 + 0 = 3)

Seeding and why do we need it

Purpose of creating  a seed list is to try and establish a sequential list of the contestants according to their performance.
This is then used to draw the heats for the first round.
The point is to separate the contestants to avoid the top athletes competing against each other in the opening rounds of a contest.
If all contestants surf perfectly and win according to their seeding the final should consist of the 4 top seeds.

Note - seeding merely allocates the positions in the first round.

There are a variety of ways that seeding can be determined.
As we do not have regional contests or any other contests during the year we have to use the rankings from the previous SA Champs.
Often there are kneelos that cannot attend a contest and then we would end up with an incomplete seed list.

To try and make this seed list more accurate and a good representation based on ability and performance in SA Champs a
calculation method has been devised to include performance from previous years.

The last ranking at an SA Champs will be used with a participation factor applied.
If a contestant attended the previous champs that ranking will be applied, otherwise the last ranking will be used but
with a factor added to the ranking depending on the years skipped.

Seeding calculation

1. Seeding is started by using the rankings of the SA Champs of the previous year.

2. If a contestant did not participate in the previous year, the ranking of the last SA Champs that he/she participated in will be used with a participation factor for each year skipped.
   The participation factor will be added to the ranking achieved.
   Maximum events to be used will be 4 including the previous years ranking.
   
   
   

Years skipped        Participation Factor

1 5.1

2 7.6

3 10.1

Eg.
A contestant that placed 3rd at SA Champs but skipped a year will be ranked
3 + 5.1 = 8.1

3. If the contestant has never participated they will be unseeded and will be added at the end of the seeding list. 

4. This ranking list will be sorted and a seeding sequence nr will be allocated. 
   In the case of contestants having the same ranking , the most recent
   their sequence in this sub-group will be randomized using a standard random() function in excel.