Scott Forrest's Legends Foundation Blog is turning out to be a real goldmine of information for competitive tree climbers!
Last week Matt Palmer and Tim Lovejoy caused a bit of a stir with their comments at the South Island Regional TCC when they suggested the industry's Aerial Rescue skills were not up to scratch.
It could be argued Matt and Tim were mixing two messages on Aerial Rescue; one to the competitive climbers and one to the industry as a whole (as picked up by Thoughtplanters)
Of course, the Aerial Rescue debate has been going on for some time.
Plenty of climbers, and for that matter spectators, feel there is a lack of balance between education and competition (entertainment) when it comes to the AR event at a comp.
From a competitive point of view the Aeriel Rescue event has drifted away from reality.
Non-competitive tree climbers often say, while observing the AR event, "just get the bugger down for Christ's sake!". But there is more to it than that - there are points to be gained in doing it the 'right way' which, in some cases, flies in the face of common sense.
Neal Harding, the author of yesterdays AR post on 'Legends' had this to say about world champ Bernd Strasser's AR at the worlds in Portland "If you rode in on a winged horse and rescued the climber with the power of your mind you might get thirty five points" (out of fifty).
Obviously Neal's own statement set him 'a thinking.
Head over to the Legends Foundation website and have a read of their latest blog post 'A conversation about Aerial Rescue'.
Neal raises some interesting questions… and offers a few answers. He even explains the meaning of the terms Alacrity, Safety and Efficacy!
Dale Thomas performing his Aerial Rescue at the 2012 NZ Arbor/Husqvarna Auckland Regional TCC back in March (as referenced by Neal in his AR article).
