Tracy&James | Sunday, 10 March 2024
Since arranging the BFCC 2024 Calendar, we have discussed running a virtual championship with Chris Baty from Australia. During previous years, James and I have often virtually entered the casting comps that Chris runs in Geelong and members of his club have virtually entered the BFCC competitions. So James and Chris have been discussing running a virtual championship between the UK and Australia. We're ready to announce and publicise it, so why not start with this Sexyloops FP.
The '2024 Casting Ashes' will be run on the same dates as some of the BFCC Meetings:
-
May 12th (Sunday), June 23rd (Sunday), September 7th (Saturday) & October 5th (Saturday)
-
4 Events cast between Australia and UK. 5 disciplines cast at each event to be #5 Distance, #7 Distance, T38, T120 & Accuracy.
-
Rules to be as per BFCC online rules. Casting can be done at the official nominated venue or distance disciplines may be filmed at any location within the country and submitted before end of day. Accuracy discipline must be cast at official nominated venue only.
-
Top 5 casters from each country will be placed in order and given a score for place; 1st place scores 1, second place 2 etc. 5 casters’ place scores are added together and lowest score wins that discipline and that country is awarded a point for winning that discipline. In the event a draw is reached in a discipline then both countries will be awarded a point.
-
Country with the most points at end of the day wins the Day. In the event of a draw on the day then a tally will be made for total place scores for each of the 5 top casters per discipline and the Country with lowest points wins the day and earns the Event point for the Day.
-
Ashes is won by the team with most Event points. In event of a draw a tally will be made of the total discipline points and the team with the highest tally wins the ashes.
-
To promote casting as a sport and to encourage maximum participation, casters do not need to be a member of any official casting club.
I don't whether this means the losing team has to burn a carbon fibre rod to create the ashes. If I get a choice I propose it'll be the T38 – I really hate that event.
James has also been busy fly tying and we now have a good selection of bonefish flies with weedguards ready for the holiday, though he still has to tie some garfish flies. He's going to use the silkhooks that should have been delivered before our previous trip but were actually posted whilst we were away.
I have been practising my saltwater casts primarily focusing on back casts into the wind so I am hoping that I'm ready for quick shots for when I spot bones. I'd estimate that an upwind backcast probably accounts for getting on for 50% of the deliveries I make whilst flats fishing, so it's important that I can hit targets with it. This weekend, we have also cast a few more Celestial lines from Steve; the new S55g long which is really for calm conditions, but we tried it in a bit of a breeze today just to see how it went, and we've also got some Comet lines to try out on the flats in a couple of week's time.
Whatever you do this weekend, enjoy.
Cheers
Tracy