Personnel required

• A three-person Judging Panel including a Chief Judge and a Casting Distance Spotter.
• A Timer, who may also help the Chief Judge during the preliminary checking of the devices for rules compliance.
• A Recorder, who may serve with the timer and the judges to check-in and inspect the devices.
• An Impound Official to keep the devices secure after assembly, and to release them to the teams when their contest time comes up.

Equipment and Materials

• One 120 +/- 2 cm by 120 +- 2 cm (4' x 4') piece of 18-20 mm (3/4") thick  plywood for a “dock”.
• One 3/4" Schedule 40 steel pipe or metric equivalent (Outside Diameter is 1.05 in, or 26.7 mm), to be oriented vertically and attached  to the plywood “dock” via a pipe flange or other suitable support at the proper position, with the top end  open, unthreaded, uncapped, and at a height of 90 cm +/- 1 cm above the dock surface.
• One armless chair on “dock” to seat the contestant making the casts.
• One “Popular Mechanics” 16" tool box, product no. PM00983, or a 370mm x 165mm x 165 mm (inside dimensions) box to check the size of casting device, not including the Snoopy fishing pole.
• A digital stopwatch.
• One official “lure” (tailored sandbag, 20 gm, with a ring) to be obtained from the Regional Office.  Note that this will be brought to the contest site by the Regional Office.  It will not be available before then.  The Regional Office will also bring a spare lure for backup purposes.
• Three 20-cm diameter target circles on 28 cm square poster board (and clearly labeled “A”, “B”, and “C”) to be placed in the “pond” area after all entered casting devices have been impounded by the organizers.
• Masking tape to mark out the pond boundaries and casting zone.
• Round spot stickers to mark lure stopping position closest to target.
• Measuring tape at least 6 meters long to determine distances from “spotted” positions to designated targets.
• An opaque container with numbered slips of paper to determine running order of teams.
• At least one printed copy of the latest available contest rules and Q&A bulletins for use by the judging panel.   A sufficient number of scoring sheets should also be printed for the contest.
• A video recorder with output directed to TV monitors or to a projection device may be advisable for the convenience of the viewing audience
• Scoring sheets.  A MS Word scoring sheet is available at Y2001 Scoring Sheet

• The Regional Vice President should appoint the Judging Panel and Chief Judge prior to February 15, 2001, and report their names and email addresses to the Student Design Contest Committee Chair.
•  Timer(s), Impound Official, and a recorder should be appointed prior to the RSC.
• All personnel involved with the contest should read the problem statement and all Question & Answer bulletins very carefully.  Anything unclear or confusing should be discussed by the Judging Panel before the contest.
• The dock and mounting pipe should be positioned and the “pond” and casting area should be cleared well in advance of the contest starting time.
• An impound area for the devices should be designated and supervised by the Impound Official.

• The running order for the teams should be selected randomly (e.g., by having the teams pick numbers from a hat at the time they check in their device for inspection).
• The judges should have a pre-contest meeting with the contestants to discuss the contest rules and procedures and to answer any questions.
• Once all entered devices have been registered and impounded the judges will place the three targets at “randomly” chosen positions along the centerline through the casting area (“pond”).
• Note: the Chief Judge must be the only point of contact for any and all questions before or during the contest.   The Chief Judge may discuss questions with the judging panel before answering them. This will minimize the possibility of different teams getting different answers to the same questions.

• The first thing a team must do is check in with the Recorder to register the device and to pass a sizing inspection.
• Next a team must visit the Chief Judge (or someone designated by the Chief Judge) to show that all components, including motors and batteries, and all expected procedures, comply with the contest rules.  This can be done before the device is finally assembled.
• When the Chief Judge (or designated representative) has cleared the device for competition the team will be given an index card intitaled by the Chief Judge and indicating the latest time when the device must be presented to the Impound Judge.  That time will be one-half hour after the visit with the Chief Judge concludes.
• During the one-half hour setup and practice time the team may test and/or modify their system in any way they want, except that they may not actually cast a fishing line.  Casting with a lure of any kind attached during this period is grounds for disqualification.

• When each team is called it will be given one of the official sand-bag "lures".
• Following a starting signal from the Chief Judge, each team will place the pre-assembled device on the mounting pole, attach the sand-bag "lure" to the line, get their operator seated in the chair, and, if they wish, make their one practice cast and any adjustments.  This must be accomplished within three minutes or the team will be disqualified.
• The team will inform the judges of the order in which they will attempt their two casts to each of  the three targets.
• The timer will zero the stopwatch and, on indication from the Chief Judge, begin timing for the 6 minute casting period.
• After each cast, the judges will move into the casting zone to quickly mark the position of the closest point on the “lure” to the designated target.  The operator may then retract the lure and begin the next cast.
• After the team has completed the six casts or the six minute time period ends, whichever occurs first, the judges will measure the distances from the marked positions to the center of the intended target, and these will be recorded in cm.  The team will remove its device from the mounting pole.
• See the contest rules for applicable penalties and procedures should the lure or line break, or should the line tangle during the cast or rewind sequences.
• The next contest team will be called forward.
• The recorder will calculate and the judges will check the scores before posting the results.

•  The team with the lowest score wins.
• In case of a tie, the Judging Panel may select a winner from these based on “reliability” and “potential to succeed at the finals” as subjective measures.  A run-off may also be used at the discretion of the judges.
• Each Regional Vice President is encouraged to give special awards to teams for originality, aesthetic appeal, enthusiasm, etc.