WORLD
TOURNAMENT COUNCIL MEETING
Linz, Austria
August 27, 2007
PRESENT
Bob Corson Chair and Region Pan Am
Jeffry Armstrong Region Pan Am
Peter Person Region Pan Am
Stefan Rauchenwald Region EAME
Gillian Hill Region EAME
Thomas Ludwig Region EAME
Gavin Brain Region A A - Substitute
Murray Eade Region A A
Bruce Cockburn Region A A
Ron Fergusson Region A A
Kyle Eade Athletes
Commission – late arrival
Jim Grew Disabled
Commission Observer
Bob
welcomed all to the meeting. Kyle Eade
attended as the Athlete representative.
As his arrival was delayed, some items were moved in the agenda to be
sure that he was present for them.
A CD with
the resource material for the meeting was made available to all members.
As the items for the
Agenda had been submitted by the three Regions and the AAC as well as input
from individuals these minutes have been prepared (as much as is possible) to
group together the discussions and changes to the different events. This means the minutes are not in the
chronological order of discussion.
1. General Items
1.1 World Senior Championships instead of a
Trophy
The USA had
written a letter requesting Championship status for the World Seniors.
As many
countries are now participating, it seems appropriate that the status be
upgraded to Championships. There was a
concern that the word “senior” would not clearly delineate it from the “open” Championships. The TC agreed to propose to the EB a new
Championship - The World Veteran Championships.
1.2 Entry Qualification List for
U21
World U21
Championships will use the May 2007 Ranking List.
1.3
Internet Discussion and vote mechanism
The TC
members are generally in favour of this mechanism and Bob will fix it to only
send a reminder when someone has posted a comment rather than daily
reminders.
It was
noted that if a vote is called for then votes must be cast by the deadline,
even if the member is abstaining.
1.4 5 minute rest after 2 re-rides.
EAME
suggestion is that once a seeded situation arises the 5 minute break has to be
waited out in order not to change the seeded order. Actually agreed that if the skier gets a rest then the time is
waited out and no other skiers are taken in the interim.
Rule
Changes as follows:
Rerides must be taken no later than five minutes after they are granted and
may be taken immediately at the option of the contestant (cf. 14.14
for slalom rerides and 13.15
for jumping rerides). If the contestant elects to take a five-minute rest,
the next contestants in order shall ski, and the reride shall be taken at the
conclusion of the skier's run during which the five- minute rest period
expires.
14.14
If there are more than two (2) rerides, the skier shall have the option of requesting a five-minute rest before continuing. The rest time will not be allowed to affect the skiing order if it is seeded or in the finals of a major tournament.
13.15
If there are more than two (2) rerides, the skier shall have the option of asking for a five-minute rest before continuing. The rest time will not be allowed to affect the skiing order if it is seeded or in the finals of a major tournament.
1.5 Rulebook
Hyperlinks – Bob will distribute the Rule book as a zipped
file which will put all the hyperlinks
into the local computer. There were
issues with only having the complete rulebook available on the internet.
2. Slalom
2.1 Backup Timer
Agreed to take out “Back Up timer” from the Slalom and Jump Additional Rules chart. Not used any more.
2.2 Use
of Optional slalom video judging
There was discussion on the procedural aspects of 17.03 b) and the rule was modified to delineate a clear procedure.
17.03 b)
When boat video is used, the boat
video may be monitored on the tower by another judge who will advise the Chief Judge if he
disagrees with the event judges decision. In
which case the Chief Judge and the review judge will again review the tape to
determine which score is correct.. If
they both agree on a score, that will
be the given score. If they disagree or agree that the video does not clearly
overrule the score given by the judges, then that score will stand.
This is a separate optional
rule and may be used with 3 or 5 judges or not be used at all. (2002)
2.3 Boat based pole
mounted gate camera
An
experimental technology was tried using a pole mounted camera in the boat as a
substitute for the currently used gate cameras. At this moment in time it is not good enough to use in isolation,
therefore it is not acceptable as a replacement to gate video. However, it was decided in our follow-up
meeting that the pole mounted camera could be used in conjunction with normal
gate cameras to get the view that allows the most accurate result.
2.4 New Slalom scoring rule discussion
There has
been a lot of correspondence on this issue.
The TC agreed to return to old slalom scoring rule if that is what the
athletes really want since the change was their request.
No change
for the current World Championships.
Currently we have deferred our decision until after the skiers meet and
make recommendations. It is our
understanding that the skiers in their on-site meeting did not reach consensus
regarding this rule. We are waiting for
further input from the AAC
2.5 Notes on the use of Shock
Tubes
SHOCK TUBES
are mandatory and MUST be used.
3.1 Equipment repair in tricks
There is no additional
time given for equipment repair in tricks.
This will be specifically noted in the rule to avoid confusion.
15.08:
Proceeding through the two trick passes (2007)
The boat shall follow as
closely as possible the path specified by the Judges for the event, such path
to include the preparation time before each pass. The second pass shall be in
the opposite direction from the first pass. A skier may neither return to pick
up a dropped ski nor add a second ski between passes.
If the
skier falls during or at the end of the first pass he will receive a maximum of
30 seconds in which to be ready to be taken by the boat for his second pass.
If the
skier did not fall during or at the end of the first pass he may ask the boat
to be stopped between passes for a maximum of 45 seconds.
In each
case the time shall start when the boat gets to the skier.
In each case the skier is allowed to
change equipment but must be in the water ready to go within the appropriate
time frame or he loses the right to his second pass. (2007)
There is no additional time given for any repairs to equipment.
If a skier refuses to
enter the course under the provision in Rule 15.01,
and he is not ready when the boat returns for him, he shall be considered as
having fallen.
3.2 Start of the trick course
With the
use of boat mounted video for timing, it is sometimes difficult to judge the
start buoy of the trick course since the buoys are off to the side of the path
of the boat an unspecified distance.
The trick couse will change to a pair of gate buoys that the boat will
go through and the skier will start his run after passing the gate buoys. The skier will execute all out of course preparatory
turns before reaching the gate buoys.
The trick course will remain approximately the same length with
flexibility to allow the use of existing buoys.
The gate
can be approximately 2.5-4.0 m wide and the length between the gates can be
200-260m. The pre-start buoy can be
50-55m.
The skier
has the responsibility to start within approximately 15m after the gate. If the skier delays the start and that
causes the boat to have to turn or stop before his run is complete then that is
the responsibility of the skier and no reride will be awarded.
Specific
Rule wording:
Two sets of buoys approximately 200 meters apart shall establish the approximate area of the beginning of the trick pass from each direction (see Diagram 3). The boat shall pass through the entrance gate. The end of the pass shall be signified by the 20-second time interval only.
Positional tricks at the start of a pass must be
done before the entrance gate.
After passing the approximate
position of the entry gates the beginning of the trick pass shall begin:
c. It is the skiers responsibility to
start his pass within 15 metres after the entry gate buoys. Re-rides will not be granted for reasons
caused by a skiers late start.
3.3 Use of Video
15.11
For L&R tournament scores over
6000 for women and 8500 for men, boat video will be mandatory from 1st November
2006. (2006)
Agreed that
15.11 and 15.15 need completely revising to say what we want.
No back up
video needed from shore – record in the boat camera as back up to live
transmission.
3.4 PP Parameter Adjustment
KD value in
Tricks
KD value
can be changed before each pass. It
says so under Rule 10 with the link.
3.4 Boat Judge
Add Boat
Judge – Region standard to the Additional Rules chart.
15.11
A Boat Judge may ride in
the boat to check speeds and observe the boat path. The Chief Judge may designate the boat driver as the Boat Judge
in the event that a TV or Video camera is operated from the boat. The
driver shall be designated as the Boat Judge when the official video is taken
from the boat.
If the boat judge feels the skier is entitled to a
re-ride for any reason he will communicate all the necessary information to the
event judges who shall make the decision.
Personnel to fill secondary positions shall be selected by the Chief Judge
from among other experienced Judges and Officials in attendance. Wherever
possible, Officials filling complementary positions (for example, boat driver
and boat timer, top and bottom meter readers, etc.) should be of different
nationalities. Boat Judges in Tricks should be chosen from among the Appointed
Judges or from other first-class Judges in attendance.
3.4 Trick List
15.13 c
& d remove completely
3.5 Use of 2 skis
15.18
The boat shall follow as closely as possible the path specified by the
Judges for the event, such path to include the preparation time before each
pass. The second pass shall be in the opposite direction from the first pass. A
skier may not
return to pick up a dropped ski. nor
add a second ski between passes.
In each case the skier is allowed to change or repair equipment
but must be in the water ready to go within the appropriate time frame or he
loses the right to his second pass. (2007)
3.6 Reverse Tricks
15.19
A reverse trick must immediately follow the basic turn in the same pass; however, any type of 180º turn is allowed between two such turns. The reverse shall not be disallowed simply because it follows an attempted trick which has not been credited or because the basic trick is a repeated trick.
The TC examined the idea that we might allow a pull round and another 1 to get back into position so that if a skier lost the correct position but went back to it, he could still do the reverse as the next trick.
However, a post meeting ballot confirmed that there would be no change.
4. Jump
4.1 A jumper may use his own rope with or without spectra
The skier may supply his own rope
under his own responsibility which may be any combination of
"Spectra" rope and / or normal rope (per 10.04 a). The skier must get the line checked by
the homologator prior to skiing.
4.2 Correction to non-maximum speed chart
Agreed that
the 2nd segment time for the non maximum speed is ignored.
If the speed chosen is below the maximum, and the 1st segment time is out of tolerance, the contestant shall have the option of a reride as long as the maximum speed tolerance was not exceeded, in which case the reride is mandatory.
If the speed chosen is below the maximum, the second segment time is ignored, except if maximum speed tolerance was exceeded, in which case the reride is mandatory – see chart.
4.3 Jump Speeds and Course
JUMP TIMING
The TC has
received a large amount of study material on this subject. The base information was supplied by the
AWSA Towboat Study Committee and Perfect Pass.
Several major tournaments had full recorded speed and timing information
on all jump passes.
The problem
we have seen and are trying to solve is that the acceleration to the ramp is
not adequately controlled by the current timing course. We have seen that a boat can come in quite
slow and accelerate very signifigantly and still have a good time. This can lead to unfair competition and also
different rides for skiers of different weights.
This
analysis leads to an entirely different system of control and thinking about
how the event is conducted. Up to now,
the driver was always considered wholly responsible for the time achieved by
the boat. In fact, the skier’s choice
of letter also has significant effect on the time unless corrected in some way
by the driver who is striving to get the correct time. These corrections can lead to different
rides between skiers.
We need to
acknowlege that the skier bears responsibility for some of what is happening by
choosing the letter.
The concept
of the analysis was to capture what the current fair practice is and then put
in place a system to regulate and control that.
The system
that is a result of this analysis is to add new timing segments of 52m and 30m
by splitting the current 82m first segment.
The 52m segment is mostly during the “glide” portion of the jump pass
and thus the speed should not vary much and be close to the defined speed for
the event (or the speed selected by the skier). The 30m segment represents the cut toward the ramp where the
skier loads the boat and the boat adds power and in fact ends up accelerating
when the skier is in the second phase of the cut. The driver’s main goal is to ensure that the 52m segment is as
close to the recommended time as possible.
These
segments were analysed against current practice and for 57kmph Open Men’s jump
and determined that the speed change should not be greater that 4kmph and that
the maximum speed as the boat passes the MT buoy should not exceed 61kmph. Based on a model, times were calculated and
matched against real tournament results.
Most of the passes that were OK under the old system were also OK under
the new system. However, some passes
were out of tolerance in the new system.
These passes typically were where the boat was coming in significantly
slower in the glide portion and accelerating more in the cut section. In the old system, all of the times were
good although analysis revealed that quite different rides were being given on
some passes.
Most passes
had speed changes of 4kmph or less, but a few had speed changes up to 7kmph
giving a clearly different ride. These
passes were OK under the current system, but shown as fast times under the new
system showing that the new method will ensure fairer competition by making
sure that the rides are not only similar in average speed but also similar in
acceleration.
Another
aspect of the new system is that the times will be set as conditional between
the two segments. A certain time in the
52m segment will allow a certain range in the 30m segment. This allows the pass speed to be controlled
to the desired parameters.
Here is a
preliminary typical chart for 57kmph
Speed |
52m
time |
30m
range allowed |
|
58 |
3.23 |
1.87 |
1.83 |
|
3.24 |
1.87 |
1.83 |
|
3.25 |
1.88 |
1.84 |
|
3.26 |
1.88 |
1.84 |
|
3.27 |
1.89 |
1.85 |
57 |
3.28 |
1.89 |
1.85 |
|
3.29 |
1.89 |
1.85 |
|
3.30 |
1.90 |
1.85 |
|
3.31 |
1.91 |
1.86 |
|
3.32 |
1.91 |
1.87 |
|
3.33 |
1.92 |
1.87 |
56 |
3.34 |
1.93 |
1.87 |
Similar
charts will be made for the other selectable speeds in jumping.
The wording
in the rules will be modified to fit the new system.
Kyle
suggested that in the interim while we are sorting this out, that the driver
must change the skier letter to sort out hot times not adjust the base
settings. Also the base to be set up at
5.18 not slower. Wind and current
changes can be needed but these are separate from the skier letter.
The
reference to constant speed in jumping will be changed to reflect the actual
practice.
N.B. After
the meeting speed control manufacturers were contacted with the exact
details. The Manufacturers had
representatives and input on the American Water Ski Association Committee where
aspects of these changes were introduced.
The AWSA Committee acted as an advisory board to the IWSF Tournament
Council and the TC wishes to gratefully acknowledge that input as an important
part of the process in arriving at an improved method for regulating the jump
event.
5. Issues
5.1 Overall Records
16.05a
Revert to
old rule but use the current overall World record scores as the basis.
Clarification
based on post meeting ballot is that we will revert to the Rule used in the
2005 Rulebook.
Overall Event Record Base Scores
Slalom Trick Jump
Men 1@9.75 11680 67.8
Women 1@10.25 8580 50.5
5.2 Calendar Clashes
No solution
agreed on the issue of the EAME Championships clashing with Elite tournaments. In the second meeting the goal was set to
come up with definitive proposals on this issue.
5.3 Slalom times – interior buoys.
Only the
end times were narrowed but some felt the whole chart should have been adjusted
and tightened. No change at this time
5.4 Choosing Jump boats
Kyle
requested the rule 10.01 to be changed to allow skiers to choose their boat for
slalom and jump. This was left
unchanged. Competitions must still
apply to the Tournament Council Chairman to get permission.
5.5 Approved Boat Use Policy
Understood
that non approved boats can be used for L & R tournaments provided they
meet the spec laid down in the rules.
5.6 World Games
2009 in
Kaoshong Taiwan at a site that we are seriously concerned about in terms of water
conditions. Generally agreed the
benefits of participation outweighed the bad water. We should try to be there.
5.7 ZERO OFF
Zero Off is
a new speed control system based on GPS.
GPS has a positional accuracy of 1 – 1.5 metres. However, in the doppler mode GPS gives a
very accurate speed between two fixed points.
The system controls speed not rpm.
Being based on GPS, no magnetic buoys are required.
For jump,
they have had to bump the speed up when the skier cuts to emulate the currently
delivered standard ride.
The system
is provisionally approved by AWSA but
for this year must have a magnetic buoy timing system as well so the judge can
check accuracy. AWSA will review this
at the end of the season.
A top
female skier had written to the TC complaining that the system was unfair, but
other athletes have had no issues with it at all. Her concerns were forwarded to the manufacturer. The system is
different, yes, and might take some getting used to but her letter was the only
formal communication received about the system. The Chairman reported in the additional meeting that there were
some concerns raised by some skiers.
However, it should be noted that the system is meeting all technical
requirements.
Speed
Control Parameters Chart
Zero Off must
provide us with this information. The Chairman contacted them and was advised
that there is a skier selectable A, B, and C parameter that provides different
ride style, but does not affect the time.
5.7
Ranking List
EAME has
asked again for consideration of a WBW ranking list – to run as a trial
alongside the performance based lists for a couple of years.
In the
additional meeting, a list of issues for the current system as well as the two
proposed systems (WBW and Placement based) was presented. These issues will be addressed by a
committee to be convened by the Chairman.
Recommended for the committee, Bob Corson, Emmanuel Lion and an
Asian-Australasian representative.
5.8 Gate
Camera Height
This issue
was raised for the additional meeting as a question if there was a requirement
for the gate camera height. It has been
assumed that the camera would be placed in an elevated position to meet the
requirements as if it were a judge. A
point was raised that perhaps a lower view might provide for better
judging. No action at this time. This could be tried experimentally with
permission.
5.9
Protected Score
An issue
was raised regarding protected score on tournament supplied equipment failure
or officials error reride.
6. Records
6.1 Freddy Krueger
Now we have
analysed all the speeds we are in a better position to judge this
situation. Max speed 60.4 at the MT
with a swing of 3.9k which would fall inside the new tolerances we are about to
set.
Approved.
74.2 metres
at the McCormick November 5th 2006.
6.2 Jamie Beauchesne Slalom
Without the
end of course video there is no record to approve.
The whole
TC was very disappointed with this issue – there was a total failure by the
organisation to make sure the performances were recorded.
If this
happens then offer the skier a protected score re-ride to see if he can do it
again.
7. Final Business
7.1 Election
Bob
re-elected as Chairman unanimously.
7.1 Follow-on meeting
A further
meeting on Saturday to finalise the outstanding issues. Notes from that meeting have been integrated
into these minutes.