We are staying optimistic that by November social distancing rules will be relaxed allowing us once more to mingle on the dancefloor. So please reserve Saturday 20th November in your diaries. The venue will once again be the Hilton Northampton where we held the very successful and enjoyable event in November 2019. We will provide much more information once we can be sure that it will be able to take place.
We will not be developing our British Calendar after mid February when Covid-19 restrictions may be a little clearer. But the dates for a number of European and World events are already known and we have established that the Combined British National Championships will be scheduled for week ending 15th August at Oxford Wake and Ski.
We all hope that by the second half of 2021 it will be safe for these to go ahead.
• 22/07 – 25/07 E&A 2021 Open : Agrino, Greece
• 31/07 – 02/08 E&A 2020 U14 Champs : Sesena
• 31/07 – 02/08 E&A 2021 U14 Champs : Sesena
• 03/08 – 05/08 E&A 2020 U17 Champs : Sesena
• 03/08 – 05/08 E&A 2021 U17 Champs : Sesena
• 06/08 – 08/08 E&A 2020 U21 Champs : Sesena
• 06/08 – 08/08 E&A 2021 U21 Champs : Sesena
12/08 – 15/08 British Nationals – Oxford Wake & Ski
• 22/08 – 29/08 World 2020 U17 : Pickos Lakes, Florida
• 22/08 – 29/08 World 2021 U21 : Pickos Lakes, Florida
• 02/09 – 05/09 E&A 2021 35+ : Ravenna, Italy
• 13/09 – 19/09 World 2020 35+ : Baurech, France
• 11/10 – 17/10 World 2021 Open : Jack Travers, Florida
All competitors who have held a British Tournament Licence in the last three years and who were members of BWSW in 2020 should have received an invitation to register on the new EMS System. If you intend to compete in Rankings List events in 2021 you will also need to purchase the new IWWF Licence through EMS. This is now live and the links below will give you all the information you need to know.
You will also need a British Tournament Competitors Licence and as already announced any Licences paid for in 2020 will be valid for 2021. The price of a British Licence has not been increased for some years and remains the same for 2021. A reminder about this will be emailed to all competitors later in the year.
It is not necessary to purchase either Licence at this time and of course you can wait until we have a calendar.
It is now two months since Woody died in a tragic accident in the USA and the shock of his loss is still felt by his many friends and family. The recent BWSW Magazine contained a tribute to Woody and his passionate involvement in our sport. Last May Anny Wooldridge interviewed him for a magazine article and parts of this were published as part of the tribute. But the link below will take you to the full interview and anyone reading it will get a real flavour of what Michael was about.
The final draw of the 2020 FoT 200 Club Lottery has taken place and the video can be seen by clicking the link below.
So for those of you that have not watched the video here are the list of prize winners:
1st No. 51 £451.75 Karine Emmett
2nd No. 66 £338.81 Sylvia Philips
3rd No. 165 £225.88 Chris Singleton
4th No. 58 £112.94 Dan Brooks
The December Draw completes four years of FoT and the 200 Club Lottery. We have had 158 prizes that have been won by 78 different ticket holders.
The gross amount raised by FoT including the Lottery, donations and other fundraising activities is £145,028 and after lottery prizes this amounts to £104,380 of disposable funds.
The principle remains that 50% of the income will support our elite Teams and 50% various Development activities.
This year we have not spent the amount we originally expected due to Covid-19 cancelling and delaying competitions but if normal service is resumed for 2021 we have a planned budgeted spend of £53,000. The good news is that thanks to the generosity of all the Friends of Tournament we have a war chest of around £50,500 as we start the year. This means that the most of the money we raise in 2021 will give us a good start to 2022.
Despite the restrictions we faced in 2020 we did manage to run a number of successful Development Days and some Youth Squad Training Days. We have also purchased a number of trick skis that are available to loan to new aspiring trickers until they “find their feet”.
So thank you once again to everyone who supports FoT and please encourage your friends or Waterski Club to sign up for the Lottery.
The IWWF Event Management System will change the way in which we organise and run events starting in 2021.
Here is the latest EMS Newsletter which is particularly important for Event Organisers and Scorers.
There is also an update on the new IWWF Competitors licence which all skiers taking part in Rankings List events from next year will need to have and which can be accessed via EMS. This is an additional licence and does not replace the British Licence which will continue. The cost of the British licence has not been increased for a number of years and there will be no increase for 2021.
Active Athletes and Officials have already been invited to register on the EMS system in readiness for next season. So if you have had an invitation please ensure that you take a few minutes to register.
We will not be developing our British Calendar until early next year but the dates for a number of European and World events are already known. We all hope that by the second half of 2021 it will be safe for these to go ahead.
• 22/07 – 25/07 E&A 2021 Open : Agrino, Greece
• 31/07 – 02/08 E&A 2020 U14 Champs : Sesena
• 31/07 – 02/08 E&A 2021 U14 Champs : Sesena
• 03/08 – 05/08 E&A 2020 U17 Champs : Sesena
• 03/08 – 05/08 E&A 2021 U17 Champs : Sesena
• 06/08 – 08/08 E&A 2020 U21 Champs : Sesena
• 06/08 – 08/08 E&A 2021 U21 Champs : Sesena
• 22/08 – 29/08 World 2020 U17 : Pickos Lakes, Florida
• 22/08 – 29/08 World 2021 U21 : Pickos Lakes, Florida
• 02/09 – 05/09 E&A 2021 35+ : Ravenna, Italy
• 13/09 – 19/09 World 2020 35+ : Baurech, France
• 11/10 – 17/10 World 2021 Open : Jack Travers, Florida
The November Draw took place during the Tournament Committee meeting last week.
FoT has now generated over £100,000 net of Lottery prize money since its beginning in January 2017.
For 2021 if Covid allows some return to normality we will have more World and European events to support than normal and with more development days and other initiatives we have a provisional budget of around £54,000. So please encourage your friends and perhaps your club to sign up.
There were 143 balls in the bag for November.
The winners are:
1st no 77 £464.75 Emma Whaling
2nd no 3 £348.56 Vince Turp
3rd no 7 £232.38 John Phillips
4th no 99 £126.19 Peter Davies
FoT 200 Club November Prize Draw
Congratulations to them and a big thank you to everyone who supports FoT.
And the winners are:
1st No 43 Witt Gamski – £464.75
2nd No 73 Alan Farndon – £348.56
3rd No 3 Vince Turp – £232.38
4th No 76 David Wrennall – £116.19
The EMS Project Team have published their Newsletter #6 with updated information on:
How to run a competition with EMS?
Task of the Scorer in EMS and the Scoring System
Further EMS functionalities in preparation
All competitions will be registered and run through EMS starting in 2021. So it is important that Athletes, Officials and Competition Organisers become familiar with the system. In the next few weeks all Athletes who have had a competition licence in the last three years and are current members of BWSW together with all current Officials will receive an email invitation to register on the EMS system. They already have a personal profile in the system but will be able to update this profile, correct any errors and add information and a photo. In 2021 entry to events on the EMS Calendar will be done directly within EMS. The new newsletter can be accessed and downloaded on the following link.
The Tournament Committee met today via Zoom. Normally we invite clubs to register Competition dates on the Team Up calendar during October and finalise the calendar at our annual Forum in November. Given the current uncertainty with no dates being finalised for some European and World events in 2021 we have decided to postpone the Calendar creation and Forum (possibly a virtual one using Zoom) until early next year.
In the meanwhile we would hope that Organising Clubs will give thought to running events next year even if the Covid-19 protocols remain in place. We of course hope that there will be a full calendar next year.
