Thanks to Vera Van Den Bossche and the E & A Racing Council, below is the Official E & A racing calendar for 2011 (updated 11 Dec 2010).

Ann and Brian Eastwood are delighted and thrilled to announce the safe arrival of their grandson Harry David Thomas Eastwood born 11pm 1st December weighing 8lb 13oz.

A wonderful baby boy for the proud parents, Damon and Joanna.

Congratulations to former international racer Damon, Joanna & the proud grandparents.

e.SKI is a new Australian initiative by inSPORTmedia in association with Ski Racing Australia and 321Ignition Magazine to bring you the latest news and results from the big Classic ski racing events.

“2011 Robinvale Ski Race Information Sheets and Entry Form can now be downloaded from the SRV web site. Please note that the Social Class Race (Classes 21-34) will be limited to the first 140 entries received. Entries can be posted, scanned and emailed or faxed.”

• Send via mail to P.O. Box 1005, Echuca, 3564
• Scan and Email to: srvsecretary@gmail.com (credit card payment only)
• Fax to (03) 9756 7988 (credit card payment only)

ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY Saturday 29th January

Rob Storum has shared this selection of sensational shots from Australia’s 2nd Grand Prix round.

Brad Dutton reports on the 2010 installment of the Rollo’s Marine Yamaha Bridge to Bridge Water Ski Classic. He said, “it was an eventful and exciting weekend for all involved”.

Rob Storum has shared these photos from the 2010 Bridge to Bridge in NSW Australia.

The MWSC Committee have made a decision last night to postpone the 2010 Barrie Beehag due to the high river and further rain expected.
Race will be postponed to a date YET to be decided, BUT WILL BE AFTER the 2011 Southern 80.

If we don’t hear from you, we will assume you want your entry held over. Substitutions will be possible and a new draw will be done. All refunds requested will be processed next week. If you wish to wait till we confirm the date, a refund will still be available then.
Please send either an email or Fax to request Refund.
If a refund is requested and you then decided to enter again, Entry position is not guaranteed.

Betty McCoomb
Secretary
Moama Water Sports Club.
Ph 0354806754
secretary@southern80.com.au
www.southern80.com.au

Wade Bennett has made up these two movies of all of the action from the 2010 Feros Hotels Sydney Bridge to Bridge Ski Race.

The recent Cairns to Cooktown race saw some terrific ocean racing in this 100 mile race and Leah Haslam of Cairns sent in this report:

The Netherlands’ water ski racing committee has plans to organise a training weekend from 22 til 25 April 2011. See below for details.

The top three places in the 2010 Feros Hotel Group Bridge to Bridge on the Hawkesbury, Australia were won by:

1st Peter Procter & Jason Walmsley
2nd Steve Morley & James Buser
3rd Paul & Stephen Robertson

Results when available will be posted at http://www.waterskinsw.com.au/bridge2bridge/

The Bridge to Bridge Water Ski Classic is back for its 27th running in 2010 and will be held a month later than usual, on the weekend of November 27 & 28 2010.

Manel Avella has posted this video from the 2010 European Championships in Arcos de la Frontera, Spain.

Thanks to Gavin Casburn for letting us know that Hawkesbury Radio will broadcast live from the finish line on Sunday 21 Nov from 9am through and including Superclass on 89.9FM in sydney and Live on the net from their website www.hawkesburyradio.com.au

Monday 22nd November 2010
12.30pm @ Seventh Day Adventist Church (Church Norm Built)
77 Hammers Rd Parramatta NSW 2150

Norm will be taken from the Church to the Castlebrooke Lawn Cemetery for interment.
It is at the same location as the Crematorium, Windsor Road, ROUSE HILL

The Wake for Norm will be held following the service at the lawn cemetery at:
PARRAMATTA LEAGUES CLUB
13-15 O’CONNELL STREET
PARRAMATTA

Griffin’s address:
N & J GRIFFIN
The Home of “Louise J”
Sedger’s Road
KENTHURST NSW 2154
AUSTRALIA

Norm Griffin affectionately known as “Stormin Normin” has sadly passed away whilst surrounded by his devoted family at approximately 5.40pm on Friday 12th November 2010.

Click here for Norm’s funeral details

Norman Alfred Griffin

The 2010 Hamilton Bridge to Bridge Water Ski Classic will be held on 27h & 28th of November 2010 down the beautiful Waikato River based in Hamilton, New Zealand.

The entry forms for the 2011 Club Marine Southern 80 are now available online at www.southern80.com.au You can complete and print a pdf file, to be faxed, posted or hand delivered to the Moama Water Sports Club or you can complete an entry form online using your Visa or Mastercard.

Please ensure your SRA details are correct, as this is what we utilise to contact you.

Please do not leave it till the last minute, get your memberships organised and your entry in for the 2011 Club Marine Southern 80.

Entries close on Friday 31st December 2010.

Kim Lumley has asked for the following message to be circulated:

Rob Storum has shared some terrific shots from Round 1 of the Australian Grand Prix series which was was held in extremely rough conditions on the weekend. Rob added; “we witnessed an amazing performance of rough water skiing by Ben Gulley behind Daniel McMahons new 20ft Velocity 99 Psycho Clowns”.

In the interest of safety, the SRV Junior Development Day 14th November, is being moved to Greens Lake.

Same time, same plans.

Those who have registered will be notified and evey attempt will be made to contact those who have not.

If you kow of someone who is coming PLEASE let them know the event is being moved to Greens Lake. email tonymithen@bigpond.com for further details.

“Further to a meeting held by the Moama Water Sports Club this afternoon, a decision was made in conjunction with a number of other pertinent authorities to postpone this weekend’s Barrie Beehag Ski Race classic to the 11th December 2010.

Now in its 5th year, the postponement was decided due to higher than anticipated water levels, floating debris and a flooded marina at Deep Creek.

Club President Alan McDonald, said ‘we thank the authorities involved in assisting us to make this decision. The safety of our competitors is paramount and therefore we had little choice. We look forward to hold the event in four weeks time and encourage the local community to come to Deep Creek to watch this exciting event.”

Further information about the event to be held in December will be made available later in the week and uploaded onto the Southern 80 website, its twitter page and facebook page.

Here’s a great video from the 1993 British Water Ski Racing Championships. Hosted by Peter Butler & former two-time World Champions Liz Hobbs (MBE), the event was the final round held in Dundee Scotland.

Below is a selection of shots which Rob Storum captured at last week’s round 3 at Wisemans, NSW Australia. Saturday provided a massive chop whilst Sunday’s water was more friendly to the skiers. Lots more at  www.robstorum.com.au

In 1987, Darren Osmotherly completed the Bridge to Bridge Ski Race, skiing backwards to raise money for kids with cancer in a time of 84 minutes after suffering the battling disease himself. The Bridge to Bridge is an annual event held from Brooklyn to Windsor, attracting crowds in the thousands as the all vie for the best vantage point to witness such an event.

The SRV web page has the entry form for the Ski Racing Victoria Mercury Marine 2010 Victorian Titles .

Competitors entries are now open for the Victorian Titles being held at Lake Charm on the 4th and 5th of December at Lake Charm. Please note entries close on Wednesday 24th November 2010 and No Late Entries are accepted after this date. Please ensure you fill in your entry forms correctly and read the conditions of entry.

On both days their will only be one briefing as per the advertised times on the entry form. If you attend the briefing on the Saturday you do not have to attend the briefing on the Sunday.

A roster for helpers will be posted on the SRV Website – Wednesday evening prior to the event. Please ensure you check the roster.

Those at the European Championships in Arcos de la Frontera this year will recall the boat accident which Austria’s Georg Förstel suffered. Below is a note from Georg with an update and some special thanks.

The results from the SRV Mercury Marine Point Score 2, held on the weekend at Lake Bullen Merri near Camperdown, are now available on the SRV web page. The SRV October newsletter is also available to download.

Team Manager André Schürle has announced that he and Team Germany are proud, with one of the most well known families in water ski racing – The Brooks Family from GB; to have begun a new partnership for the future.

Below you can watch 45 minutes from the 4 rounds of the Mens & Womens 1991 World Water Ski Racing Championships from Darwin, Australia.

Click on the link below to visit the photo album with shots from the final round of the European Cup in Eguzon, France.

Footage of round 1 of the 1993 F1 British Championships, hosted by Peter Butler and former two time World Champions Liz Hobbs (MBE).

Coverage of the 1993 F2 British Championships – Round 1 Chasewater. Hosted by Peter Butler and former two time World Champion, Liz Hobbs (MBE).

The SRV web page www.waterskiracing.com has been updated with the roster for this weekends event at Lake Bullen Merri near Camperdown in the South Western area of the state. A record number of entries have been recieved for the two day event.
The web page has also had the classifieds updated.

Britain’s Donald Darby has passed away. Everybody in ski racing knew him as Dinky and his boat named “DD” was infamous on the British water ski racing circuit in the 70’s.

1938 race from Catalina Island to Hermosa Beach, California.

Great Britain, Belgium and Holland compete in this 45 mile race in 1969. Brendan Bowles from Penarth Water Ski Club won the race. Thanks to Geoff Watson for finding this.

26 teams race 26 Miles in this 1961 Water Ski race in Sydney, Australia.

Archived footage of the 1955 New York to Atlantic City Water Ski Race. The race took 8 hrs over 110 miles.. Many thanks to Geoff Watson for digging this up.

Great archived footage of the old Cross Channel Water Ski Race. Many thanks to Geoff Watson for sharing this.

Great archived footage of the old Cross Channel Water Ski Race. Many thanks to Geoff Watson for digging this up.

*** AUSTRALIA’S TOP TEN FAVOURITE EVENTS ANNOUNCED ***

Australia’s Favourite Event for 2010 is Jessica Watson’s Homecoming staged on Sydney Harbour on 15 May 2010.

Coming in a fantastic 4th place, was the 2010 Club Marine Southern 80 !

This shows the huge following behind the World’s biggest water ski race from people Australia wide and cements it’s place as one of the premier extreme sporting events in the country.
It beat some really major events in Australia in the last year. Hopefully that can be transferred to even more support & sponsorship for the sport in Australia.

The Moama Water Sports Club and it’s hard working members should be congratulated on running and successfully evolving an event of it’s size over the years, and major sponsors like Club Marine and Tip Top Bakeries thanked and supported for their involvement by the ski racing community.

Over 60,000 votes were recorded in the first search for Australia’s Favourite Event, which closed at 9pm Thursday night just minutes before the winner was announced at The Australian Event Awards in Sydney.

Final Results

From the hundreds of events that were nominated, here is how the public of Australia voted for their Top Ten Favourite Events:

1 Jessica Watson Homecoming

2 Mother’s Day Classic

3 Sydney Royal Easter Show

4 2010 Club Marine Southern 80 Ski Race

5 2010 Clipsal 500 Adelaide

6 Gold Coast Airport Marathon

7 2009 Sydney New Year’s Eve

8 Million Paws Walk

9 The Sun-Herald City2Surf

10 2010 Santos Tour Down Under

Australia’s Favourite Event Website: www.australiasfavouriteevent.com.au

The 23rd Annual “Austin Dam to Dam Race” will be hosted by the Austin Barefoot Ski Club on Saturday, November 6th at Steiner Ranch Lake Club, Lake Austin, USA.

The first of SRV’s Junior Development day will be held on 14th Nov 2010. If you haven’t already registered please do ASAP to assist with catering, boat and instructor requirements.

Rob Harks captured plenty of action at the last Belgian race of the year at Grobbendonk last weekend.

Billy Lacroix has posted shots from Belgium’s racing at Grobbendonk on Sunday.

Region V Botany Bay Junior Training Day

NQOSSA will host the longest ocean water ski race in the world on 13th November 2010. Race 105 miles from Cairns to Cooktown.

Billy Lacroix has posted a pile of shots from last Sunday’s race  at Hasselt in Belgium.

Click here to see them

Wade Bennett is posting regular updates live from the Grafton Bridge to Bridge water ski race in Australia today and tomorrow.

Great video footage of the 2010 Green Island Ski Racing Classic from Cairns, Australia.

Shane Wilson has asked that the following Ski Racing Australia rule be published here and writes; “we have a new rule added to the rule book that is effective immediately and will be in place for the Grafton Bridge to Bridge this weekend. All skiers need to be fully aware of this rule change.”

The U.S. Open Water Ski Racing Championships took place recently on the Colorado River’s Parker Strip in Parker, Arizona. Titles in 20 divisions were fought for and won.

Thanks to Sue Fleming, below are the final results of the 2010 British Water Ski Racing Championship series.

Schedule of Events for the 2010 Grafton Bridge to Bridge.

Full details at www.graftonb2b.org.au

August saw the European waterski racing Championships held in Cadiz (Arcos), and Bernico Boats are pleased to announce that 8 out of the 10 titles where won with a Bernico. Bernico would like to congratulate all winners with their titles.

Courtesy of Vera Van Den Bossche (E&A Racing Council Secretary-General) below are the minutes of the Competitors meeting held at Arcos de la Frontera in Spain during the recent European Water Ski Racing Championships.

The Feros Hotel Group – Bridge to Bridge will be an action packed weekend on the Hawkesbury River, NSW Australia. On 20-21 November 2010, skiers at up to 130MPH over 112 kilometres will be at the heart of the action in this world class event.

See ww.waterskinsw.com.au/bridge2bridge/ for full details.

Visit The Feros Group

Wade Bennett- Walking on water and other miracles ‘ from the  2010 Southern 80 Program

Wade Bennett and his family have been involved with the Southern 80 since 1981, when Wade (9), having skied since the age of 4, skied with his sister Nicole (11) in their first ever ski race, in Social Sub Juniors. They placed 3rd after their Dad Terry’s boat ‘Fleetwood’ ran out of fuel on the last corner. Luckily a kind soul on the river bank had a jerry can of fuel and they got Fleetwood fired up again to record a finish, much to the delight of spectators at the finish line.

In the years following, both Wade and Nicole skied in river races in various age and motor divisions, whilst their Dad took on the job of the Chief starter of the great race.

The results from point score 1 are now available on the SRV web page

Message from the Noizworks crew
Hoggy, Mike + Pete would like to thank all of the people who helped us after our unfortunate accident at Redcilffe on Sunday 12 September. Special thanks to Brent Wisemantle and Andrew Fyfe for their quick actions to help us, and to Troy and all of the guys at Trask Brothers Racing. Without them the boat would still be on the bottom. A big thank you to everyone that helped on the boat ramp on Monday to get the boat on the trailer and to Chris Anderson who helped us get the boat ready to take home. All of the people who offered us accommodation and places to clean up was very much appreciated. And last but not least Shippy. Who stayed in Brisbane with me and spent 5 hrs on the rescue boat with us and without a hat and sunscreen ( hope your ears have recovered ) helped clean an cover up boat then drive home with me when he had a flight booked to fly home on Sunday.

The British Racing Gala Dinner and Dance takes place on Saturday 27th November 2010. Below is the booking form.

Skirace.net can get a bit of a handful for me to maintain on times so help from others is always appreciated. Joining Julie Golledge of Victoria with direct publishing rights to skirace.net is Wade Bennett of Queensland. 

The final round of the British Water Ski Racing Championships takes place this weekend, as the 2010 British season comes to an end.

A little taste of one of the 2011 World Titles courses, during the Open Mens & F2 Mens, at the September course trial day, Moreton Bay Queensland.

Check out this selection of superb shots which Rob Storum has shared with us from last weekend’s racing at Moreton Bay, Qld.

Australian ski racing photographer Rob Storum, of Rob Storum Photographics captured part of the Noizworks recovery after it sunk in Queensland recently.

Mick Kelly of www.skiracing.com writes; The World’s Course Trial Day at Redcliffe certainly lived upto its name, with some major trials being encountered.

Wade Bennett reports on yesterday’s race at the 2011 Worlds trial course in QLD, Australia: Big crowds witnessed some great Racing on Moreton Bay for the World Titles Course trial day yesterday. Well done to Chris Stout WC’03’07 and the Burnin’ crew for taking out Open Mens in the race of the day.

Dozens of Australian world team hopefuls have flocked here this weekend, just 30 minutes north of Brisbane. The purpose is to try the 2011 worlds course and pit their wits against each other, as their new season gets underway.

Billy Lacroix from Belgium has shared a selection of shots below and dozens at his online album here: http://picasaweb.google.com/LacroixBillyPictures

Paul Mitchener in Australia has just lunched a new community website at www.skiracersworld.com – he’s also just published this video using footage of the H120 taken from 3 cameras in “Play’n with Fire” during their Veterans race at the H120.

After decades without a water ski race in Germany, André Shurle has announced that Team Germany Racing and Jetbootzentrum Lausitz plans to organise a European Cup Water Ski Race in 2011.

E&A Racing Council Secretary Vera Van Den Bossche has confirmed that the 2011 Viersel Diamond Race will be held on the weekend of 25-26 of June, 2011.

Update: Sept 11, 2010 – by Lauren Dunsmore
Fellow ski racers – please send 1 or 2 of your most prized photos of Byron Whipple and yourself… along with a favorite story/ funny moment/ or a crazy time with Byron to share with his family at his celebration of life on Oct. 9th, 2010.

Please forward to Casey Whipple as soon as possible: CaseW3@yahoo.com or mail to 4765 Lakeshore Blvd. Lakeport, CA 95453 USA.
Byron’s family has asked in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to brighten the streets of Lakeport by contributing to a Lamppost that will be named in his honor in downtown Clearlake.

Donations can be sent to:
“In memory of Byron Whipple-Lamppost donation”
C/O City Center Reality
975 North Main St.
Lakeport, CA 95453

Rest in Peace Whip, you are missed so much and will never be forgotten…too many great memories shared with great friends and family!

Until next time….Ski ya later!

Rob Storum was on the banks of the Hawkesbury to capture the action at the recent Hawkesbury 120. You can see more great shots like these below at

www.robstorum.com.au

You can see Hawkesbury 120 results online here: skiracingnsw.com.au

Rob Storum snapped up a lot of the action at the recent round 1 of Australia’s NSWSRA Championships. See a selection below and more at www.robstorum.com.au

Just a short note to let you know that the Barrie Beehag entry forms are now available via the Southern 80 web page. Entries close on the 8th October 2010 and remember that there are limited entries, so get your entries in early. Please ensure that you have completed your SRA memberships and that you medical and first aid information is all up to date, these will be checked.

The MWSC has registered the Southern 80 to win ‘Win Australia’s Favourite event. Please click on the link and nominate us with the code Southern80 and help us to ‘Win Australia’s Favourite event’
http://www.australiasfavouriteevent.com.au/ This survey finishes on the 14thSeptember, so please place your vote quickly.

The Stinga team of Greg Houston, Kevin Boylan, Grant Patterson and Daniel Campbell have swept the Hawkesbury 120, winning both the Sprint race on Saturday and the main event.

Start of Round 4 of Mens F1 & F2 – video

The quiet lake at Arcos de la Frontera in the Andalucian hills was brought alive with the roar of almost 100 ski racing teams representing various European countries. At the end of four fast rounds of racing, the event produced a new cast of European Water Ski Racing Champions who will reign for the next two years.

Last night in the splendid setting of Arcos Gardens Golf Club, Spain bid farewell to almost 100 teams, officials and many 100’s of supporting fans at the final presentation of trophies for the 2010 European Water Ski Racing Championships.

Courtesy of Pepe Escoda, the results from the 4th and final round of the 2010 European Water Ski Racing Championships in Spain are below.

European Champs – ARCOS 2010 – FINAL

Courtesy of Pepe Escoda, the results from the 3rd round of the 2010 European Water Ski Racing Championships in Spain are below.

European Champs 3rnds – ARCOS 2010

Kenny Weckx is an official dealer for Wing Wetsuits, DC Skis & Bonehead Helmets. Contact him at the European Championships in Spain NOW to take advantage of his 10% discount on all skis & suits until 15 Sept 2010.

Mobile: +32 478 558 033

Email: kennyke10@hotmail.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kenny.weckx

Courtesy of Pepe Escoda, the results from the 2nd round of the 2010 European Water Ski Racing Championships in Spain are below.

European Championships – ARCOS 2010

Courtesy of Wim Lamot, below is a brief report from the 1st & 2nd rounds of the 2010 European Water Ski Racing Championships in Spain.

Last Saturday the water conditions where bad, it was rough water with white topping. Today was totally different, flat water.

Where are very pleased that Darren and the team got his 2nd 1000 points.

So Stout was first, congratulate for this achievement. Darren was close behind 2nd.
Like last Saturday they put everybody on 2 laps at least. So it was really up tempo and working for boat, drivers, skier Normally Weckx was 3rd but wasn’t 100% sure about it

For the Ladies.
Great skiing by again a ‘Stout’ who got here 2nd win in a row. Lena, in really good shape got here 2nd 1000points on here sleeve, Unconfirmed, Vicky was third. She had a bad start and also took a dive.
Kathrien Ortlieb was not in this race because of mechanical problems.

The weather was 42°C & sunny

Rob Harks snapped up a taste of French racing at the final round of the 2010 European Cup series recently in Eguzon, France. Below are a few sample shots and you can see the full Robson collection here

Courtesy of Pepe Escoda, the results from the 1st round of the 2010 European Water Ski Racing Championships in Spain are below.

EUROCHAMPS ARCOS 21-08-2010

EUROCHAMPS ARCOS 2010 Country

The MWSC has registered the Southern 80 on the site below, please click on the link and nominate us with the code Southern80 and help us to ‘Win Australia’s Favorite event’
www.australiasfavouriteevent.com.au

Here’s a great video compilation which Stevie has put together of Force Boats in action in Europe.

Austria’s Martin Praschinger won Mens F1 at the final round of the European Cup Eguzon, France yesterday and Dave Vansteelant of Belgium took F2 honours. Britain’s Russell Cox won his 1st European Cup race in Seniors, with fellow countryman Rod Hawkins just 3 seconds adrift. You can see all the winners and full results here

The new host of the 2010 European Championships (21-28 Aug) is Arcos de la Frontera in Spain. Perched in the hills of Andalucia, with its tangled labyrinth of cobbled streets that lead up to a sandstone castle, Arcos was declared a national historic-artistic monument in 1962 in recognition of its exceptional architecture and impressive location. Below are two videos which look at Arcos de la Frontera.

You can stay updated by following the skirace.net Twitter feed or by refreshing the Twitter feed on the front page of skirace.net
Note, some updates will also be on Facebook but Facebook automatically blocks Twitter posts if there are too many coming through.

Download the information pack – Note that Cadiz is no longer hosting the event (but the info pack has not been updated)
MS Word Version
PDF Version

The 2010 European Water Ski Racing Championships have been scheduled for a long time to be hosted at Puerto Sherry, Cadiz, on the Southern tip of Spain by its national and local governing bodies of water skiing.

On 29th July 2010, the Spanish organisers were advised by the owner of Puerto Sherry, Pedro Bores, that he had decided to cancel the event.

Two weeks later on 11th August 2010, (just 10 days before the event) the organisers informed national Federations of this issue with this letter.

On 12th August 2010, local media company LavozDigital.es published the following article (translated by Google Translate from the Spanish original). According to the web site, the article was written by Puerto Sherry.

Statement in relation to the European Water Ski Championships

Given the variety of information disseminated in relation to the cancellation of the European Water Ski Championships, organized by the Andalusian Water Ski Federation chaired by Fernando Vega de Seoane, Puerto Sherry wants to communicate the following:

1. The reasons for the cancellation of the event are solely the responsibility of the Andalusian Federation of Water Skiing
2. Puerto Sherry has no responsibility for the reasons why the competition has been canceled
3. The Andalusian Water Ski Federation did not have sufficient economic resources for the organization of the Championship, or permits required to conclude
4. In the absence of sponsors, the Andalusian Water Ski Federation to Puerto Sherry required to bear all expenses for organizing the event, something that had never been referred to the agreements reached between the two entities
5. Puerto Sherry has worked and contributed from the beginning all the resources provided to the Andalusian Water Ski Federation to hold Championship
6. Puerto Sherry deeply regrets the lack of foresight of the Andalusian Water Ski Federation in organizing the competition and the resulting damage caused to Spain in the context of international water-skiing

The original in Spanish is here

In my view, regardless of the reasons, the consequences being suffered by many are suffice to indicate that the organisation of this event has been poorly managed. As a result, competitors and supporters have and will incur a great deal of inconvenience and expense. This is not how international sporting events should be managed.

Many similar views can be read across Facebook and if anyone else wishes to air their view or respond to Puerto Sherry’s article above, in public, they are free to do so in the comments section below (but keep it decent).

Furthermore, Arcos Gardens (the recommended accommodation for the new venue) yesterday advised Karen Brooks “We are fully booked. The accommodation was taken over by a Waterski Group two weeks ago“. You will raise your own questions, most of which I’m sure, will be similar in nature.

I am sure that people have worked hard to organise this event and then recover from the problems that have resulted. But questions need to be raised about the oversight that the IWWF has maintained over this event, the late communication of change in venue by the Spanish authorities, and the fact that the recommended accommodation is said to be full. Everyone means well, but goodwill and enthusiasm alone is not enough to organise international sporting events properly.

I am certain that the Europe and Africa division of the IWWF will investigate this issue and do what is both necessary and deserved by the competitors it represents, to provide a sufficient public report, appropriately address those accountable,  and ensure that such an embarrassment to the sport of water skiing on an international stage, never happens again under IWWF jurisdiction.

In the meantime, it’s worth noting that the event has not yet started. For the sake of the sport, its competitors and supporters, and in light of what has already happened, I do hope that all official bodies involved (local, national & IWWF) will do whatever is necessary, to ensure that there are no further blunders during the course of the event.

The first of the NSW Series days will be held on 14-15 August 2010. The day will be held at the Ski Gardens, and being a World’s selection year, and with the H120 2 weeks later, we should see everyone pumped and primed for the season to unfold.

For event information and results visit www.skiracing.com.au

The letter below from Organizing Team and Spanish and Andalusian Federations of Wakeboarding and Ski Racing has this afternoon been circulated by British Water Ski to its Racing Members who are travelling to Cadiz:

Suddenly the 28 July the Harbour Capitanery informed to us, by telephone, that the owner of Puerto Sherry Mr. Pedro Bores had decided to cancel the event there. Luis Mussach tried to know which the reason was for it but the reply was that they could not say anything.

Immediately, the Spanish Racing Council including the President of the Federation had a meeting to comment the situation arriving to the decision that we could not cancel the event and giving our support and help, when possible, to Fernando Vega to find a place were to have the event.

As when Jules Leysen came to Spain we visited the lake of Arcos de la Frontera, as an alternative, for a situation of bad weather at sea, which was approved as it is detailed in the report of Jules, Fernando has put all the efforts to make the Championships in Arcos de la Frontera. You can see fotos of the Arcos Lake at: http://www.wskreame.org/?q=Calendar.

The FULL  letter is shown below – you can also download it from here

See subsequent response from Puerto Sherry here

Karen Brooks has a contact in Cadiz where you can rent Bikes by the day or week. They will even deliver the bikes to the Port or your accommodation.

If interested email karen.brooks@futuretravel.co.uk or tel 07958 605 335 (+44 7958 605 335)

10 Aug Update: The 2010 European Championships start on 21 August at Spain’s most Southern point – Cadiz. 130km south of Seville, Cadiz is said to be the most ancient city still standing in Western Europe and is packed with historic sights.

The European Championships follow the same format as a World Championships. 4 races for each category over a week or so. Updates will be available via the Twitter feed throughout the event.

Dear All European Ski Racers,

An E&A meeting will be held during the week of the European Championships in Spain. I will be putting my report together next week, please let me know if there is anything you would like me to address?.

Kind regards
Kim Lumley

+44 7768 916865
kiminaus2000@hotmail.com