E&A Wakeboard Boat Council Annual Report 2017

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1 E&A Wakeboard Boat Council Annual Report Membership The Council members for 2017: - Linda Johnston (IRL) - Secretary, Franck Chocun (FRA) Stefano Duranti (ITA) Maria Bulgakova (UKR) Nuno Almeida D Eca (POR) Colin Hart (GBR) Florian Butty (SUI) Karim Soliman (African Delegate) At the end of this year the Council regrets the loss of two of our members - Florian Butty and Franck Chocun who will not go forward for re-election. Thanks are due to both members for their contributions to the work of Council. The Council would particularly express our thanks to Florian, former Chair of the A Wakeboard Boat Council for his commitment, hard work and the major contribution he has made to our sport over many years. We hope that he will be able to return to Council in the future. 2. EA 2017 Wakeboard Boat Championships The 2017 Wakeboard Boat Championships was held in Latvia, from 15 th to 20th August As the E&A Representative Linda reported that the event had been a fantastic success. It was held on the Daugava River, a superb site in Riga and the organising committee had put a in a tremendous amount of hard work to welcome athletes, their families and the officials. This led to a fantastic event and the EA Wakeboard Boat Council would like to express thanks to Oskars Kruze, the organising committee and the Latvian Federation for their hard work. Thanks are due to MasterCraft Boat Company, our partner and major sponsor for the EA Championships. The MasterCraft team provided exceptional support and hard work in preparation and throughout the week of the championships. There were 82 athletes competing from 14 countries. Open Men 1. David O Caoimh IRELAND 2. Massimiliano Piffaretti ITALY 3. Nikita Martyanov - RUSSIA

2 Open Women 1. Sanne Meijer NETHERLANDS 2. Alice Virag - ITALY 3. Katie Batchelor GREAT BRITAIN The Team Classification 1 Italy France Russia Great Britain Netherlands Latvia Ireland Switzerland Germany Belgium Israël Spain Greece Austria Pro Tour and Superfinal During 2017 unfortunately it was not possible to hold any pro tour qualifier stops. The Superfinal was held in Riga, Latvia on 19th August We saw a very high standard of riding from all athletes. The Council express our thanks to MasterCraft Boat Company for their sponsorship of the Superfinal. Pro Men 1. Massimiliano Piffaretti - ITALY 2. David O Caoimh - IRELAND 3. Guy Firer ISRAEL Pro Women 1 Sanne Meijer NETHERLANDS 2 Alice Virag - ITALY 3 Chiara Virag - ITALY The cash prize fund for the Superfinal was $15,000.

3 Athletes of the Year The EA Wakeboard Boat Council reviewed athletes performances and elected these two athletes unanimously. Female Athlete of the Year Sanne Meijer NETHERLANDS - Won the 2017 Superfinal, - Won EA Championships - Participated and placed 7 th at World Games Male Athlete of the Year - David O Caoimh IRELAND - Won the EA Championships - Placed 2 nd in the 2017 Superfinal - Participated and placed 6 th at the World Games Congratulations to both athletes on their achievements throughout the 2017, and their election as Athletes of the Year for World Wakeboard Boat Championships The 2017 IWWF Wakeboard Boat World Championships will be held in Buenos Aires Argentina from 18 th to 24 th March EA Judging and Officials seminar The Officials seminar was to be held in Birmingham however unfortunately the seminar was cancelled due to the lack of confirmed participants planning to attend, making the event not financially viable. 7. Mastercraft Boat Company / IWWF Contract The contract between the EA Council and MasterCraft Boat Company remains in place and is in the final year, with the final payment under the terms of this contract to be made in June Council members held a very productive meeting with MasterCraft colleagues in Latvia and discussed a proposal for a potential extension and further development of this partnership. The Council proposed a specification and framework for running the Pro Tour 2018, with 4 qualifier stops and the Superfinal. A further very positive meeting took place in Monaco on 11 th November to plan for The EA Wakeboard Boat Council is delighted to continue to work with MasterCraft Boat Company as our sponsorship partner and we extend our thanks to the MasterCraft team for all their hard work, support and ongoing commitment to our partnership.

4 EA wakeboard Boat Council Plans for EA Wakeboard Boat Seminar Given the challenges we have faced in recent years in securing participants at the seminars and developing judges, our plan in the future will be to hold the officials seminar every 2 years. We agreed to apply the same framework for International judges Level 1 and level 2 to the International Drivers. In 2018 we will run the driving seminar alongside the judging and calculating seminar. The 2018 seminar will take place in April 2018 in Belgium EA Wakeboard Boat Championships The EA Wakeboard Boat Championships will take place in Lago del Salto, Rieti, from 30 th July to 4 th August The Italian Federation will make a presentation at the Congress in Halle. The organiser will prepare the bulletin to be issued following Congress. Our main partner and sponsor will be MasterCraft Boat Company and they will provide the towboat for the Championships and the Superfinal EA Wakeboard Boat Pro Tour and EA Superfinal We have a number of bids to host 4 Qualifier stops for the Pro Tour in 2018: - The confirmed dates and venues for the qualifier stops will be agreed with MasterCraft within the next month the short list is Ireland, Portugal, Italy, UK, France and Ukraine. The Superfinal will be held on 3 rd August during the week of the EA Championships in Italy EA Wakeboard Boat Rules The rules will be reviewed and issued following Congress in February During 2018 a task force will be established consisting of both officials and riders to take forward a project to provide a greater level of guidance on the various aspects of the judging criteria, with specific descriptors to inform judging decisions.

5 EA Wakeboard Boat Ranking System We will adopt the cable system for events with the allocation of stars in order to create a hierarchy of National and International events on a 6* basis. This framework will be implemented during The EA Wakeboard Boat Council would like to express our thanks to the Admincom membership and to the E&A Bureau for the confidence and support you have shown to the EA council throughout this year. This is the final report of the Wakeboard Boat Council for 2017 and will be distributed to all members of the EA confederation. Linda Johnston Secretary, Wakeboard Boat Council Confederation Europe & Africa