AWSA Rules meeting – USA Waterski HQ – Polk City FL – 10 Nov 2007

 

Call to Order 8:00 AM Sat 10 Nov

 

Attendees:

 

Tom Danford, MW, Chair

Dean Chappell, MW

Bob Mayhew, SC

Kathy Ives, SC

Lori Krueger, Athlete

Mandy Nightingale, Athlete

Dave Vogt, W
Richelle Matli, W (arrived later due to airline schedule)

Lee Mershon, E

Gary Noll, E

Marc Shaw, S (non-voting)

Ruth Johnston, S

Scott Snape, S

Dave Clark, Secretary (non-voting)

Jim Grew, President (non-voting)

Gene Davis, Technical (non-voting)

Cyndi Benzel, S (non-voting)

 

 

  1. Endorsement of Bob Corson as our representative on the IWSF Tournament Council.  Approved.

 

  1. Rulebook Editors
    1. Lori Krueger
    2. Dean Chappell
    3. Bob Mayhew
    4. Dave Vogt
    5. Scott Snape
    6. Gary Noll

 

  1. Sunset provision rules extensions.  Approved.

 

  1. Review of IWSF proposals and actions.

 

  1. Proposal to recommend that IWSF eliminate the 6 flip limit, supported by the rationale offered by the Athlete reps.   Passed unanimously.

 

  1. Discussion about impact of technology in tournaments.  No action.

 

  1. Proposal #2 - 1.05 Regional and National Dates

 

Tournaments are held on an annual basis. The Regional Tournaments shall be held to conclude on a weekend, two one to six weeks prior to the National Tournament, which shall be held during the second or third full week in August.

 

Passed unanimously.

 

 

  1. Extend above language regarding Nationals date in action item 7: “… which shall be held during the first, second or third full week in August.” 

 

5:7 motion failed.

 

  1. Proposal #3 discussion pertaining to 1.13 and the perceived additional penalty as a result of ZBS resulted in no motion.

 

  1. Motion to adopt proposal #4.  Add to 1.13,

 

….  The average will be calculated using the best single one score and applying the 10% penalty, using the best two scores and applying the 5% penalty, and using the best three scores with no penalty.  The highest of the three averages will be used for the ranking list. 

 

Passed Unanimously.

 

  1. GPS speed control implications discussed.  Sub-committee to draft proposals for later circulation / consideration by email.

 

    1. Objective is Speed, rather than Time.
    2. Factor “Virtual Timing” (for speed verification) into language
    3. Systems approval processes
    4. Transition issues, going from “magnetically-triggered timing” for speed validation, to other methods –
    5. Provisions to expire Dec 2008.
    6. Where a boat is dual-equipped, what shall the skier be allowed to choose?  Provisions to expire Dec 2008.

                                          i.    Adjustability between passes for KX, PX (PP), A-B-C (ZO).

                                        ii.    Adjustability between passes for System in Control?

 

  1. Motion to recommend to Board and Executive Committee that the draw for the 2008 Nationals Towboats be accomplished by July 1 and published.  And further to recommend to all of the Regions that for 2008 the Regions follow the same draw for the Regional Tournaments.  The rationale for this is that with the new GPS systems available for 2008 there may be differences in the ride the skiers are accustomed to and the skiers should be afforded the opportunity to practice behind the boat they will encounter at these two important tournaments.   

 

Passed unanimously.

 

  1. Proposal #4 (and partially Proposal #3) motion to revise penalties to 16 and 8 percent for 1 or 2 scores. 

 

1:11 failed.

 

  1. Proposal #5 was withdrawn prior to the meeting.

 

  1. Proposal # 6 discussion regarding Amateur versus Professional (elite) status ensued.  No consensus to an acceptable alternative became apparent and so it was decided to form a Task Force to report back to the Rules Committee.  The Task Force will consist of Marc Shaw (chair), Lori Krueger, Mandy Nightingale, Gary Noll, Dave Vogt, Scott Snape and Dan Bumgart, the person submitting the proposal. The task force will develop recommendations and submit to the Rules Committee by Aug 31, 2008. 

 

  1. Proposal # 7 motion to allow skiers age 25 and up to ski in younger age divisions except boys and girls. 

 

4:7 failed.

 

  1. Proposal #8 to establish a Masters Men Jump division was discussed. No action was taken and it is to be sent back to author for poll of potentially-affected skiers.

 

  1. Proposal #9 motion to allow Open performances to be achieved at two class C tournaments. 

 

7:4 failed.

 

  1. Note regarding existing 3.03 – where are the Open qualifications to be found?  Website?  Skier Performance card?  Inconsistent citations are to be cleaned up in the final rulebook draft.

 

  1. Proposal #10 discussion of Overall for the Open Divisions may be attained by achieving the minimum Performance Qualifications as posted on the USA WS website in Open, Men’s 1 or 2 and Women’s 1 or 2 divisions.  Rules committee wonders why boys 3 and girls 3 and women 3 or 4 are not also included.   Action is deferred and to be referred to SRC.

 

  1. Proposal #11 discussions of 3.06 resulted in referring back to SRC for clarification on mechanics.  Agree with concept below, but felt clarification was in order:

 

3.06 Performance Ratings

Within each age division, each skier is ranked on a continually updated list in each event and overall. The ability levels are 3 through 8 with 8 being the highest level.   The ranking list is continually updated.

 

Scores for inclusion in the ranking list may be obtained in any sanctioned tournament, in which the event is Class C or higher in any of the first three rounds (see Rule 1.02); exceptions include certain instances in elimination based competitions (see 13.02). The ability levels are 3 through 8 with 8 being the highest level. [ED moved from first paragraph]

 

Scores for inclusion in the ranking list achieved in a Class F or N shall also be included, however, scores exceeding level 4 shall be indicated as ineligible for National Ranking system used as a qualification for Regionals and Nationals but will be included in the Score Table.

 

Scores for inclusion in the ranking list cannot be obtained in a run-off of a tie.

 

Performances accomplished at a multi-round tournament shall be credited as one tournament only.

 

  1. Proposal #12 motion pertaining to 4.02 (Nationals) and 4.03 (Regionals) as follows: 

 

4.02 National Tournament Qualifications

General: A contestant in the National Tournament must have competed in the corresponding event at his Regional Tournament (see Rules 4.03 and 4.06) during the same year. To have competed in an event at a Regional Tournament means to have attained skiing position in each event as defined in Rule 8.07. In addition, a contestant must qualify under Rules 4.02(a), 4.02(b), or 4.02(c) below and must be a U.S. Citizen. However, a competitor who skis in international competition for another country federation shall not be eligible for placement for two years following the international competition.  . Any skier competing in international competitions representing Guatemala, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela with dual US citizenship would be exempt from rule 4.02(a) and 4.03(a) for the period of January 1, 2008 until December 31, 2008. A skier who enters the Open division at the Nationals in any event is not required to ski in his Regional Tournament.

 

4.03 Regional Tournament Qualifications

(a) Last Paragraph

 

All entrants in a Regional Tournament shall be U.S. citizens, unless the Region determines to allow non-US citizens (or resident aliens) to participate, but not for placement.  However, a competitor who skis in international competition for another country federation shall not be eligible for placement for two years following the international competition. 

 

Passed unanimously.

 

  1. Proposal #13 motion to change 4.02 to allow consideration of exceptions to 4.02 as follows failed for lack of a second.

 

…To have competed in an event at a Regional Tournament means to have attained skiing position in each event as defined in Rule 8.07. When extenuating circumstances occur and the skier did not comply with this requirement he may present his circumstances to the Regional EVP who will consider the circumstances and if he concurs will petition the Rules Committee to grant a waiver. The Rules Committee may approve the waiver with a two-thirds vote. In addition,

 

  1. Proposal #14 to add to 4.02(b),

 

All three performances for an overall score must be performed in the same round of a multi-round tournament (i.e., first time skied per event = Round #1, second time skied per event = Round #2, etc.). 

 

Passed unanimously with a move to rule 5.03 instead as indicated in Proposal 17a.

 

  1. Proposal #15 discussions to expand Other excuses to allow the Chief Judge or his designee to grant regional participation waivers did not receive a motion and therefore no action was taken.

 

  1. Proposal #16 discussions on:

 

For Regionals and Nationals and other tournaments which are based on Divisionally-oriented competition, each division's overall shall be limited to those skiers entering only that division's events.

 

Was tabled due to equivalent scoring issues.  RC believes that scores from the individual events is different than OA.  OA needs to be tied to the division skied (IE M4, M4, MM).  Scott, Dave, Mark Crone, Laura, Jeff to work through issues of equivalencies.

 

  1.  Proposal #17 motion to 5.03 as follows:

 

Run-offs of ties are used solely to determine placement in an event and are not used for any other purpose such as scoring overall, setting records or inclusion in ranking list.

 

Passed Unanimously.

 

  1. Proposal #18 to replace SNOPS with NORS discussions led to no action as it was pointed out that we agreed last year that the existing system (SNOPS) was to continue for two years and then to be reviewed after two years of implementation.

 

  1. Proposal #19 discussion resulted in no action to the following:

 

(a)  A Chief Judge and at least two other judges (all Senior or Regular in the events being held) shall be appointed by the sponsoring affiliated club with the approval of the Regional Executive Vice President. An Assistant Chief Judge, holding not less than an Assistant Judge’s rating, may also be appointed.

 

For jump only Class C tournaments, using video jump, a Chief Judge and at least one other judge (Senior or Regular) and a third judge (Assistant or above under supervision of the chief judge) shall be appointed by the sponsoring affiliated club with the approval of the Regional Executive Vice President.

 

 

  1. Proposal #20 motion for 6.03(e) to make it mandatory at class C tournaments that the same person is not the CJ, CD and/or CS failed for lack of a second.

 

  1. Proposal #21 motion to allow for correction of scoring errors as follows:

 

7.06 Corrected Scoring Errors

Correction of scores on the Ranking List can be made with the approval of the Chief Scorer and Chief Judge provided the error change was initiated within seven days of posting on the Ranking List.  Such a change will not affect the official tournament results or placements.  The revision will be made only on the ranking list after submitting the performances and placements as originally scored.

 

Passed 10:1

 

  1. Proposal #22 was withdrawn prior to the meeting.

 

  1. Proposal #23 was a request by a member to not allow a choice of trick boats (IE a draw would be conducted as in S & J) and a related directive by the Board that we consider allowing the trick event at Nationals and Regionals to be a draw for boat order and then seeded with in the boat order.  Discussion ensued but no motion resulted.

 

  1. Proposal #24 was withdrawn prior to the meeting.

 

  1. Proposal #25 motion to 8.10(g) Speed Control:

Tournaments are only allowed to use speed control devices which have been tested in conjunction with a towboat that has been approved for use by the Towboat Committee for use by the Speed Control Committee.

Passed Unanimously.

 

  1. Proposal #26 motion to 8.10(h) Speed Control: 

Software changes are permitted as approved by the Speed Control Towboat Committee at any time during the season, except that no changes that affect skier pull will be permitted between June 1 and the conclusion of that year’s National Tournament.

Passed unanimously.

 

  1. Proposal #27 motion for 9.13 scoring to change the reference to meters from feet.

 

5:5 failed.

 

  1. Proposal #28 regarding mandating a lower ramp of 4’ be provided to skiers in certain divisions was noted that this was a Technical Committee rule according to the jurisdiction chart and that the Technical Committee had expressed concerns, believed the current rule allowed this to happen, and did not support mandating that it happen.  The Rules Committee took no action due to a lack of jurisdiction.

 

  1. Proposal #29 motion to 10.03 to adopt the IWSF method of judging slalom entrance gates. 

 

7:5  failed.

 

  1. Proposal #30 regarding 10.06 Boat Speeds and Line Lengths in slalom ensued.  The proposal was to allow an additional 6 buoys for each speed increment above the division maximum.  A review of the survey results resulted in a lack of support by the skiers and no action was taken.

 

  1. Proposal #31 motion to 10.06 Boat Speeds and Line Lengths as follows:

 

Men 10

49/(30.4) 46/(28.6)

Women 10

46/(28.6) 43/(26.7)

Men 11

49/(30.4) 46/(28.6)

Women 11

46/(28.6) 43/(26.7)

 

5:7  Failed.

 

  1. There wasn’t a Proposal # 32 due to editorial error.

 

  1. Proposal #33 motion to 10.06(c) Boat Speeds and Line Lengths as follows:

 

(c)  The boat speed shall be advanced by 3 kph (1.86 mph) on each pass until the maximum speed for the division is reached (see Item (a) above), at which time the speed will remain constant and the line will be shortened in accordance with the table below. A skier may elect to start at a speed higher than his division maximum speed, up to his respective Open Division maximum speed and may return to his division maximum speed on subsequent passes. Any passes skied at that higher speed shall receive credit for buoys as though they were being run at his division maximum speed. See Tow Lines Dimension Chart in the Appendix, and Rule 10.16(c).

 

 

5:7  Failed and it was noted that an Interpretation is needed to clarify that this is NOT allowed [ED – See #44 as this addresses the need for an interpretation].

 

  1. Proposal #33 motion to 10.06(c) Boat Speeds and Line Lengths to adopt alternative language as follows:

 

(c)  The boat speed shall be advanced by 3 kph (1.86 mph) on each pass until the maximum speed for the division is reached (see Item (a) above), at which time the speed will remain constant and the line will be shortened in accordance with the table below. A skier may elect to start at a speed higher than his division maximum speed, up to his respective Open Division maximum speed and may not return to his division maximum speed on subsequent passes. Any passes skied at that higher speed shall receive credit for buoys as though they were being run at his division maximum speed. See Tow Lines Dimension Chart in the Appendix, and Rule 10.16(c).

 

10:2  Passed.

 

  1. Proposal #34 to 10.06(c) Boat Speeds and Line Lengths to create a new division called Master 58K.  Discussion ensued, no action.

 

  1. Proposal #35 to 10.08(b) recommendation by the Technical Committee to eliminate the second paragraph that requires use of video gate cameras at the Nationals.  Discussion ensued, no action.

 

  1. Proposal #36 to 10.08(a) . 

 

(a)     Boat Judge: One event judge shall ride in the towboat. The boat judge shall judge whether the skier passed through or missed the end gates, and shall judge the credit to be received by the skier for each buoy in accordance with Rule 10.12, and shall communicate his results to the scorers immediately after each pass. The boat judge shall also check the boat time(s) for each pass and identify reride situations in accordance with Rules 10.09 & 10.10. In Record tournaments, the times must be recorded, either in the boat, by scoring or by some other means. The boat judge shall also observe the boat path (see Rule 10.07). If any part of the boat deviates outside the bounds of the boat gates, the boat judge shall award an optional reride if the path of deviation was a disadvantage to the skier. If it was to the skier’s advantage, a reride is mandatory. Each event judge must continue scoring a run even though he feels the skier missed a gate or buoy.

 

Passed 9:3.

 

  1. Proposal #37 pertaining to 10.12 & 10.13(b) to consider adopting a ¾ buoy score as requested by the Board discussion ensued.  Lori is to present the variety of concepts to AAC and IWSF for their collective consideration.

 

  1. Proposal #38 motion to 10.15 Damaged Equipment follows:

 

If a skier notices that his equipment is damaged after a handle throw, a run that leads to a reride, or a completed pass, but prior to the boat starting for the next pass, the event judges may grant him, …

 

Passed 11:1   Note that this is different from IWSF’s rules.

 

  1. Proposal #39 motion to 11.12 Trick Descriptions and Point Values to add a new trick called Ski Line Jump. 

 

Failed 5:5.  

 

  1. Proposal #40 motion to 11.12 Trick Descriptions and Point Values to add a new trick called Double Wake O. 

 

Failed 2:10.

 

  1. Proposal #41 motion to 11.12 Trick Descriptions and Point Values to add a provision called a progressive Flip Bonus for completing flips in excess of six. 

 

Failed 2:10.

 

  1. Proposal #42 pertaining to 13.01 Multi-Round Tournaments and adding a provision to eliminate the need to complete Round 1 before Round 2 starts provided there is at least five skiers between any single skiers first, second or third rounds did not get a motion.  The committee will continue to entertain such exception requests noting the positive responses from the Michigan league.

 

  1. Proposal #43 discussions turned to Rule13.02 Head to Head Competition.  As a result of those discussions a motion to 13.02(e) follows:

 

Ties: Ties shall may be determined on a round-to-round basis only and run off if required under Rules 9.14, 10.14, or 11.14.  

 

Passed Unanimously.

 

  1. Proposal #44 motion to 14.01 AWSA Recognition came from Tech and was edited by Rules with agreement by Technical Committee Representatives preent at the meeting as follows: 

 

Only US Citizens, with USA WS Full Active Membership of other countries are not eligible to set AWSA records. U.S. skiers may … Run-offs of ties are used solely for determining placement; therefore a run-off performance is not eligible for consideration as a record.  

 

Passed unanimously.

 

  1. Proposal #45 for 14.04 Record Forms was noted that this needs accepted as proposed by the Technical Committee as this is not Rules jurisdiction.  The proposal follows:

 

Record forms shall be devised in accordance with these rules by the Technical Committee approved by the Board of Directors. All requirements for the record submission and approval process will be set forth in the official application form.

 

  1. Proposal #46 for 16.01 General pertaining to Cash Prize Events and the request to eliminate the requirement to compensate officials was noted that this is not Rules jurisdiction.  The proposal was referred to AWSA Executive Committee.

 

  1. Proposal #47 to revise the Towline Dimension Chart was approved by Technical and is their jurisdiction.  The revision follows:

 

Note: For tournament-supplied handle sections, the bridle length shall be 150 cm ± 2.5 cm (4'11" ± 1"), the triangular portion of the bridle 28 cm ± 4 cm (11 ½ " ± 1 ½" ), and the length of the handle 30cm ± 6 cm (11-13/16" ± 2-3/8") (see diagram). For skier-supplied handles in the Slalom and Jumping events, the tolerance on the bridal length shall be +2.5 cm/-10 cm (+1"/-4) with no tolerance on the triangular portion of the bridle.

 

 

  1. Proposal #48.  Remove Meter Readers under L and R columns in table.

 

Jumping Requirements

     Video

No

No

Required(W)

Required(W)

     Distance Calc. Method

M/B or Comp.

Computer

Computer (W)

Computer (W)

     Event Judges

3 Ast. or up

3 Reg. or Sr.; 1 Shore may be ast.

 

3 total, at least

2 Sr. (W)

3 Sr. (W)

     Meter Readers or Video Operators

2 (or 1) Ast. Or up recommended

2 each, with

1 Reg. or Sr.

2 each, with

1 Reg. or Sr. (A)

2 each, with

1 Reg. or Sr. (W)

 

Note to Tom and Proofreaders – ensure that Officials rules in 9.?? And 15.?? Are reflected in the above chart.

 

 

  1. Note the inconsistency between AWSA rule 10.12(c) and the interpretation published on the AWSA West website about slack line going out the end gate.

 

  1. Time and Place.  Sat Nov 8, 2008?  USA WS HQ.

 

  1. Adjourned at 5:54 PM.