Competition, A Review of 1996 By P. Jurbala By the first weekend in August, the 1996 tournament season had finally built up steam after a slow (cool and wet) start. Summer had finally arrived! Here's an update on the Ontario competition schedule. TRADITIONAL Bond Lake - June 15 & 16 The Bond Lake Season Opener kicked off the 396 season, a full two weeks earlier than usual. Unfortunately, that meant that Bond Lake took the fall for the breezy, chilly spring we experienced this year - only 15 skiers decided they were ready for competition by tournament time. All went well, however, with Bond providing its usual high-quality water conditions. Safari Classic - June 22 & 23 The next weekend, the Safari Classic was ready for the skiers - but were the skiers ready for Safari? This fixture on the calendar usually attracts a long waiting list over and above the 40 skiers the organizers normally allow, but only three days before the event Dave Kovak had virtually no waiting list and was wondering if a few no-shows might put him under the 40 target. On the day, however, the skiers were there and the event went smoothly. Capitol Slalom Challenge - June 29 & 30 Next was the Capitol Slalom Challenge, now in its second year at Sunset Lake near Ottawa. This tournament usually attracts skiers from the US and Quebec as well as from Ontario, so attendance has not been a problem and 48 skiers turned out this year. In addition, word is getting around about the excellent water at Sunset. This year, a number of skiers from the Canada Summer Games training camp at Rini's Ski School made the trip for the weekend and were rewarded by personal best performances, as were several other competitors. All left praising the tournament and the site. McClintock's Open - July 13 After an open weekend, the season resumed at McClintock's Open, This event is usually low-key, with a novice division and not too many skiers expecting record performances. As it happened, however, the conditions at the second slalom course were excellent and so were several performances there, including Dave Armstrong's which qualified him (finally) for a trip to the National Championships. Ontario Championships - July 27 & 28 Rounding out July, and finally bringing out a really solid number of competitors, was the Ontario Championships at Safari Lake. The weather was warm, sunny and unfortunately breezy, but the water was fairly flat- except for a big hole just past ball one which the slalomers tended to fall into. Nevertheless there were 53 happy competitors, the best turnout of the season at an Ontario event. Better still was the turnout in the junior divisions - of the 53 total, fully 21 were in the Boys/Girls 1,2 and 3 divisions. This speaks well for the future. Some of the highlights of the Ontarios included Colin Ellis' dazzling all flips 2nd trick pass, Randy Kozar's farewell BBQ Saturday night, and best of all, Steve Collins' goodie bags. Continued on next page Continued from previous page Steve, father of competitor Ted Collins, was surprised to see how little sponsorship was available at tournaments and took it upon himself to change that. For the Ontarios, he not only rounded up enough products from sponsors to give every competitor a bag of samples at sign-in and a draw prize Saturday night, he got several radio stations to call for details on the event which resulted in brief interviews on CFRB and 590 The Fan. Many, many thanks to Steve and sponsors (take a deep breath) Spalding, Corning Glass, Rubbermaid, Moen, Timex, Black and Decker, Newell Group, Raleigh Bicycles, Lawson Mardon Reliance, Royal Tools and Coppertone. And of course many thanks to everyone at Safari Lake, and volunteers like Mark Watt, Rob Bocock, Peter Heenan, the Stacy brothers, the Townsends, and everyone else for making it such a good event. Ontario Summer Games - August 17 The Ontario Summer Games were held at McClintock's near Cambridge. The complexities of being part of a Games held in London provided lots of challenges to both the OWSA and the Games organizers - up to the day before the tournament there was a furious correspondence taking place on topics such as whether skiers would be at the London events (like the Games opening ceremonies, BBQ and closing ceremonies) and who, if anyone, would be sleeping at University of Western Ontario and commuting (!) one-and-a-half hours to the tournament site. Suffice to say, the tournament happened, the medals were awarded, and water skiing was a part of it all. The Summer Games were positioned as a youth event, and so was the water ski tournament. Skiers who had participated in the OWSA's Talent Identification Program were invited to take the plunge into competition skiing at the Games, and four of them did - a success in itself! WAKEBOARD This is the second year the OWSA organized a series of wakeboard and kneeboard events. The series has been a solid success, with steady growth from event to event. Kneeboarding, however, has not grown; from 1994, when we held the first event in Huntsville for a majority of kneeboarders, to 1996 when out of 25 or 30 competitors only one or two are on kneeboards, interest in this event has almost disappeared. Collins Bay Open - July 13 The first stop for the series was the Collins Bay Open, north of Kingston. The Collins Bay club had been as keen to host an event as we were to expand the series geographically, so the choice of a eastern Ontario opener was a natural one. Leo Van den Tillart of the Collins Bay club put in a great effort to organize the event and 18 boarders came out to take part. It was a good introduction to the season, and it soon became obvious that the level of competition has increased dramatically from last summer. The riders who could only do surface 360s last summer were doing grabs; the riders who did grabs last year were landing flips. Kawartha Open - July 20 & 21 Next up was the Kawartha Open, on Little Lake in downtown Peterborough. Little Lake is the home of the Kawartha Ski Club, and Jim Galoska from the club was helpful in putting on the event although eventually Donna Floyd of Cottage Toys took over Continued on next page Continued from previous page most of the sponsorship and publicity duties. The actual event was run on Sunday, with Saturday available as a test-ride day for wanna-be boarders. Just over 20 competitors came out for another great event, although we were surprised there were only a handful of spectators given the location and publicity for the tournament. Cleveland's House - August 3 Stop number 3 was at Cleveland's House on Lake Rosseau. Summer Water Sports and Jen Ward did a great job as hosts, and the competitors did a great job on the water, with at least 3 expert class riders landing flips. Thanks also to Howie Outerbridge of nearby Too Rad for lending us a Joy Stick pylon, and to Launch Pad, a new system of weighting the stern of the boat to improve the wakes. Some of the riders were getting huge air! Schreiner's Open - August 11 Next up was Schreiner's Open in Huntsville. This was the third Schreiner's Open at the Best Western Hidden Valley. In fact, it was the event which started it all for Ontario wakeboarding, back in 1994. The beautiful August weather did its stuff again, and over 30 competitors took advantage. Ontario Wakeboard/Kneeboard Championships - August 17 The second Ontario Wakeboard/Kneeboard Championships were held at Bond Lake. Perfect weather and the lure of winning an Ontario Championship brought out a record number of competitors - 42 - to the event, sponsored by Wake Tech. It was an outstanding day, and underlined the amazing progress made by Ontario wakeboarders. Now the Boys and Girls divisions do tricks that the Intermediate Men struggled with in 1995; and for the Expert division, flips are landed with regularity. The revelation was Dave Tsuyuki of Toronto, who came out to his first tournament (and apparently hesitated before entering in case his tricks weren't up to the competition) and walked away with the Expert Men's gold medal after a 6775 point run which primarily consisted of Tantrums and front flips. Sponsor Wake Tech showed its support, not only by pulling part of the tournament behind the MB Boss 190, but by providing a huge stack of prizes which included many board bags and one incredible 69" board, won by Marc Polidoro in a draw. Thanks to Mike Leblanc and Lance Webb from Wake Tech, Bryan Gardner who assisted Nicole Maurer with judging, Mark Watt who drove many of the divisions, and Paul Roberts for use of a site the boarders raved about. Water Skis etc. Open - August 24 Next-to-last stop: Gull Lake, Gravenhurst, for the Water Skis etc Open. With the Nationals approaching, the 38 riders were honing their skills. Ontario champ Dave Tsuyuki stood up his second pass to win Expert with 10150 points, another new Ontario record, with riders like Sean Fleming, Ryan Lamoreaux and Andres Gutierrez hard on his heels. In the Women's Expert division, the year long see-saw battle between Kathi Gray and Sonya Sneyd tipped in favour of Sonya, who put in a 3600 point run. The grand finale was Canada's first Wakeboard National Championships! Full details are on page 23. BAREFOOT The combined Ontario and Canadian Championships ran July 12-14 at River Bluffs Park, Cambridge, thank to a hard working Barefoot Committee led by Brock Cromwell. This marks the second year running that Ontario has hosted the Nationals, stepping in this year when no other organizer could be found. Some 43 footers competed over the weekend, the multi-day format boosting the ranks at the Ontarios (Friday) with Quebec skiers who were getting ready for Saturday's Championships. The site is an excellent one for spectators, in a park in the centre of Cambridge, and the crowd was good throughout- I estimated about 250 mid-day Saturday. In all it was a well run event- congratulations to the organizing committee and thanks for their hard work. The full details on the 3footing summer are on pages 26. Canadian Jaret Llewellyn needed a new Canadian record to win the International Water Ski Federation's inagural World Cup title - and he did it! His jump of 66.3m (217 ft) came in the final round of the Paddy Classic. It was enough to move him ahead of Bruce Neville and Carl Roberge to take the World Cup title. Toni Neville was the women's winner. The series, sponsored by the Cafe de Colombia was launched last spring with the Moomba Masters in Australia and included a total of six events. Ironically, Jaret was the leader after the first event, although the lead changed several times over the summer. Canadian Jim Clunie finished 6th in the series. But the Cafe de Colombia World Cup was not the only pro tour in operation this summer. The US tour changed its name to the Cafe de Colombia Water Ski Tour and the Sea Doo Wakeboard Series. (Yes, both series were sponsored by Cafe de Colombia). A couple of tour stops were actually part of both series! With the new name came a new format. Events were limited to Men's Slalom, Men's Jump and Wakeboard. This tour held 6 events. Here's a brief recap on Canadian action at all the professional events held this year: Moomba Masters (World Cup) - Melbourne, Australia (March 16) Canadians dominated this event, the first of the 1996 season. Jaret Llewellyn won the preliminaries, while Jim Clunie posted a personal best of 63.2m (207 ft) to win the first IWSA World Cup event. Jaret finished second, with brother Kreg Llewellyn in 5th. Pro Tour Stop 1 - Orlando, Fla (April 13/14) Jim Clunie took 4th place in Men's jump behind Carl Roberge, Bruce Neville and Mike Heath. Jaret Llewellyn finished 6th, while Kreg Llewellyn failed to make the finals. Canadian wakeboarder Jeremy Kovak finished 9th. Pro Tour Stop 2 - High Point, NC (May 18/19) Canadians Drew Ross and Tom Muir tied for 5th in Men's slalom. Jim Clunie placed 6th in jumping. US Masters - Calloway Gardens, GA (May 25/6) While not part of either tour, the Masters is the prestigious event of the year. Susi Graham and Helene Kjellander tied for 2nd in Women's Slalom. In Women's Tricks, current World Overall Champion, Canadian Judy Messer finished 2nd, as did Jaret Llewellyn in his event. Jaret's performance game him the Men's Overall title. Jeremy Kovak won the wakeboard division. Pro Tour Stop 3 - Shreveport, LA (June 8/9) This event was part of both series. No Canadians advanced to the finals in either slalom or jump. Wakeboarder Jeremy Kovak finished 7th. The winner was 14-year-old American Parks Bonifay, who became the youngest skier to ever win a pro circuit event. US Open (World Cup) - Greenville, NC (June 22/3) Jumper Jaret Llewellyn tied for 3rd in Men's Jump with arch rival Patrice Martin of France. Canadian Suzi Graham finished 5th in slalom, while Kreg Llewellyn, known as a jumper, finished 6th in Men's Slalom. That performance gave him 2nd place overall, just behind Martin. Wakeboarder Jeff Heer finished 3rd. Pro Tour Stop 4 - Indianapolis, IN (July 13/14) This event was part of both series. Jaret Llewellyn finished 2nd in Men's Jump. Drew Ross captured 4th place in Men's Slalom, while Jeremy Kovak finished 6th. In wakeboarding, Jeremy Kovak won the event, with fellow Canadian Jeff Heer in 3rd. Pro Tour Stop 5 - Omaha, NB (Aug. 4/5) Jeremy Kovak placed 2nd behind whiz-kid Parks Bonifay. In Men's Slalom, Drew Ross finished 10th. Arena Masters (World Cup) - Milan, Italy (Aug. 3/4) Jaret Llewellyn took another step towards his ultimate World Cup title by winning the Arena Masters. Jim Clunie finished 5th. Paddy Classic (World Cup final) - Dublin, Ireland (August 10 & 11) Long jumps were the order of the day, with Jaret jumping a new Canadian record of 66.3m (217 ft) a full 2.5m longer that his previous best. The jump gave him first place for the event and first place in the IWSF's Cafe de Colombia World Cup series. Jim Clunie finished 7th in the event, and 6th in the series. Pro Tour Stop 6 - Portland, OR (August 17/18) This was the final event of the Pro Tour. Wakeboarder Jeremy Kovak placed 2nd, with Jeff Heer in 5th. Drew Ross finished 5th in slalom.