Cable Water Ski story

 

The background of cable water skiing is relatively short compared with the classic water skiing (behind the boat).

Mr.Bruno Rixen was the first man who came up in 1960s with an idea to use cable tow for water skiing. At that time he had worked for a company producing winter ski lifts. His reasons including both economic and ecological requirements and also the fact that water-skiing could become a popular mass summer sport.

 

The cable water ski was put into operation in 1966 in Benidorme in Spain and was used by tourists only. After Spain, Germany became the second country with cable water ski. On 26 May 1969, it was installed in Kiefersfelden.. For two years, many classic water skiers began here to try to adjust the water skiing for the cable ski conditions.

 

Many cable water-skies had been built in Germany in that time and the first unofficial Championship of Germany was organised between 4 and 6 September 1971 in Freiburg, in slalom and tricks. As a result of this tournament, the participating clubs became members of the German Water Ski Federation on 29 January 1972. It can be stated that this established  “Cable water ski”, as a new young kind of sport.

 

Later the skiers from Spain, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg started to privately meet and organised a first official international championship in Benidorme, Spain. Bilo Oliveras, who later became a president of IWSF, worked here as a judge.

 

The first “International Championship of Germany” with the participation of skiers from Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Luxembourg took place in August 1973. The German Water Ski Federation elected Günter Ludwig as chairman of Cable Water Ski Section.

 

Thus Germany became a pilot state in the further development of cable water skiing and after some years Günter Ludwig was asked by German Water Ski Federation during the Congress in Montreux 1981 to propose the establishment of Cable Ski Commission. Günter Ludwig, as the president of Cable Ski Commission, was appointed by the Congress to organise the meeting of the involved Federations. Afterwards Jose-Maria Alonzo, Cornel Laknes Deuwer and Günter Ludwig met in spring 1981 in Frankfurt and prepared the first Cable ski rules. The representatives of Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium and Italy participated at the next meetings.

 

The third discipline “jumps” was introduced  in 1981, but the cable ski owners refused it for a longer time for safety reasons and possible damage to cable ski equipment.

 

The first European Championship was finally agreed by EAME region in 1985, after many years of development and multilateral support. This Championship was organised by German Water Ski Federation and took place in Langenfeld in August 1985. It was very successful with more than 15,000 spectators.

 

This success significantly contributed to the Congress of EAME region in Frankfurt 1986 approving the establishment of the Cable Ski Council. It meant that more than 12 years long activity of Günter Ludwig had lead to a successful completion of one phase of water skiing and, in his opinion, it was time for a new person to take over and continue the work. It was Harry de Laat who became his successor.

 

Under his leadership and in co-operation with other activists the European Cable ski Championship has been organised every year:

-         1986 in Beekse Bergen – the Netherlands

-     1987 in Asten – Austria. Here, under the leadership of Günter Ludwig and Harry de Laat, an unofficial Cable Ski Council was established, which was approved by Electoral Congress in 1988, consisted of the following members:

President:            Harry de Laat                                    HOL

Secretary:            Marie-Anne Persons               BEL

Members:            Peter Pearl                            GBR

                        Madeleine Henry                      FRA

                        Toni von Lerchenfeld                  GER

                        Kees de Peffer                                  BEL

                        Ladislav Nemes                      TCH

 

The members of Council prepared the following documents during the period of aforementioned two years:

Technical Rules of which each member of the Executive Board received one (1) copy

Additional Rules

Homologation dessier with a document called “Homologation Rules and Guidelines to explain how to fill in the dossier and highlighting the differences between Cable ski and Tournament on homologation basis”.

 

-         1988: France organised EAME Championship in Lery Poses area

 

-         1989: Czechoslovakia, the first Eastern European country, organised already the 5th EAME Championship. The championship took place in a new sport area Kosice. Three new EAME records showed the level of the organisation and the quality of the cable.

 

-         1990: the 6th EAME Championship was again organised in Germany, the founding Cable ski country, in a nice Alfsee – Rieste area, where further EAME records were beaten.

 

-         1991: the first problem arose. There was no certain organiser at the beginning of the season. The situation was solved by the willingness of the French Water Ski Federation which assumed responsibility for the organisation of the 7th EAME Championship in popular Lery Poses between 16 and 18 August 1991. This was highly appreciated by Aubrey Sheena, EAME president, on behalf of each Federation.

 

-         1992: the 8th EAME Championship was organised by Austrian Federation in Feldkirchen. The Championship was organised on a good technical and social level. Toni von Lerchenfeld left the Cable ski Council in this period and was replaced by the then active skier Axel Torbecke of Germany.

 

-         1993 represents a formation of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Federation presented itself by organising the 9th EAME Championship in the popular area in Kosice.

 

-         1994: The jubilee 10th EAME Championship took place in Tel Aviv, Israel. Due to lack of experience, several problems, but not critical, occurred.

 

-         1995: the 11th EAME Championship took place in Kaletal Germany. The performances in slalom and jumps were influenced by bad weather. The tricks competition, however, brought new records in both men and women categories.

 

At a meeting of Cable Ski Council in Vienna in January 1995, Kees de Peffer announced in a letter his retirement from the Council because of his work overload. The Council expressed gratitude for his activity and asked Guido Caterina from Italy to take over the work in the Council.

 

-         The 12th EAME Championship in 1996 took place in Budapest, Hungary, thanks to   the activity and support of the Slovak Federation, and brought  very good results and good organisation in all areas.

 

-         1996 was also a historical year with the first EAME Junior Championship and Dauphin Cup. It was organised by the Slovak WSF in a quite new area on Slnava Lake in Piestany. The Championship demonstrated that the area had all conditions necessary for an organisation of all top competitions.

 

-         1997: An open EAME Championship was organised in Piestany, in the newly completed area and its quality was supported by three new records:

- Slalom (men)       Alexander Graw               GER            2.0/58/9.75

- Slalom (women)   Lisa Adams                        GBR            3.0/55/11.25

- Jumps (men)        Daniel Resl                         CZE            53.1 m

The EAME Junior Championship and Dauphin Cup took place, in spite of preliminary problems with location, in a nice area of Sussel thanks to the activity of the German Federation. The competition had a very good level in respect of its organisation and the performance of skiers.

 

At the end of 1997 Madeleine Harry had stepped down from the function for health reasons and Jurgen Pauen was appointed by the Congress in Bergen in 1998 to replace her.

 

-         1998 brought new developments in Cable ski, as the World Executive Board agreed on the establishment of the World Cable Ski Council. Harry de Laat and Marie Anne Persons assumed their responsibilities with Jurgen Pitz who used to fulfil this task for couple of previous years.

 

World Executive Board agreed at its meeting in September 1997 in Columbia that the competition in St-Leone (near Heildelberg, Germany) which took place between 21 and 23 August 1998, would be the first official World Cable Ski Championship and the present EAME records considered as Cable Ski world best performances.

 

The first World Cable Ski Championship had a very good organisation and set high standard for this competition. The Pitz and Hoffman families played an important role in it. The weather, however, was not good.

 

The Open EAME Championship in 1998 took place outside Europe for the first time, it was between 18 and 20 September in Warmbats, South Africa. Louis Polome and Bruce McFarlane played very important roles in its organisation. Due to favourable conditions, the skiers also performed very well.

 

The EAME Junior Championship and Dauphin Cup took place between 4 and 5 September in Cany, France. Good organisation and performances were influenced by rainy weather.

 

At the meeting of the Council in 29 January 1999 in Jordan, Peter Pearl of Great Britain informed about his retirement intention and proposed Nicky Cain of Great Britain to continue in his function. The Council expressed gratitude to Peter for his very good work, especially at beginning of Council, and also for his active help in development of Regional statutes and Bye-Laws.

 

The Council took the standpoint to two absences of Guido Caterina, who had not explained them, informed Italian Federation about it and proposed the Administration Commission to replace him.

 

Cable Council at its meeting on 19 March 1999 in Langenfeld, Germany decided to invite Maoz Tal (Israel) to become a member, which was first agreed with Israel Federation.

EAME Junior Championship and Dauphin Cup took place in a popular area in Kosice between 28 and 29 August 1999, and it was the only event from Titled events that was organised that year. 

 

EAME Open Championship did not take place in 1999, because the Netherlands, as initial organiser, had withdrawn and C.C. did not manage to find another one. This fact lead C.C. to a decision, made at its meeting in Nice, France, on 12 and 13 November 1999, to accept two year cycle for World Championships and EAME. The World Championships will be organised in even years, i.e. in 2000, 2002, etc. The EAME Championships will be organised in odd years, i.e. in 2000,2003,etc.

 

The meeting of this Council prognosticated the biggest personal changes because Harry de Laat, the first C.C. president since its establishment, announced his retirement. Harry also announced his retirement from the World Cable Ski Commission. He however offered his support to C.C. in the future. Another one, who announced his retirement, was Alex Torbecke, because of his job overload.

 

Laco Nemes also announced his decision to continue working for C.C. for the next two years, only, and promised to find a suitable successor for good co-operation in Eastern Europe.

 

The Electoral Congress 2000 in Bordeaux, France, agreed the following new C.C. members:

Maoz Tal                                 Israel

Anne Browaeys                    France

Juergen Pitz                              Germany

 

At the C.C. meeting on 30 January, Marie-Anne Persons (Belgium), was elected as new president and Nicky Caine (Great Britain) as secretary.

 

A year 2000 was very successful.

The EAME Open Championship took place between 28 and 27 August in Langefeld, Germany, and in spite of bad weather it was very well.

EAME Junior Championship and Dauphin Cap took part in Schloss Dankern, Germany, between 15 and 17 September. The organisation was very good, thanks to organisers; good weather also contributed to very good atmosphere there.

The 2nd World Championship in the history took part in an excellent area Piestany, Slovakia, between 1 and 4 September. The organisational and social part of Championship was highly appreciated, in spite of some problems with failure of electricity supply caused by strong wind. Two new world records support the presence of good conditions:

 

            Slalom (women)          Lisa Adams                              GBR                1/55/10.25

            Jumps (women)          Brita Llewllyn-Grebe  AUT                40.6 m

 

The annual EAME Congress on 27. January 2001 in Tenerife agreed that since 2001 the present EAME Dauphins Cup would become the official EAME Championship – Dauphins.

 

EAME open Championship took place between 24 and 26 August 2001 in Havirov, the Czech Republic. It was organised on a very good technical and social level, thanks to the organisers from Havirov, especially Romana Kohnova.

 

EAME Junior Championship and Dauphins took place in Piestany, Slovakia, between 7 and 9 September 2001. The Slovak WSF assumed the responsibility for the organisation because the initial organiser Israel had to decline it due to dangerous situation in the country. In spite of a short time for preparation, the Championship was organised on a very good technical and social level, thanks to very good and experienced team of Water Ski Club Piestany.

 

 

 

EUROPEAN CABLESKI TOUR (ECT)

 

To attract more skiers to the International Cableski Competitions and also increase the standart of skiers participating and help to get more interest from the media, the Cableski Council decided of the January meeting in Barcelona to start in 1993 with the ECT.

 

Survey of the ECT from 1993 – 2001

 

1993

19/20   Juni                  Rhein Neckar Pocal                           GER

01/02   August             International   Asten                              AUT

07/08   August             International   Groeningen                  NED

21/22   August             International   Best Eindhoven            NED            Final

 

1994

28/29   May                 International   Paderborn                    GER

11/12   June                 International   Alfsee-Rieste               GER

09/10   July                  Harksfeede     Bokaal                          NED

06/07   August             Ausse Pokal    Asten                          AUT

20/21   August             International   Kosice                            SVK            Final

 

1995

20/21   May                 International   Langenfeld                   GER

01/02   July                  International   Kosice                            SVK

08/09   July                  Ausse  Pokal   Asten                           AUT

22/23   July                  International   Budapest                        HUN

12/13   August             Princes           London                                    GBR            Final

 

1996

15/16   June                 International   Tilburg                NED

22/23   June                 Alfsee             Rieste                          GER

13/14   July                  International   Havirov              CZE

10/11   August             International   Kosice                            SVK

24/25   August             International   St.Leon              GER            Final

 

1997

31/01            May/June            International   Piestany              SVK

14/15   June                 International   Langenfeld                   GER

02/03   July                  Ausse  Pokal   Asten                           AUT

16/17   August             International   Budapest                        HUN            Final

 

1998

20/21   June                 International   Piestany              SVK

27/28   June                 International   Zachun               GER

18/19   July                  International   Kosice                            SVK

08/09   August             International   Loon-op-Zand                      NED

15/16   August             International   Wankum             GER            Final

 

1999

04/05   June                 International   Kosice                            SVK

12/13   June                 International   Piestany              SVK

26/27   June                 International   Zachun               GER

31/01            July/August      Ausse Pokal    Asten                          AUT

26/27            September       Princes           London                                    GBR            Final

 

2000

01/02   June                 International   Kiefersfelden                GER

08/09   July                  International   Zachun               GER

12/13   August             International   Havirov              CZE

 

2001

 

 

In 2001 there were not any ECT competitions and this fact could harm the next development of the Cable ski. This situation should be dealt by new Cable ski Council very intensively and new Cable ski Council should find new effective system how to organise ECT or other international competitions as well.

However 36 ECT competitions took place between 1992 and 2000, these were by the Federations as follows:

 

Germany                                  12  Number of ECT Competitions

Slovak Republic                      8                    

Netherland                               5

Austria                                     5

Czech Republic                        2

Greaz  Britain                           2

Hungary                                   2

 

Survey of valid EAME and IWSF  Records

 

Men

Tricks              Zernosek Alexei             (BLR)              10 020 ps.

Slalom              Graw Alexander            (GER)              2,0/58/9,75

Jumps              Hintringer Manfred            (AUT)              58,7 m.

 

Woman

Tricks              Meier-Gromyko Julia            (BLR)              8 080 ps.

Slalom              Adams Lisa                  (GBR)              1,O/55/10,25

Jumps              Meier-Gromyko Julia            (BLR)              43,1 m.

 

 

Piestany/Slovakia , January 2002                                                    Ladislav Nemes