Bulletin Number 17

Bulletin Number 17 January 2008

VERY GOOD NEWS for 2008

The WHF is very pleased to announce that Sweden has just received the final confirmation that they may hold our World Hovercraft Championships in 2008. Further detailed information appears later in this Bulletin.

We hope you will support them and wish them well and look forward to an exiting Championship.

As usual this Bulletin will be circulated to as many people as possible but please pass it on to anyone who you think may be interested. If you have any questions relating to the organization of this World Championship please contact the Swedish Hover Club direct.

Tony Drake JP. President of the World Hovercraft Federation.

World Championships 2008 ~ Details from the Swedish Hover Club:

The Swedish Hover Club, who is hosting this event, has asked us to publish the following information on their behalf:

· The Championships will be held at Flottsbro, (close to Stockholm). The race site and paddock will be open from Monday 18^th August 2008 at 10.00hrs. Craft or trailers may stay in the cabin/camping area if you have reserved a cabin or campsite.

· An official website will be opened on 1^st February 2008. The address will be www.swedenhover.com

· On this website craft drivers will be able to register craft and purchase Saturday dinner tickets. Please note that drivers must pay the entry fee and purchase dinner tickets to get a special code which is needed to book cabins or reserve camping space on the race site. This means that only registered drivers and mechanics etc., can book a cabin or camping space at this time. Later, in March any remaining cabins will be released for anyone else.

· Then entry fees are as follows:

o Drivers 80 €uro + WHF fee 5 €uro = total 85 €uro

o Juniors 65 €uro

o Saturday night dinner 22 €uro per person.

· Payment details will be posted on the website.

· The last date for registration has not yet been agreed but if you want to make sure of a cabin or campsite you will have to act quickly!

· At the moment the Swedish Hover Club are making arrangements with a suitable container shipping/handling company and this is likely to be Schenker. This will be confirmed shortly. However the shipping address is:

Flottsbro

Häggstavägen

S-141 32 HUDDINGE

SWEDEN

· Please not that any shipping arrangements made MUST include delivery to the race site, lifting off / on the trailer and customs clearance.

World Championships 2008 ~ General:

· The dates for the World Championships are 20^th to 24^th August 2008

· The event will be held at Flottsbro (the same venue as the EHF events in Sweden 2005 and 2007).

· The Championship formulae will be as follows :

o Formula 1

o Formula 2

o Formula 50

o Formula S

o Formula J

o Formula 25

o Formula 3

· Please note that minute 06.06 of the WHF Board meeting of 2006 will apply. That is: “For a formula to qualify as a World Championship there must be at least 8 competitors at the final registration date. When less than 8 competitors in a formula arrive at the event it may be possible that 2 formulae are run concurrently (at the same time). This will be by agreement between the Organizers and the WHF”. This means that if a formula does not qualify as a World Championship a trophy will not be awarded for it.

· Very regrettably it is not possible to host Endurance Racing (ER) at these Championships. This is entirely due to the fact there is insufficient time at the event within the official permit from the host countries government.

· The Swedish Hover Club is a very efficient, albeit, small club. They will need help with their organization both before and during the event. If you are asked to help please do your very best to do so.

· The WHF and its Member Countries wish our friends in the Swedish Hover Club every success with this event.

Next WHF Board Meeting:

The next WHF Board meeting will be held on Monday 25^th August 2008 at Flottsbro, Sweden. Formal invitations will be sent out near the time. However, please remember that any major items you may wish to discuss can be placed on the discussion forum on our web site ~ details on next page so please use it.

WHF Web site and forum:

· We now have a very vibrant and up to date website. We have recently added a discussion forum and voting facility. It can be found on our usual web site at www.worldhovercraftfederation.org please take a moment to register

· Either go to our web site and follow the links or insert the following into your web browser http://worldhovercraftfederation.org/forum.php

· Initially you can read the contents of the topics but will have no way to give your opinion until you register.

· Please take the time to register, we need to know:

- the Username you want,

- the password that will guarantee you are the only user of the login name,

- the confirmation of your password,

- your last name,

- your first name,

- your email address,

- your country,

- the language you will prefer to use,

- and SUBMIT your registration.

· You will receive an email with a confirmation key and a link to validate your registration.

· You will receive an email to confirm your login and password for you to keep with your records.

· You will then be able to login to the forum and be able to give your opinion on the forum topics.

· Every week, a check will be made to see if a “Country Representative” delegate has registered and we automatically will give them their rights to vote.

· Each time we will call for a vote, we will first check that any one entitled to vote has their voting rights confirmed.

· If you have any difficulties with the Forum please contact our Technical Director, Jean-Francois Berry at jfberry@club-internet.fr

· Please give us your opinion on any subject.

· If you want to add a subject, please send our Technical Director your topic as a text file (txt) at jfberry@club-internet.fr and he will introduce your topic in the two languages as soon as possible.

Specialized WHF hovercraft marshals:

As mentioned in the last Bulletin, in order to improve the safety and control of WHF events it has been decided to compile a register of suitable marshals and officials from principally European Clubs. Michael Rausch will be coordinating this and will shortly be approaching Clubs for their recommendations. Please be ready with your information when he contacts you, or get in first by e-mailing him at rausch@luftkissen.de

Marshals and officials will be selected for both their marshalling expertise and inter-personal skills. Apart from marshalling at events they will be asked to train marshals provided by host countries. In this way we can increase the standard of our sport world wide.

For your information our Member Country Delegates are:

Australia Peter Streader peter.streader@thomson.net

Belgium Michel Thiry michel.thiry@cybernet.be

Canada Ross Wease rwease@gmail.com

Denmark Uffe Andersen uffeandersen@hovercraftclub.dk

France Denis Ragot rpm@wanadoo.fr

Germany Michael Rausch rausch@luftkissen.de

Great Britain Chris Barlow insurance@hovercraft.org

Indonesia (*) Soegiarto Soejatono alista@cbn.net.id

Ireland David Ryan hoverireland@yahoo.ie

Italy Michele Scanavino mikiscanavino@libero.it

Japan Kazutoyo Matsuda matsuda7@mb.infoweb.ne.jp