Full details of the 2006 calendar of events for the well established Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup series were released today in Switzerland by Kuno Ritschard, President of the International Waterski Federation.

The World Cup series has brought the highest ranked Waterski and Wakeboard athletes to major downtown locations over the past two years to maximize exposure to the public. In 2006, the inclusion of an exotic location as the first Stop of the season will mark a new trend to further broaden the appeal and in particular for TV audiences. With a total of seven confirmed Stops on the schedule, this will be the biggest World Cup series to date.

APRIL 14-16	WORLD CUP	WATERSKI	LANGKAWI ISLAND, MALAYSIA
APRIL 20-22	WORLD CUP	WAKEBOARD & SHORTBOARD	DOHA, QATAR
JUNE 16-18	WORLD CUP	WAKEBOARD	ENGHIENS-LES-BAINS – FRANCE
JUNE 23-25	WORLD CUP	WATERSKI	FOBAN EMIN CLUB, BEIJING, CHINA
JULY 29-30	WORLD CUP	WATERSKI	DUBNA, RUSSIA
AUGUST 11-13	WORLD CUP	WATERSKI	ENNISKILLEN. NORTHERN IRELAND
SEPT – TBA	WORLD CUP	WAKEBOARD	BEDOK RESERVOIR, SINGAPORE

The total Cash Prize fund of $700,000 will include an end-of-season bonus with the accumulated points won by each athlete used to declare the overall winners. As in previous years, the events included will be Slalom, Shortboard, Jump and Wakeboard. New additions in 2006 will be the Stops on Langkawi Island in Malaysia and in Beijing in China. Both are quite spectacular in their own way. This will also be the first major international event of this kind ever staged at these locations.

The progress of the Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup series can be followed on http://www.iwsf.com/ throughout the season. A special 26 minute edited TV show for each Stop will also be distributed around the World by http://www.proactivetv.com/

The reigning World Cup champions will all return to defend their titles in 2006. Slalom Champions, Michelle Simpson (USA) and Jodi Fisher (GBR) are currently training in Florida. Shortboard Champions Clementine Lucine (FRA) and Nicolas LeForestier (FRA) are training in France and South Africa. Jump Champion June Fladborg (DEN) has returned to College in her home country and Jaret Llewellyn (CAN) is training in Florida. Wakeboard Champions Louise Moore (GBR) and Phillip Soven (USA) have also begun their preparations for the new year. Emma Sheers (AUS) has just announced that she will miss the 2006 World Cup season as she and her husband Rick are expecting their first child in May and will be based in Queensland during the year. As the woman who dominated Slalom and Jump in recent times, taking both World Titles in 2003, Sheers was a strong contender for a 2006 title in the World Cup series.

MasterCraft will continue to provide all the specialized competition boats throughout the season ( http://www.mastercraft.com/) and they are already planning the logistics challenge ahead.