On May 23 – 26, 2016 Goldline Curling participated in the World Curling Federation’s Sweeping Summit held in Kemptville, Ontario near Ottawa. Since then we have remained in constant communication with the WCF regarding their anticipated recommendations and what that means for Goldline Curling products moving forward.

There are a number of key questions that the WCF release from June 27, 2016 raises, and we would like to address those now.

Who is impacted?

The proposed WCF regulations will impact WCF events only. Additionally, it is expected that the World Curling Tour (e.g. the Grand Slam of Curling) will follow the same guidelines. It is also expected that WCF member associations (e.g. national curling associations) as well as their member associations (e.g. provincial curling associations) will all adopt the same guidelines.

Therefore, it is expected that starting in the 2016-17 season all curlers participating in events run by or leading up to provincial, national or international competitions, participating in the Grand Slam of Curling, or participating in other similar “elite” level events will need to use equipment that complies with the new standards.

It is important to note that the WCF recommendations carry no weight in regulating the recreational curling market. As always, it will remain up to the organizers of individuals clubs, leagues and events to determine the equipment guidelines that they wish to follow.

WCF compliant equipment from Goldline Curling

Heads: The Air Head™

Over the last year Goldline Curling has been working on a new brush head, called the Air Head. At the time of the Sweeping Summit, we did not have a production quality Air Head available for testing, and as such it has not been approved under the proposed standards yet.

We did however have a 3D printed prototype available, and the initial response on our new design has been overwhelmingly positive. We have been advised that this design does not raise any red flags that would indicate any problems in gaining approval. Additionally, we have had extensive talks with the WCF regarding their new specifications and at this time, we are confident that production quality units will be available for testing over this summer and we will be able to gain approval for the 2016-17 season.

Heads: Oval Brush Head

The existing Goldline Curling brush head is already included as an approved curling head for elite level events. If necessary, the existing Goldline Curling brush head may be sold separately and installed on an existing brush handle.

Pads:

Due to the extremely limited scope of approval that was recommended by the players and subsequently proposed by the WCF, no pad on the market in the 2015-16 season met with the new specification. Goldline Curling is actively producing new pads for this upcoming season that will satisfy the specification.

Pads: The Air Pad™

Goldline Curling will also be introducing a new Air Pad this season that is specifically designed to work with our new Air Head. As with the Air Head, we anticipate having approval for a version of this new pad before the start of the 2016-17 season.

Pads: Traditional oval pad

The most challenging element is the fact that the WFC is mandating not only a single material on the pad that meets with pre-determined specifications, but is also mandating that the material must come from a single, approved source. As a result, we are expecting to have a very limited supply of compliant pads to start the upcoming season. In fact, our initial supply is expected to be limited to Air Pads only.

We are hopeful to have more robust inventory levels of both pad designs by late October or early November. At that time, it is expected that a traditional oval pad that is approved under the new specifications will become available.

Until then, the only way to purchase WCF approved curling pads for Goldline brushes will be directly through Goldline Curling and will initially be limited to Air Pads only. Once we are able to secure a more stable inventory level we will make both new pads (Air Pad and Oval Pad) available through our dealer network.

Recreational market

As previously mentioned, it is expected that the new regulations will be adopted for select elite level play, and competitions that may lead to participation in those events, only. There is no governing body with the authority to mandate what the recreational curling market may use.

With that said, we have paid very close attention to what has occurred throughout the curling world over the last year. We are also well aware of the outcome of the WCF Sweeping Survey that clearly identified:

  • the delivery should be the most important aspect of a successful curling shot;
  • sweeping should never be able to slow a stone down or make a stone “fall back” against the curl; and,
  • sweeping should have only marginal ability to directionally impact a stone.

Based on this information, but without the science based results from the National Research Council and WCF (these results are still pending) we have had to make decisions about what equipment to manufacture and sell for the upcoming 2016-17 curling season.

Our overall intention in making our decisions was to provide equipment that is in keeping with the spirit of the game, as identified by the Sweeping Survey.

Heads

Starting in 2016-17 we will be making our new Air Head the standard on all brushes we sell.

The Air Head is an exciting new design that offers various benefits over currently available products, notably light weight, easily replaceable pad, low pad cost, and simple installation into any handle. Further, the Air Head readily accepts both elite and recreational pads. These features, in combination with anticipated approval, have led us to offer it as our standard.

We have some remaining inventory of brushes with our traditional Oval Head Assembly in stock, but supplies are very limited and are expected to be sold very early in the season. We are not currently planning on producing any more.

We also have a limited supply of Oval Horse Hair brushes and heads, but we expect to sell these out early in the season as well. We are not currently planning on producing any more.

Pads

As previously mentioned we will be producing a new WCF compliant Air Pad. Additionally, we are going to be producing Air Pads in a variety of colours using the same material that can be found on our current Norway pads, but with the fabric inverted and without the well-known Norway ridges.

As mentioned in the WCF release, there were a number of fabrics that were found to perform within acceptable margins. The main points of concern were waterproof coatings coming in contact with the ice and special features such as our Norway ridges. There has also been concern that the WCF approved fabric may not prove to be durable enough for the average recreational curler.

In order to strike a balance between these various factors, we believe that it makes the most sense to continue with a fabric that is known and trusted, but to remove the elements that could potentially allow this new product to perform in undesirable ways. The Norway fabric is well known and offers durability that we can trust. By inverting the fabric, we will ensure that the waterproofing is next to the pad and away from the ice. We are confident that this will produce a product that will be appropriate for the recreational market both in terms of performance and durability.

Our traditional Oval Synthetic pads are also easy to continue to move forward with. This has always been a very popular product, and has in fact been used to win an Olympic Gold medal as recently as 2010. It has no offending features, such as inserts, foils or ridges. We have every confidence that this is still a great product for the recreational market.

The fourth pad we will offer is the traditional oval Norway pad. Since its introduction, the Norway pad has been an extremely popular pad with both the elite and recreational markets. To date we have not received nor even heard of any complaints about the Norway pad producing “directional” results in real world scenarios. It is a high quality and durable product that has always produced great results on the ice.

However, although we have not seen the official results from the Sweeping Summit yet, we have reason to believe the science will show that in the hands of strong, well trained sweepers, it may be possible to manipulate a rock in unintended ways when using a Norway pad. For that reason, it will no longer be approved for the elite market. To our knowledge though, there is no indication that this has ever occurred at a recreational level, so we feel that there is no need to be concerned with pads that are already on the market, or with selling current stocks.

At present we have sufficient stock to sell Norway pads through the 2016-17 season if past purchasing trends remain consistent. We will be seeking feedback from our customers in the coming months on whether or not to continue manufacturing this popular product.