The ACBL Board of Directors held its spring meetings face-to-face from March 8 to 11 in Reno, NV. Find the report on our ACBL Board of Directors page, under Governance.
News
D19 tournament survey report now published
All District 19 members in good standing were emailed an invitation to complete a short tournament survey on March 17.
By March 20 we had received 865 responses. We kept the survey open for another week and received a few more submission.
The survey is now completed. The report can be read or downloaded here.
Thank you, all of you D19 members who participated! The results will be very useful to tournament organizers in planning future sectionals or regionals.
Register your team for the GNT Finals!
The Grand National Teams (GNT) is a grass-roots event that begins at the club level, continues with the District Finals competition in the spring, and concludes at the Summer North American Bridge Championships. There are four flights: Open Championship Flight, Flight A, Flight B, and Flight C. The winning team in each flight at the District Finals is invited to participate in the national finals of the GNT at the Summer NABC. In 2022, the Summer NABCs will be in Providence, RI, and the GNTs Championships will be July 13-17.
Our District Finals will be held in April 2022.
Click here to register.
You’ll need a valid credit card (except for flight C, which is free).
For more information, including the April schedule, go to our GNT page.
A letter from Tim White
As he undertakes his new mandate, Region 13 Director Tim White has sent out a letter to all Region 13 members (or at least those who have a valid email address registered with ACBL) explaining how he sees his role and priorities over the next three years.
If you haven’t received it, you can read it here.
National Directors Report Fall 2021
On January 1, 2022, Tim White officially became Regional Director for ACBL Region 13, which comprises Districts 18 and 19.
He sends us a very comprehensive report from the National Board Meeting in Austin which you can download as a pdf here
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Two items may be of particular interest to clubs and players:
1) Improvements in information technology, including:
- Completing the tournament event pre-registration system.
- Moving Trax application to cloud-based application.
- Moving ACBLScore to a web-based application.
2) A revamped convention card, debuting mid 2022 and featuring these changes:
- Seldom-used conventions have been removed and commonly-used conventions added.
- Recent changes in alerts and announcements are reflected.
- The One Club and One Diamond open bid sections have been expanded, providing more room to address different minor suit openings.
- The right side of the card has been reorganized, with bids shown in ascending order of strain
The new card can be downloaded here.
Antipodean Online Bridge
You might enjoy this lighthearted article, published recently in The Age, an Australian newspaper:
Feel like a bit of you-know-what?
The quiet passion that took off during lockdown.
Who knew bridge was so competitive, so fraught – so intoxicatingly fun?
The hordes who are flocking to play during lockdown, that’s who.
Amanda Hooton
OCTOBER 8, 2021
October issue of Bridge North West now available for download
A new issue of Bridge North West, District 19’s newsletter, has just been published!
You will find it on our Bridge North West page which you can easily access by clicking on Bridge North West in the top menu!
Whistler Regional Cancelled
Although it might not come as a surprise, this will confirm that the Whistler Regional Bridge Tournament, scheduled for Nov 1-7, has been officially cancelled, as of today, October 4.
As District 19’s president, Chris Cookson, explained in an emailed letter to all members:
“We had hoped to be able to return to Regionals in the District in 2021, but sadly that is not to be. We would be remiss in not acknowledging our hotel partner, the Fairmont Chateau Whistler who have worked very closely with the District in trying to run a safe and fun event. We look forward to returning to Whistler in the future. The work done by original chair Bruce Busby and his team, current chair Marv Norden, and the District Tournament Committee are also deeply appreciated. Tournament Director Matt Koltnow has worked closely with the District and his counsel has helped guide us through these difficult times. “
Tim White wins Region 13 election!
Tim White, 
currently a board member of D19, as well as District Director will be assuming new duties on January 1, 2022 as Regional Director for Region 13, which comprises Districts 18 and 19.
Last year, ACBL announced it was revising its governance structure, with the board of directors being downsized to 13 positions from the current 25.
The Board of Directors is the governing body of the ACBL, by 2024 consisting of a Regional Director elected from each of 13 regions. During 2020, the 25 districts were reorganized into 13 regions (district boundaries remain unchanged). In 2021, one Regional Director from each of eight regions (one of them being Region 13) was elected for a three-year or four-year term. The Board of Directors holds three regular meetings each year and makes policy decisions for the ACBL. Between meetings, committee activities and constant intercommunication among Board members and ACBL management keep the Board up to date on important matters.
Whistler Regional uncertain
As you know, the Whistler Regional is scheduled for November 1 to 7.
However, this is dependent on BC moving to step 4 of its Covid Recovery Plan, which would allow large indoors gatherings. Due to the recent surge in Covid cases, the province remains at step 3 for the foreseeable future.
BC Public Health officials hope that as more people get immunized to meet the BC vaccine card requirements, restrictions can be lifted.
Given the uncertainty, D19’s Board of Directors will make a final decision on whether to hold the tournament on October 1st. District players will be informed through email and a notice will be posted on our website.
Implications for hotel and accommodations reservations:
If you have booked a room at Chateau Whistler, hang tight. Your credit card will not be charged until mid October. It’s an awesome rate and you might want to consider keeping some or all of your days for a getaway. even if the event is cancelled.
If you have booked other accommodations (Airbnb, etc), check their cancellation policy.