I am told that last year there was some confusion about the rules, specially about the possibility of skipping levels and the number of possible misses (although the rules had been posted). This year we should follow more strictly the High Jump rules as published by the USA track and field as suggested by Jeff. I am inclined to also have players use the same string for the boomerang and the corkscrew, to make it more "pure". We may need to include something specific about breaking a tie (suggestions?)
The current record is 9 wraps by Alan Gray and Jon Gates.
The complete rules are below.
1. The Corkscrew will follow the description of the worlds ladder rules for this trick, except as explicitly described below.
2. Any throw-top can be used as long as it doesn't break any specific rules.
3. The top has to be started by a boomerang throw, without the use of any external (mechanical, electrical, etc.) starter help.
4. The top cannot have any special means of grabbing the string. The string will just catch the open groove or neck of the tip by wrapping around it (less than a full wrap and multiple wraps are allowed). The tip can be either fixed or have bearing(s) for lower friction.
5. The same string has to be used for the corkscrew than for the boomerang. The string can be of any length but the player may choose to use just part of it (e.g. for the boomerang).
6. The string has to be wrapped around the arm after throwing the boomerang. The corkscrew arm can be different than the boomerang arm.
7. The top has to end up spinning for at least 1 second on the hand that started the corkscrew. Any means of bringing the top back to the hand are allowed as long as they only involve manipulation with the string or body parts (without a re-start) and the top does not touch the ground.
8. Only the number of completed full rotations around one arm will count. Half-rotations, reversing the corkscrew, continuing around the second arm (bondage) or other parts of the body don't count.
9. At least 2 independent witnesses or judges and a video recording are needed to certify the record. The 2 witnesses can be replaced by at least 3 other contestants and peer-judged if there are at least 4 contestants.
10. If more than 3 contestants can be assembled at the same time, a system similar to the Olympic "high-jump" will be used:
Competitors may begin at any wrap count announced by the chief judge, or may pass, at their own discretion. Three consecutive missed attempts, at any number of wraps or combination of number of wraps, will eliminate the competitor.
11) If it is not possible to gather more than 3 contestants, each contestant will have the opportunity to try any chosen number of wraps, until they have 3 misses. The number of wraps to be attempted has to be pre-announced.
12. The winner will become the guardian of the Jim Boehm trophy for one year or until the future SPIN federation decides to have another corkscrew challenge. If the winner breaks the previous record obtained in a previous contest he will be proclaimed as the corkscrew world record holder.
