2024 Big Jib Draw

The fifth Big Jib Draw bonspiel took place on 26-29 September 2024 at the RE/MAX Centre (St. John’s Curling Club), located at 135 Mayor Avenue in St. John’s.

Some social media posts about the bonspiel can be found on its Facebook event page.

Champions

The team that won is PHIL Up On Toutons from Halifax, shown below with the BJD trophy:

Registration

The following teams were in the competition.

Team Name	Skip	Team Location
House Music	Fahey	St. John’s
Impaired Bears	Cull	St. John’s
Oh Sheet!	Elliott	St. John’s
Plug the Hole	Grimes	St. John’s
Puffin Power Rangers	van der Meer	St. John’s
Sip and Slide	Cribb	St. John’s
Squid Jiggers	Hancock	St. John’s
Team Boone	Boone	St. John’s
Team G.O.A.T. (Gayest of all Time)	Murphy	St. John’s
Team Taylor	Taylor	St. John’s
The Roctopussies	Gallagher	St. John’s
Tight & Light	Trainor	St. John’s
Slay the House Down	Ott	St. John’s / Toronto
Bring Back My Guards	Fiore	Halifax
PHIL up on Toutons	Oickle	Halifax
The Brush Offs	Anderson	Halifax / St. John’s
Chinese Sandwich	Nagle	Toronto
Replacement Bitches	McDonald	Toronto
Rink Flamingos	Hayward	Toronto
Land and Sea	Gillette	Toronto / St. John’s
Gay Nerdz	Bernard	Toronto / Halifax
Eyes Da By’s	Serrick	Toronto / Vancouver
Drunken Sailors	Field	Toronto / Vancouver / St. John’s
House Hunters International	Myers	Toronto / Chicago

Travel & Lodging

For those planning to fly, please be sure to book flights using airport code YYT for St. John’s, Newfoundland. Do not select the city of Saint John in New Brunswick as your destination. Although the people in Saint John are very nice, that is not where our bonspiel is taking place.

Discount code from Air Canada: QCVVQAD1
This promotion code is valid for travel within several days of the bonspiel. Enter the code when making a booking on the Air Canada website to see the discounts that it provides for travel to/from St. John’s, Newfoundland.

For teams planning to drive to Newfoundland, you will want to book a ferry crossing with Marine Atlantic. Note that the last scheduled sailing of 2024 from North Sydney NS to Argentia NL is on September 20th, after which crossings to Port aux Basques NL will be the only option.

The Hilton Garden Inn has provided a special rate for our bonspiel, valid from September 24th to October 1st. Click here to make a booking.

Airport Pickups – Each year we try to get volunteers to greet our Come from Away Curlers at the airport and offer them a ride to their accommodation. Should you wish to have us try to match you with a volunteer, please fill in this form.

Social Events and Practice Ice

We will be having a welcoming reception on the evening of Thursday 26 September 2024, starting at 7:30pm, at the RE/MAX Centre. The opportunity to practice on the ice will be available, with time slots available as early as 6:00pm on the evening of September 26th. Time slots for practice are shown below.

On Friday evening there will be social event held at the curling club.

The Saturday evening social event will begin at 10:00pm at O’Reilly’s Irish Newfoundland Pub, located at 13 George Street. An after party will be hosted by Velvet Club & Lounge at 208 Water Street.

Schedule

With 24 teams, we are planning to have six draws of pool play, with the first one being on the morning of Friday September 27th. Each team will play three 8-end games in advance of the playoffs. A schedule (with the 24 teams divided into six colour-coded pools, each having four teams) is shown below. All times are with respect to the Newfoundland time zone.

Game results will be updated online on an ongoing basis, usually after each draw, but sometimes maybe even while games are in progress. They can also be viewed in PDF format.

You can also view the points that each team has earned during pool play. There is also a PDF version.

Rules of Play

Unless otherwise noted, the Rules of Curling for General Play (2022-2026) published by Curling Canada will apply.
The Five Rock Rule applies.
The No-Tick Shot Rule will not be enforced.
All brush heads except for hair/corn brooms are permissible.
Teams typically consist of four players, but three are allowed. A team is in default if the minimum complement of three players is not achieved within 15 minutes of the scheduled start of a game.
Each team must do a measured draw to the button after their first game.
During Round-Robin Play:
- Each team will play all 3 of the other teams in their own pool.
- Each game has up to 8 ends if time permits.
- Extra ends are not allowed, so there may be tied games.
- A timer will sound after 1 hour and 45 minutes.
  - You can then finish the current end, and if it isn’t the 8th end then also one more.
  - If the timer sounds while you are between ends, then only the next end can be played.
During Playoff Games:
- Each game has 8 ends.
- Ties are to be broken by playing extra ends.
- Games will not be timed, but all players are asked to be mindful of the schedule and to not waste time.
At the start of each game, the winner of a coin toss shall have their choice of hammer or rock colour.
Spare players are permitted. During playoff games, spares can only play in a team’s front-end.
It is customary for the winning team to buy a round of drinks for the losing team when they socialise after the game is over.
Scheduling and sheet assignments are subject to change at the discretion of the bonspiel committee or Draw Master to expedite play.
Earning Points During Round-Robin Play:
- 10 points for winning a game
- 5 points for each team in a tied game
- 1 point for each end in which a team scores
- Rocks scored do not count towards points.
- Blanked ends generate no points for either team.
- Ends that are not played because time ran out: no points for either team
- If a team concedes: the other team is deemed to win (and will also get 1 point for each remaining unplayed end)
- If a team defaults: the other team will earn 14 points (10 for winning plus 4 for half of the ends that could have been played)
Ranking for entry into playoffs:
- Regardless of points earned during round-robin play, if a team has won against all three other teams in their pool, then this team will advance to the A Division Playoffs. If no team in a pool has won against all three other teams in their pool, then the team with the most points in that pool will advance to the A Division Playoffs.
- Of the 18 remaining teams, the two with the most points will also advance to the A Division Playoffs.
- The 8 teams that advance to the A Division Playoffs will be ranked 1-8 based on their points.
- The 16 teams that do not advance to the A Division Playoffs will be ranked 9-24 based on their points. Teams 9-16 will advance to the C Division, and 17-24 to the D Division.
- In case of point ties, measured draw results will be used. If measured draw results still do not resolve a tie, then the tie will be broken by coin toss.

The Ugly Stick

During each draw we will have a special bell (in the form of a traditional Newfoundland ugly stick) that can be jubilantly rung by any team that makes a double take-out. This team will retain the coveted ugly stick until a double take-out is made by a different team during the same draw, at which time the ugly stick will be transferred accordingly. Since each draw has multiple games in progress concurrently, the ugly stick may visit many sheets over the course of a draw. The team that holds the ugly stick at the end of the draw will be rewarded with a round of shots from the bar.

Odds & Ends Curling