Key Figures

Key Figures · Racer

Fumikazu Watanabe

First in Pro Freestyle at the 2008 World Finals and second in 2009, and named by the association in 2015 as the person whose company is Bun Freestyle, which distributes his own line of freestyle hulls.

At a glance

Role: Racer
On the record: 4 years, from 2004 to 2015
Disciplines: Freestyle
Titles on the record: 1 title, each off a held results document
Companies: Bun Freestyle (ran)
In the archive: 2 history chapters and 1 event

The eras this page's records fall in are drawn solid; the others are hollow.

How we know: Each bar runs the years printed on that era's panel, and which eras a page falls in is the archive's grouping of its records, not the length of anyone's career.

a year printed above a fact or in a title row on this page
a year printed above no fact and in no title row
a title year

Printed above the facts or in the title rows, 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2015. Printed above none, 2005 to 2007 and 2010 to 2014. Title year 2008. 1 fact has no year printed above it and marks no box.

Every year from the first to the last year printed above a fact or in a title row on this page, one box a year.

How we know: the year printed above each fact, and the Year column of the titles table, below; an honour carries no activity year, so it marks no box.

Confirmed 2
Likely 3
Contested 0

1 title row carries no grade word and is not counted here.

The grade word on each fact on this page, counted. It grades how firmly the documents tie each fact to this person, not the person.

How we know: the word printed above each fact below, counted on this page only.

Titles on the record (1)

Each read off a results document the archive holds: a result sheet, or, for a season's title, the body's own champions grid or season table, with the name as that document prints it.

Year	Event	Class	Placing	Name as printed	Document
2008	World Finals	Pro Freestyle	1st	Fumikazu Watanabe	2008 World Finals results

Results

2008 · Confirmed

The International Jet Sports Boating Association's complete results for the 2008 World Finals list Fumikazu Watanabe first in the Pro Freestyle overall table.

Sources: 2008 World Finals results

2004 · Likely

The association's 2004 World Finals sheets list Watanabe, Fumikazu seventh in Pro Freestyle, in qualifying and again in the placings. The archive reads him as the 2008 winner from the full name and the class, an inference.

Sources: 2004 World Finals pro sheet 1; 2004 World Finals pro motos

2009 · Confirmed

At the 2009 World Finals the association's page for 10 October lists FUMIKAZU WATANABE second on a Yamaha in its ninth section, which its class list makes Pro Freestyle. PersonalWatercraft.com's report prints him second in the class with 48.2 points, for Japan, and calls him the two-time defending champion, which joins him to the 2008 winner.

Sources: 2009 World Finals 1018 Pro Freestyle; PersonalWatercraft.com 2009 Pro Freestyle

Business

2015 · Likely

In a post of 22 September 2015 the association announced that Bun Freestyle, which it calls the company of former World Champion Fumikazu Watanabe, was returning as a sponsor of the Blowsion Under The Bridge Night Show at its 2015 World Finals, and said he distributes his own line of freestyle hulls, the UFO, the Super UFO and the Pro UFO. The archive reads the post's Fumikazu Watanabe as the 2008 winner from the name and the association's "former World Champion", an inference.

Sources: IJSBA 22 Sep 2015 Bun Freestyle sponsor post

Recognition

Likely

The association's announcement of its 2016 hall of fame inductees names Fumikazu "Bun" Watanabe among the five. It prints names only, so the archive reads the entry as this rider on the name.

Sources: IJSBA post hall of fame inductees 2016

Names as printed

FUMIKAZU WATANABE (2009 World Finals 1018 Pro Freestyle); Watanabe, Fumikazu (2004 World Finals pro motos)

Elsewhere in the archive

History chapter: Freestyle as a discipline in the rule books
History chapter: The IJSBA and the World Finals
Event: IJSBA World Finals
Organisation: International Jet Sports Boating Association
Era: The makers and their machines
Era: The rule book years

What the archive has not read (1)

The association's champions page lists Watanabe Fumikazu, Japan, as Pro Freestyle champion for 2007 as well as 2008. No result sheet of the 2007 World Finals is held (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-19), so 2007 is not a title here.

Documents cited on this page

2008 World Finals results (web.archive.org): IJSBA World Finals 2008, complete results (PDF, Wayback capture), International Jet Sports Boating Association, 2008; sanctioning body, high. Every class of the 2008 World Finals with placings and moto results, as text extracted from the association's own PDF. The sheet prints no event title or year; both come from its address on the association's site.
2004 World Finals pro sheet 1 (web.archive.org): 2004 World Finals, pro classes results, sheet pro01 (PDF, Wayback capture), International Jet Sports Boating Association, 2004; sanctioning body, high. The first of the 2004 pro results sheets, heats and motos by class, as extracted text. Event and year come from the file's address.
2004 World Finals pro motos (web.archive.org): 2004 World Finals, pro classes heats and motos, sheet pros02 (PDF, Wayback capture), International Jet Sports Boating Association, 2004; sanctioning body, high. Heats, last-chance qualifiers and motos by pro class. The hometown column drifts against the names throughout, so it is never read as a rider's own. The event and year are read from the address the file was published at.
2009 World Finals 1018 Pro Freestyle (web.archive.org): 2009 quakysense World Finals, results page 1018, Pro Freestyle section (ijsba.com, Wayback capture of 5 December 2013), International Jet Sports Boating Association, 2009-10-10; sanctioning body, high. A third excerpt of the association's Aquascore results page for 10 October 2009: the ninth uncaptioned section, read as Pro Freestyle by its place in the page's own class list, with name, hometown, make and place for each rider.
PersonalWatercraft.com 2009 Pro Freestyle (personalwatercraft.com): 2009 ISJBA World Finals Report (PersonalWatercraft.com, 20 October 2009), the Pro Freestyle paragraph and table, PersonalWatercraft.com, 2009-10-20; enthusiast media, medium. A second excerpt of the magazine's report of the 2009 World Finals: its paragraph on the Pro Freestyle final and the head of its Pro Freestyle table, each rider with score, country and make. Medium.
IJSBA 22 Sep 2015 Bun Freestyle sponsor post (ijsba.com): Bun-Freestyle Returns As Sponsor To The 2015 Blowsion Under The Bridge Night Show (IJSBA news post dated 22 September 2015), International Jet Sports Boating Association, 2015-09-22; sanctioning body, high. The association's short post on a freestyle hull company returning as a sponsor of the night show at its 2015 World Finals, naming the company's owner and its hulls. High for the association's own statement.
IJSBA post hall of fame inductees 2016 (web.archive.org): 2016 IJSBA Hall Of Fame Inductees Announced (IJSBA news post dated August 12th, 2016, Wayback capture of 22 September 2020), International Jet Sports Boating Association, 2016-08-12; sanctioning body, high. The association's announcement of the five people to be inducted into its hall of fame in 2016, as printed (one as Valjeko "Suki" Sukalo), after write-in campaigns from the public, with the ceremony set for 8 October 2016. High for the announcement. The hall's own roster page, as the archive holds it (ijsba-hall-of-fame-page), lists inductees only to 2014.

Cite this page

“Fumikazu Watanabe”, BaddJet archive, https://baddjetarchive.com/key-figures/fumikazu-watanabe/

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1 title on the record · 6 sourced facts · 7 documents