Great Lakes Surfski Race Series – 2013
I know I’ve been talking this up for several weeks now, so I wanted to put something out there to give everyone an idea of where I’m going with the 2013 Great Lakes Surfski Race Series and how it is shaping up.
Inspiration to Start the Series
First of all, I owe the inspiration and motivation to start the series to Todd Mackey who is the Race Director for TC Waterman. Todd was the first to mention I should start a Surfski series and even reached out to several of the SUP Series Race directors to see if they would be willing to add a surfski division to their races. This was just enough to get the ball rolling.
The Great Lakes is a Big Region
The Great Lakes is a big region, so one of the immediate challenges we have is pulling together a series that has enough races spread across the region to make it feasible for racers to hit the minimum threshold of races without doing long road trips and requiring extended weekends for every race. I know we all have extremely busy summer schedules and while it might be fun to spend the summer at a race every weekend, it probably isn’t so good for balancing commitments with the family. My goal was to identify roughly 12 races across the region and only require participation in 4 to qualify for the overall series awards.
Series Goals
Beyond just having a phenomenally great time the second biggest goal of the series is to motivate and encourage new entrants to the sport. In order to meet that objective, I am setting up the fundamental rules following what the Northeast Surfski Race Series has done. I spoke with Wesley Echols who is the Series Director and he confirmed their model has worked very well to encourage locals and new comers to the sport to participate.
The Races
First of all the race selection is still a work in progress, but something that I do want to have wrapped up by Memorial Day weekend to give racers a little time to plan. I have not yet confirmed with the race directors at all of the below races that they would be willing to be part of the series, but all of them do currently have a surfski race and/or have shown a willingness to add surfskis, so hopefully it will all work out
Where we can, I have partnered with races that are part of the Midwest SUP Series. This is a very strong series that is seeing a lot of growth and I think it is an excellent opportunity for us to partner with them to drive greater overall event numbers and more diversity, which also gives exposure to the surfskis.
There aren’t as many pure downwind races as I would like, hopefully over time that will change. There are numerous options in the Northern Michigan region for creating new downwind races, but I’m also sensitive to not having too large a concentration of races in a single region. I know a lot of surfski paddlers may not be thrilled to race on inland lakes, but they do provide a safe and un-intimidating opportunity for beginners.
The Rules:
- Racers living in the 6 states listed above will be recognized as “Local” racers. The first place local finisher in each race will receive 12 points and second place will receive 11 points, down the line, with the 12 place finisher and beyond receiving one point for completing the race
- Results will be taken from your best 4 races and a minimum of 4 race finishes will be required to be considered for the overall series podium
- There will be a division for both male and female and series award given to the top 3 in each class
- There will not be any boat classes or age/skill divisions
- There will be an award for the most improved male and female. Improvement will be measured based on the difference of % off of winning time from first race in the series to last race in the series (minimum 4 race finishes required)
The Prizes:
- I don’t have prizes yet, but both Stellar and Epic have shown interest in sponsoring the series, so as we get the details finalized these will be published. I’m confident they will be well worth winning.
Points Tracking:
- For at least the first year, I will maintain the points tracking on my web site as well as race schedule, pictures, etc.
Summary
There is still a lot of work to do to nail down all the details with all the race directors, confirm sponsorship, and start promoting, but I wanted to take this opportunity to at least get something in writing and start getting the paddling communities feedback. I’m sure there will be some great discussion on this at the TC Surfski Immersion Camp.. In the end, I’m sure it won’t be perfect and won’t make everyone happy, but we need to start somewhere and now is the time!
