Wakeboarding Comp Proposal

So I was reading my local newspaper about an annual balloon festival and saw that they might want to throw in an event at the lake (that I normally wakeboard at) that is in the park. I emailed them suggesting that they should do a wakeboarding/wake surf competition and they called me back asking for a proposal for the event. As of now they are working with the Waterski Association to try and bring a ski event, but if I can bring something better to the table they will switch it up.

I have most of the proposal built except one key part. I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO A WAKEBOARDING COMPETITION!!!!!!!!!! Vendors, advertising, layouts, PA systems, DJs, towboats, etc. are all pre-planned out, but the problem is I know nothing about the actual event. So I was wondering if I could get some help.

Does anyone have a layout of how a wakeboarding exhibition could be structured? Say I have 30 competitors and the event started at 1pm and ended at 5pm. The competitors would be mostly non-professional locals.

-Quals: Is the goal to take the competitors from 30 to say 10?

-Semi-finals and finals? Semi takes the competition from 10 to 3 and finals 3 to 1?

- How is a run setup? The lake is a very small 1/2 mile square and the boat would obviously be traveling in a circle. Does the competitor only attempt one trick in front of the judges and wait for the boat to bring him/her all the way back around to the judges or do the judges have some binoculars and watch him/her throughout the entire rotation?

-Would the judges just use a simple 1-10 scale for scoring?

-Can a wakesurf competition have the same layout?

Any suggestions or help would be great. I ran a google search on this but everything that came up was for huge events. I need a build for a smaller amateur event. Its scheduled for September so there plenty of room for planning if we start now.

Some suggestions:

1. You need to divide up the divisions. have the "lower" divisions ride first, then run it up to the top divisions. With INT, there are no bracketed tournament style finals. You get 1 run and 1 run only. Depending on the number of participants you can change that. But, don't underestimate the amount of time it takes to pull off a competition. The rider may fall, you need time to swap ropes, you need time to dial in the wake between divisions (you can't run a ballasted boat for beginners that ride at 18mph).

2. The way INT works for the "run" is that they setup buoys that give you roughly 30-45 seconds of a run, turn around, then go straight back. That's about 10 tricks. You are allowed 1 fall during your run. On the second fall, you're done riding.

3. If you run in a circle, you're going to throw rollers all over the lake and the conditions are gonna be crap. Judges should be in the boat, not on shore.

4. INT wakesurf comps give you 2 passes of 90 seconds of riding time with 2 falls allowed (timer stops between falls).

Again, a lot of this depends on how many riders you have. On a busy day I think INT comps typically have 75 riders. The day starts at 9-10am and runs almost until 4pm to get all of those riders their 1 pass.

Lol judges in the boat?!??!?!? DUH. Here I am thinking judges sit a quarter mile away trying to score people LOL. I guess my judges booth just turned into the DJ booth
: )

It will have to be in a circle, I'm not sure how it works out but the rollers have anyways dissipated by the time we come back around. Now if there's two or more boats then we get stuck with rollers.

Hey NoNceNse,

I'm assuming you are talking about the Colorado Springs Ballon Fest? I saw the same article you did. Prospect Lake is big enough for a full pull, the PWT actually held a couple of event there a few years back. They had a slider rail and a big air comp. They rode "caddy" corner in a straight line with tight turn arounds by the dock and the concrete damn looking thing. All the viewers and booths/DJS were on the NorthEast side of the lake. Its definitely big enough to throw 5-7 tricks in a pull.

I think the wakesurf aspect would be tuff as the lake is somewhat shallow in parts but it may work.

You should contact ROMOBOCO in Pueblo and talk to them. They have held a couple events down in Pueblo and would be of some help I imagine.

Good luck, if you need any help, feel free to give me a PM.

Chris you got it right. For now I was just going to put together a quick power point for the production team to see if they'd bite. If they will let me pursue the event I was going give all the dealerships and the boardshops a chance to be involved and tweek the event to their standards. Also advertising with the Mile High Meet and Greet would rock too.

I heard they used to do competitions back in the day at Prospect but I couldn't find any information on it. I know wakesurfing was a little difficult for me last year but I wasn't running much weight. I was hoping the 700lb sack I just bought would make it easier, but we'll see.

hey jaime, I have thrown and been involved in hundreds of tournaments over 20+ years and would be happy to help, so feel free to Pm me any time.

So the key is why your are doing the tournament? For the riders, for the festival or for the viewers. He here is why. This will be VERY boring for the average viewer that watches it for 10 minutes. So if this is for the viewer - you will want to have more of a demonstration of top level riding. Especially for wakesfuring as that is very boring to watch. If it is for the riders, than set up a few classes (you can use INT for examples). You will need LOTS more help than you think, so the more passionate volunteers the better.

Make sure there is an EMT/Safety person at the site at all times and the riders sign the waivers. This is CRITICAL! Often time you can find an EMT that is a wakeboarder that will do it for free, but you have to have a qualified person.

A quality host/mc will do a good job of explaining, announcing, and keeping the audience and riders involved. Often you can find an outlaw rider that knows all the tricks, knows many of the riders, and can also talk on a microphone.

Jut as few thoughts in my head...

Jason,

I guess my overall dream is bring the local wakeboarding community together for the day and try to show non-boarders a new hobby. I understand that most people will not sit there throughout the entire tournament, that why I'd hope for a big vendor turnout too. Free vendor space and a huge audience that is already present for other events should bring the businesses from around the state. Once the community gets involved, I'm sure other ideas will spill in but for now I need to get the basics set to get this ball rolling.

As far as help, I know I will rely (big time) on the community to assist in this event. But its also an amazing community here in Colorado so I doubt it will be an issue. The host and judges will definitely need to be hand picked and extremely knowledgeable for best results.

EMTs, Police, Bathrooms, Food Services, etc will be there to support the entire park for all events going on that day.

That's awesome that you're trying to pull together an event there. The sport needs to continue/keep growing and get new people exposed to it who might not otherwise. I hope it works out, keep us updated.

Please model it after the battle at the berrics. Or a game of wake/scorpion. Such a fun structure that has yet to really take off in our sport. Wicked easy with a system 2.0 setup too.

From the video that I watched it looks like a game of horse but in wakeboarding, which is a cool idea but I don't think it would work in this particular case

So, things are moving forward, sitting down with an inboard dealership on Thursday and will contact the others after. I've made a complete satellite layout of the event and where everything would be placed. I'm also tracking potential costs like medics, bathrooms, and security. Online I found a copy of the 40 page rulebook, which pretty much lays out how the competition should go and we'll later modify it to our needs.

My question now is, has anyone put on an event and had something catch you totally off guard? I'm trying to pre-plan for EVERYTHING and then have a backup to everything down to the power cords, forms, lighting, insurance, etc.