West Coast Waveski Championships?

[Warren]

Does anyone have any information about this? Are they still held in Ventura? Are they still held period? I tried googling it but no luck really.. Just a bunch of links to Steve Moser who won in 2002..

Anyone know.. I'll also post on BT..

Cheers,

Warren

[Guest]

You could go up to Ventura paddle out and surf a while and declare yourself the Champion, nobody would argue. Does not seem to be enough interest to organize or participate in events in Southern California.

Maybe we should start small with some get togethers at some of the waveski friendly beaches up and down the coast.

[Bill]

Almost all the waveski competitions have dried up. Too much work and to many complaints to make it worth while.

The Santa Cruz contest is the last organized one on the west coast so by default it's championship.

Dick Wold may try and get one together next year, he had some difficulty this year so it didn't happen.

A small group waveski diehards still get together at Rods place at Rod's_Point point for a weekend of free surfing every year at the same time as the competition use to be every January.

[Warren]

That's a shame.. I have been mulling (only mulling) the idea of putting one together here in SoCal. I have also talked to a few of the pro-folk from other parts of the world and may have some interest from them.. So maybe we could stage some sort of event..to give everyone a kick in the goat-ass..

What were the majority of complaints about? Give me the stories! Who was the woman who organized it until recently? Does anyone have her info?

I would be interested in making some initial steps to test the waters.. Any information would be helpful. or tell my how misguided I am!

Cheers

[hotrod]

Warren
That "woman" is Morlee Griswold, a neighbor of mine and a kayaker. She was never involved in the waveski contests. Kris Soderman, Steven Anthony and Scott Eaton were the organizers of the waveski contests.
Complaints? You name it...it was like a bunch of old grannies!
Roger Adams has a connection to the Ventura City, which would be interested in getting involved. I don't know to what extent.
Let me know if I can help....Good Luck
Rod

[Guest]

What is the date in January for the get together at Pita Point? (Is that the same as Faria ?). One problem with the last contest event in Ventura was that it was epic huge surf and there was a lot of conflict between the board surfers who could not be kept out of the contest area. I was just watching that day but would not want to have the same kind of thing happen. It seems like low key contests like Dave Johnston's Davenport surf kayak contest last year would be a good idea. Choose spots like Seaside in Cardiff, San Onofre, Faria and keep it low key.

[hotrod]

"Guest"? What, no name?
Faria and Rod's_Point are the same event...Faria is the area and Rod's_Point is the point.
The event takes place Friday through Monday of Martin Luther King weekend.
Rod

[radamski]

Warren,

You opened a can of worms. everyone wants a contest, nobody wants to do the work and take the blame. The last ventura contest had epic surf, but no one let the locals know there was a contest going on. The problem will be securing the break. I have seen surfers dropping in on competitors in a heat. So what happened to us paddlers two years ago was nothing special.

So that's problem number one - securing the break. Problem two is sponsership, where are you going to find the dollars to run the event. Then if you do find the dollars, you'll have to deliver whatever it is they are buying, and the question comes down to this. Can a waveski contest deliver the type of branding that a major sponser expects? We would all like to think so but who are we kidding?

I'd like to think that it can, but after 25 years of competing the closest it came was at the 1990 Worlds at Huntington Beach, and the people who ran the event essentially disappeared?

Maybe we should run a unconventional event. Ever think about getting board surfers on a ski? Maybe we should offer a reward to any board surfer who can get air on a waveski - $500. It might be a good investment. Put up wanted posters at surf shops. - Wanted $500 reward for surfers who can get Air - on a Waveski. You could even limit it to surfers under 18.

I was out in the surf today with a kayaker, who was learning how to stand up surf, why wasn't he in a kayak or on a ski? Well, that's my fault becuase it was my neighbor up the street - next time he'll be on a waveski. I see good stuff happening in waveskiing but its not happening here. We need young people in the sport to push the limits, and that's why we are all putting our bets on you! How's that for a welcome to the Western Waveski Association forum?

Really, we need people with your energy, and hopefully we won't zap it all out of you, but rather give you some of what we know too.

Roger Adams
Ventura

[Warren]

Thanks all for the replies so far..

I have been in touch with Kris today just a little, and plan on continuing to gather information and input from folks - that is, before I decide if I am up for it! But I am optomistic (cautiously)..

I am pretty confident the sport 'could' experience a revival here in CA..but like you say, there are a lot of variables, and questions.. I know that young kids seem to really have a curiousity when they see someone on a waveski ripping.. Lots of them seem eager to say hi to me and tell me "dude, that's Raaad!" or something to that effect.. I don't even rip that much.. Fletch and crew are more advanced than I am, but I think kids respond to folks closer to their age sometimes..

Regarding the 'securing the break' problem.. Well, I know a few old-school Ventura Boardie locals, who might be (or know folks who would be) open to being 'surf guards' to keep out the boardies.. Though I'm sure they would want to be paid.. I believe this is the way the Santa Cruz SKF is run?

I also can imagine that getting sponsorship might be tricky.. And 1990 was a lot closer to the sports last high-water mark, but here is the angle that I have been mulling:

A California International Waveski Event... I think we would really have to bring in the 'heavies' to put on a show and 'skool' us natives.. (I have been discussing this with Brett Cronin a little and he seemed to think it a good idea) So it wouldn't necessarily be a West Coast Championship as much as an international publicity event to promote the sport.. I am certain we could get media coverage..I know that game enough to do press releases etc.. Sponsorship might take some selling, but that seems doable, especially with some of the recent high-performance footage from Sub-Grafiti et al.

Another tough part would be promoting it in the boardie community.. And I really think you might be onto something with that "Reward for Air by a Boardie" competition.. Plus, seeing a bunch of waveski novices flailing out there would be a very fun halftime show..heheh.. I love the idea of putting up some wanted posters, which might double as 'event notice' posters at the break of choice.

I also like the idea of meshing the event sponsorship with a benefit for the Surf Rider Foundation etc.. Might do us well to show that we are supporting something all surfriders care about. We might even see if we might be able to get SurfLine.com to do a Feature on Waveskiers/Waveskiing.

Anyway, there's some more food for thought. Like you said Roger.. I am young, and am very enthusiastic about this sport..Very possibly naive too! I would be totally stoked to be a part of something like this.. I guess it just remains to be seen if it can become real. I will do my best to stay realistic.. And please (all), keep me in check!

I'll keep researching and learning about what it might take.. Any other suggestions, or concerns, etc are cool.

Let's keep up this discussion?

Cheers and Respect,

wars


p.s. speaking of SurfLine, check out this thread and the response to it..:
forums.surfline.com/showthread.php?t=23493

www.forums.surfline.com/showthread.php?t=23493

[Tyler]

right on warren! if you need any help im here... naive is a good thing, dont lose hope for waveskiing!

tyler

[radams]

Warren,

I applaud your enthusiam, and I know I speak for all SoCal waveskiers, - You have our support, and we will do what we can to help out, just keep us posted.
Roger

[VSG]

The Santa Cruz event has the local lifeguards I believe helping out on Jet Skis, they keep surfers out of the way, and it is well publicized beforehand that there will be a surf event. You might want to consider going to a less urban beach where you are only going to displace a handful of boardies. I'm willing to help out but don't know very much. If you go for a low level of sponsorship from stores like Carlsbad Paddle Sports, Windsports, Aqua-Adventures, the store up in Santa Barbara that sells Wavemasters, you may get some response. I think most of these people got burned out when the cost of running the event got so high. Some people to talk to about running events are Byron Olsen and Dan Carey ... but they may scare you off. My email is [e-mail].

[Bill]

This board is pretty dead until someone mentions the "C" word. I think there's a large group of So Cal waveskiers dying for good contest. If you could pull off a pure waveski contest all the better! It's been a long time for California.

Next week I'll be participating in the second annual Panamanian waveski contest at Cambutal beach compliments of Willi Palms. Last year we had waveskiers from 4 different countries participating this year only 3. It seems that if a small country like Panama can pull off regular waveski contest so can California?

[Ashley]

Warren,

I used to be an enthusiastic waveskier, and now I mostly surf for several reasons, though a big one is because it’s better for my lower back than a waveski. I would definitely get back on my ski to support an event though.

My main personal gripe and input about events comes in the form of not trying to please everyone.

If you are going to run an event, publish rules and stick to them and do not budge for anyone no matter who the competitor is, or how much a sponsor applies pressure. I competed at Pismo once and was on time for my heat, the horn went and I was the only one out and ready. I surfed my heart out! Then because significant other competitors in my heat were not ready, they restarted the heat 15 mins later. It was fairly big surf and I was pooped and they did not carry my prior waves over to the new heat. I ended up losing. I was pretty sore at that. In another event, ‘C’ Street I think, I went out in the heat prior to mine. I got my times screwed up because the event had deviated from the published schedule…. They tried to do the best they could and scored me as well. Ultimately I think my score got mixed in with the other guy wearing the same color and we both ended up badly. My fault somewhat, but if they stayed on schedule it would not have happened.

And therein lays my biggest caution. Run the event to the published and do not deviate for anything other than electronic or mechanical issues.

Oh, another piece of info that has already been mentioned by others but needs repeating. People on the west coast are flaky! And I brand myself with that brush too; I have been known to not attend at the last min. Steven Moser has tried to organize friendly events i.e. turn up, pay nothing, score each other and generally have fun. Half the people did not show, and all except the local crew turned up late. So this puts you in a dilemma, if you want to ensure people are there, you have to have them pay in advance, but once you do that, you are now holding a real event with all the permissions and legal issues that come with it. Not really sure how to solve that one. You could always stage a BBQ where people pay for the food in advance….

Anyway hope this helps, I am just starting a company. www.Rebelboards.com, primarily surfboards right now, and will do what I can to help sponsor an event. I can probably put up a couple of prize items, though am not sure if a surfboard as a prize at a waveski event is politically correct! Lol And Steven will kill me if I put the company website address on my WaveMaster waveski for the event!

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