Jet ski race set to return to Lake Opechee for 3-day event

LACONIA — Competitive jet ski racing will return to the city in 2026 this summer.

Last year, Shawn Dudek of East Coast Watercross brought jet ski racing to Lake Opechee. This summer, he’s set to do it again, and it could be bigger and better than ever. The second annual racing event is likely to be held June 5-7. 

“They held their first annual race May 30 to June 1, 2025, which was well-attended,” Mayor Mike Bordes said during the regular council meeting on Monday night. “City staff were heavily involved in the review and approval of their event, and they had no issues with the preparation leading up to or the cleanup after the event.” 

As of Monday night, the proposed event had been reviewed and approved by the city’s Parks & Recreation Commission to use Opechee Park, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services to use the shoreline and Lake Opechee, and had also been reviewed by the city’s Conservation Commission.  

The event is under review by Marine Patrol, a division of State Police, and organizers have submitted an application to the city’s Special Events Review Committee for potential approval ahead of their next meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 4.

“Last year, when we first did this for the first time, a lot of us had a lot of reservations, really, and I don’t think the weather cooperated last year, if I remember right,” Ward 2 Councilor Bob Soucy said. “One of the things that was very beneficial and very happy to me is that all the feedback we got afterwards was very positive.” 

Dudek told councilors he’s adamant about preventing the introduction of invasive species to the lake.  

“This is an issue that’s not just related to here,” Dudek said, noting the next morning he’d be headed to Sebring, Florida, to attend a different city council meeting on Thursday. “We also now own a national tour, as well as our regional tour.” 

“This is something that’s coming up across the country and we’re trying to spearhead as much as we can to get best practices in place,” he said. They’ve got a race this year, ahead of the Laconia race, at Lake Erie in Buffalo. “We’re going to hire a company to come out the same way that we did in Laconia — we hired Getty Shine [Mobile Detailing LLC] to come out — so we’re going to actually have a wash station coming out of Erie, so now we have a little bit more control over what we know comes out of the lakes coming into our lake, as well.”  

Ward 5 Councilor Steven Bogert asked Dudek how many races occur during the event and how many jet skis participate. Dudek said last year, there were about 100 jet skis and 80 racer entries. They aim for 16 to 19 classes, including vintage skis from decades ago and brand-new skis, and each class gets to race twice. Some racers compete in two classes, and bring multiple skis, and could potentially get up to 75 laps through the weekend.

“A lot of our racers are traveling long distances, and we’re becoming one of the biggest and one of the best in the country at doing this,” Dudek said. “We actually are holding a race in Lake Alfred, Florida, coming up, and I’ve got racers already scheduled to come from Lake Havasu, Arizona, California — racers will travel long distances for good races. We’re hoping to make this one into a bigger and better event in the future."

He’s recently purchased another company, Pro Watercross, in addition to the East Coast Watercross circuit he purchased about two years ago. 

“With that purchase, I got the rights to CBS Sports,” he said. “What I bring to the table in the future if we bring this as a national tour stop — which hopefully we can at some point — we then draw quite a big audience worldwide, and nationwide, and we also have CBS Sports behind us as well.” 

Ward 1 Councilor Jon Hildreth asked City Manager Kirk Beattie if, during the event in 2025, the city experienced any issues regarding infrastructure or capacity at Opechee Park. 

“We didn’t run into any issues,” Beattie replied.

Dudek said he lives on White Oaks Road, his brother lives on Lake Opechee, and his father has property on Lake Winnipesaukee, and their goal is to do right by the city and the lake. 

“I got down there on my way to work, I went down, not knowing what we’d see,” Beattie said. “They left it pristine, I was very impressed.”