Jet ski races coming to Opechee this weekend

LACONIA — Jet ski racing is coming to Opechee Point this weekend, and it’s a born and raised Laconian who’s bringing it there. 

Shawn Dudek of East Coast Watercross was busy Thursday morning making preparations for what looks to be a weekend jam-packed with racing on the water, bringing together competitors from all around the eastern United States and even from parts of Canada. 

All together, between 60 and 70 racers are expected to compete across multiple classes, and there may be up to 90 entries for the event. Spectators are invited to watch the racing for free.

Races start Saturday morning, sometime between 9:30 and 10 a.m. on May 31, but boats will be out on the course between 8:30 and 9 a.m. It’ll run all day, capped off with an awards ceremony in the evening. The event will continue Sunday, June 1. It’s open to the public, who are encouraged to attend and see for themselves what is a somewhat novel sporting endeavor.

Most races will last between six and 15 minutes, depending on skill level, ski size and class. Each day is a separate race day. 

Opechee Park is a historic racing venue for the City of Laconia. Before there were baseball diamonds, there was a horse racing track and, more recently, the setting of an Ironman triathalon. As far back as the 1950s, water ski races were held on Lake Opechee, with spectators packing the point.

Dudek, who lives and works in Laconia, played a major role in the rebuilding of the Defiant One in Opechee Park — it was at his house for a month and a half — and completed metalwork in Lakeport at institutions like the Opera House. He said Thursday he was excited to bring the event to his hometown and hopes to do so again in the future. 

Sanctioned by the International Jet Sports Boating Association, ECW has been in business for around 15 years. Dudek’s raced in the series since its inception, and purchased it a year ago. The company hosts races all over, much of the time in New York, but also in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Jersey, and Florida in the winter. 

“This is my hometown, born and raised here,” Dudek said Thursday. “Once I got the series, I wanted to put a race on here, jumped through every hoop.”

And Dudek did — the event went through all of the required municipal processes, and he's worked with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services from the beginning of the planning phase.

“The laws are different everywhere,” Dudek said. “I rely heavily on the permit process, and we ask all the agencies for help trying to navigate the laws properly.”

During the racing event, there will be several layers of environmental inspections, performed both by professionals associated with the series and by local lake hosts. Every boat must undergo safety and environmental inspections, they’re looking to make sure boats arrive dry with an empty hull, particularly without seaweed and mussels. 

“Lake host is coming out, they’re going to come out and work with our tech inspectors,” Dudek said. “We’ve got redundancy.” 

Organizers also hired a private mobile detailing company who will be onsite with a high-heat pressure washer, which runs hot enough to kill the somewhat newly introduced spiny water flea, an invasive species. They’ll be around for tech inspections in case anyone notices anything concerning.

Dudek said he reached out to the city’s conservation commission, whose representatives expressed concern regarding the lake level, which is currently high. They coordinated with the state’s dam commission, which agreed to drop the lake level a couple of inches — as much as they safely could — through the event. They re-routed the course to keep it away from Opechee Cove and will maintain 150 feet between all shorelines and the race course.

Friday morning, they’ll build a ramp on the beach to reduce any chance of leaving ruts in the sand when boats are loaded into and out of the lake. 

“It’s so hard to get these sites — it’s always a city beach,” Dudek said. “We can’t mess up any of these locations.”

In the 15 years he’s been involved with ECW, they’ve never had an environmental incident, and never lost a venue for racing. 

“Our guys have been with us for a long time,” Dudek said.