Otago Water Ski Club

The 2026 Otago-Southland Secondary School Water Ski Champs will be held at Bannockburn Inlet on Sunday 22nd February 2026. The entry form will be posted here early in the new year. With summer holidays approaching now is the time to check ski gear and think about preparation for the champs.

Club champs were held this morning at Lake Waihola in perfect conditions. Thanks to all skiers and helpers.

Results
Sue McDonnell 12 points Senior Womens 2
Callum Davie 13.5 points Mens
Mark Davie 30.5 points Senior Mens 2
Steve Joint 18 points Senior Mens 2
Greg Sise 45.5 points Senior Mens 3

That wraps it up for this season, with the next event scheduled for mid June when we celebrate mid-winter with the Frosty Foot ski at Waihola.

The results are updated below, and in the original post on Monday, to show placings in each division, which now shows that Molly and Aoife were first equal in the Novice Girls U16 division. Apologies to Aoife for creating the impression that you were 2nd (which occurred because we have never had a first equal in 15 years). And thanks to the person who pointed this out to us.

The date for the 2026 champs is Sunday 22nd Feb, which will be confirmed again later this year, along with venue, etc.

After 8 years with John McGlashan College, the Don Mackay Memorial Trophy this year goes to Wakatipu High School, with Southland Boys High School a close second. The team score is taken from the best three scores in each team (or best two if there are only two in the team). To even the playing field, girls get one full course added to their individual score when the team scores are calculated, and novice skiers that ski into the championship course have a one buoy deduction in the team scores which recognises the fact that novice skiers do not have to pass through the entry gates, whereas championship do have to.

Th Otago-Southland Secondary Water Ski Champs were held successfully at Bannockburn yesterday, with perfect skiing conditions throughout most of the day. The division results are shown below, and featured keen competition in all divisions, although the best score of the day went to Max Heaps who was the only championship skier on the day, skiing in boys 16 and under.

Congratulations to all skiers 😃 great efforts all!

For avoidance of doubt, if you have already entered via the entry form, you don't need to re-enter your email address.

A number of skiers have requested an email to confirm their entry, and this is now set up on the entry form. This will require entry of your email address twice, which will be fixed in next year's form - in the meantime, apologies for having to double-enter it.

All skiers will get an email Thursday next week with reminders of venue, times, etc.

With a week and a half to go, we have 19 entries, which is well up on last year, so it is promising to be a keenly contested event. We can accommodate up to around 40 skiers, and if we get to that number we will close entries, so don't be late!

Reminder - you cannot compete unless and until your entry fee is paid. So if brining cash on the day, make sure you get it to officials at the briefing at 8:20 am at the southern end of Bannockburn Inlet.

Pre-Secondary coaching is available at Bannockburn inlet by contacting Brent Wilson (027 four-five-zero three-zero-zero-eight). Brent will provide the tow boat on the day of Secondary champs, and is the Chief Judge, and has many years of experience skiing and judging slalom at national level. Her is great coach!

Due to unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances, the venue for this year's Secondary School ski champs has changed to Bannockburn Inlet, across Lake Dunstan from Cromwell. Date, time, etc are all the same.

We were very fortunate to have Tony Gomez, Director of Sports at John McGlashan College, on site on the day. Tony is a keen photographer and took hundreds of pics, available at this link.

But first, two words of caution First, the pics have Edit permission on them, making it easier to upload to Google Drive. So please do not edit or delete pics.

Second, the pics are uncensored, so there are many interesting facial expressions, spills and lots of action. Enjoy!

WaterSki Otago Southland Champs 2024 - Google Drive

Secondary Champs Results 2024
Despite a chilly start to the day, all skiers got through two rounds of competition. Congratulations to all skiers for fine efforts, albeit with a couple of surprises.

The 2025 date will be posted soon.