On Monday 4 July, the committee of the Big River Ski Club (BRSC) met in relation to the future of Water Ski Racing on the Clarence River and surrounding districts. Below is an outline of the decisions that were made:
Grafton Bridge to Bridge
As many are well aware the committee of the Big River Ski Club made the decision to run last years Grafton Bridge to Bridge Ski Classic as a stand alone event. Over the past 4 months the committee have been holding meetings with several parties including RMS, Clarence Valley Council, Insurance Brokers & Ski Racing Australia (SRA) in order to make the best decision moving forward for the Grafton Bridge to Bridge.
We attained the support of Clarence Valley Council & RMS to run the 2016 Grafton Bridge to Bridge as the committee saw fit, however the committees main concern was the long term reliability around insurance for the event.
SRA board members conducted several phone conversations and web meetings with committee members of BRSC over the past 3 months which culminated with BRSC committee members attending a SRA board meeting in Melbourne. At this meeting there was detailed discussion in relation to reasons for last years decision and what could be done to bring the Grafton Bridge to Bridge back under the sanctioning of SRA.
Decision
The committee voted at the meeting dated 4 July 2016 to return the 2016 Grafton Bridge to Bridge back under the sanctioning of SRA.
Reasons
One of the main reasons for the event to stand alone last year was the cost to compete. Now with the Back 2 Racing, Regional Membership and Weekend Warrior classes of membership it has made the sport more affordable for competitors in not only our region, but the whole of Australia. All of these proposals are targeted at getting the sport back under the 1 banner of SRA and has made it more attractive for those boats that have been “sitting in the sheds” to get back out on the water. We encourage people to contact memberships at the SRA office to discuss any of these packages
Web Chat/Forum
The BRSC committee is looking at hosting an online information session to answer any queries that competitors may have in relation to the decision made and where we see the Grafton Bridge to Bridge evolve over the next 5-10 years.
Big River Ski Club Series
Discussion was held also at the 4 July meeting on the future of the Big River Ski Club Series. Over the past 18 months the series has gone from strength to strength with a core group of 22-25 boats.
Decision
The committee voted that the BRSC Series also be returned under the sanctioning of SRA, however with some limitations. The committee has created a niche with its style of racing that has mainly contained single rig outboards and naturally aspirated inboards. We have kept with this style by placing an engine capacity limit on the majority of our events in our format.
The committee have applied to SRA for the following dates and are pending approval, therefore could be subject to change.
Event Date Location
Series Day 1 5/6 November Corcoran Park Grafton
Series Day 2 10/11 December TBA, Grafton
Series Day 3 25/26 February Corcoran Park Grafton
Series Day 4 25/26 March TBA, Grafton
Series Day 5 13/14 May Corcoran Park Grafton
