ToWanZa & the WWSC

I've helped stage and organize enough wakesurf contest to know what a pain they are. I've also attended enough contests to know what's good and bad about them. I've attended small grassroots events in the midwest and every World Wakesurf Championship since the second coming of that event. I've even had the Sheriff try and stop one of the events we organized due to permits not being transferred between departments.

So when I say that the 2010 World Wakesurf Championships overcame ALL the odds to be the biggest, badest most successful contest in wakesurf history, I know what I'm talking about. From early on, the contest had lost it's momentum because Centurion had cancelled the WWSC from the year before. That by itself should have doomed the 2010 WWSC, but the folks at Towanza stepped up to the plate and accepted that challenge. At the event itself you couldn't even THINK of more stuff that could have gone wrong and the contest still proved to be the biggest and best. On the morning of the finals, wind and rain literally knocked every banner and sign down and washed crazy debris into the river where the boats were running.

The folks at Towanza make a concerted effort to bring everyone into the fold, so to speak. No outsiders, no one is excluded for personal or political reasons and so when a tragedy like this hits, everyone gets involved. I helped, along with probably 100 others to restring banners and get the venue back into shape. It's a community and there is virtually no sign of the arrogance associated with so many other contests. Under the direction of Todd Gaughan and the crew from Towanza, you always know that the riders and the sport come first.

On the last day of finals, one of the contest boats wrapped a steel cable around the prop mid way through a run! End of the event? Not! The tremendous sense of community shown again and a member of the viewing audience volunteered their boat to be used to tow the riders. Towanza epitomizes what is good about this sport, the most prominent being the devlopment and fostering of a true community. Most often organziers stage events as a way to control the sport or effect some other self-serving agenda, but with Towanza, they bring focus to the sport and the riders. Equal prize money for the women's open surf divisions. Equal representation for riders across all divisions. And above all else the development of a sense of community that is unrivaled.

Jeff Walker
Stockton, CA