The New Zealand water ski racing season gets under way this Saturday 13 September 2025, with the Mercer River Race serving as the opening event on the calendar. Starting at Mercer and heading downstream to the Elbow Water Ski Club in Pukekohe before the return leg, the course covers roughly 23 kilometres in each direction, making it a demanding 46-kilometre test on the Waikato River.
Since its debut in 2016, the event has built a reputation as one of the most watchable on the circuit. Racing runs close to shore, fast straights reward powerful setups, and spectators have excellent vantage points throughout. The New Zealand Water Ski Racing Association notes that the course record was set in that very first year, when Messiah, crewed by Vaughan Hyde and Bevan Turksman, completed the run in 17 minutes 54 seconds. That benchmark now hangs over every crew that lines up at the start.
The Long Race opens proceedings at 10:30am, with 13 boats contesting the full downstream-and-back distance. Messiah returns to the river, this time with Perry Jamieson, Kane Arter, Kevin Murphy, and Michael Jamieson aboard, the crew targeting their own nine-year-old record. For an early-season race, the storyline gives the event genuine stakes.
At 12:30pm the focus shifts to the Powerboat Race, where driver-observer pairings take over and boat-handling becomes the defining skill. All five competitors in this event, The Player, Little Man, Traitor, Recidivist, and Agent Orange, will have already been out on the water for the Long Race before turning their attention to this shorter, sharper contest.
The day closes with the Support Ski Race at 1:30pm. Player and Little Man line up again after their appearances in the Powerboat Race, while Lucifer and Hulk return to the field following the Long Race. Nightmare makes its first appearance of the day in this final event, rounding out a full programme of racing on the Waikato.
Beyond Mercer, the season moves quickly. October brings racing at Karapiro, then Arapuni and Hamilton. November is headlined by the Bridge to Bridge on the Waikato and the Bryce Newton 100 Miler at Blue Lake. The schedule continues through to April 2026, culminating in Nationals in Wellington and the Trans Tasman Challenge.
