Southern Lakes Multisport Club’s (SLMC) Deepsouth Downwind first ran in January last year but was brought forward a month "to try to make the most of the spring winds", organiser Alex Martin told Mountain Scene last year.
"We moved the date to get the better windy conditions and then we got too windy," she says.
"It was disappointing when you have to cancel a race, but the [35] competitors were great and they are used to this in this sport."
She and others will again decide tomorrow night which of three proposed 17- to 22-kilometre courses on Lake Whakatipu will be used the next day, based on predicted wind conditions, but this time the weather window for the starting time will extend from 8am till 3pm.
This event also doubles as not only one of eight rounds in the Darcy Price NZ Ocean Surfski series, but also as the NZ Ocean Ski National Champs — Martin jokes the name might have to be changed as the lake’s not an ocean.
"We’ll get all the best surfski athletes because they want to be the national champ."
As of last Friday, 35 competitors had entered.
An added bonus is some foiling stand-up paddleboarders have entered — "they’ll be very fast".
The course, which will be posted on SLMC’s Facebook page tomorrow night, along with the starting time, will be either from Glenorchy to 25 Mile Creek (for a northerly or northwesterly), 12 Melta Delta to Frankton Beach (for a westerly or southwesterly) or from the rest area 7km north of Kingston to Homestead Bay (for a southerly).
Racing should last one-and-a-half to two hours.
