Watersports festival returns to King's Lynn after year out during pandemic
Water ski racing is among the sports on the line up this weekend.
Hanseatic Festival of Watersports starts today on the Great Ouse river, King’s Lynn, lasting the whole weekend.
For the first time, the free event will also feature powerboat and jet ski racing in addition to water ski racing.
OCRDA Race Series and The Aqua Adrenaline Tour will join the event due to the decline in numbers in watersports because of the pandemic.
Jason Russell, a founding member of Hanseatic Ski Race's organising committee, said: “It’s going to be a packed weekend of racing of different disciplines, and I think that’s the way to go forward in the future. I’m excited to see what comes out of it.”
The festival is free thanks to the support of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council.
Jason Russell added: “Without the council, there’s no way on this earth we would be able to run this event. They put so much infrastructure to help us it’s unbelievable.”
All competitors will have to take lateral flow tests and register their entry, while visitors are advised to stay a metre apart from people they don’t know.
Jason Russell added: “There are no capacity restrictions, so hopefully, the general public’s common sense will prevail and if they see that a viewpoint is crowded, they will go watch the race from somewhere else.”
Now in its sixth year, it matches the famous Diamond Race, which takes place in the Hanseatic town of Antwerp in Belgium.
The races will start at 10:30 am each day through until 3:30 pm, with live music and a firework display on Saturday afternoon.