About

The Northeast Slalom Series (NESS) is an 11-stop, four-state tour bringing more excitement and competition to tournament skiing with a season-long points chase culminating in a cash-prize, head-to-head finals.

NESS features two divisions of competition – Adults and Juniors – using NOPS points to level the playing field among speeds and determine placements. So, all adults (both genders) will ski against each other in one division, while all juniors will ski against each other in the other division. No more showing up to tournament to find only a couple people – or worse, no one – in your division.

Series Points

At each of the series’ stops, participating skiers compete as normal. At the conclusion of the tournament, NESS’ skiers’ best single-round score will be converted to NOPS, then ranked within their NESS division (adult or junior).

Based on those placements, skiers will be awarded series points per the collegiate scoring model that values relative placement, inverted, as a factor of 10, as opposed to absolute buoy counts. For example, if a NESS stop has 15 male competitors, the first-place skier would earn 150 points, second place 140, third place 130 and so on. The 15th place skier would earn 10 points.

Series Championships

At the conclusion of the series, the top 12 adults and four juniors will qualify for the series championship, September 2 at Pangaea. In the series championships, skiers will face off in head-to-head brackets, using a handicap comprised of the average of their two best AWSA scores within the last 12 months. Each skier will be skiing against their own averaged score, with the skier who skis best against his/her handicap advancing in each bracket. The top seed would have the option to either pick which competitor skis first or boat selection.  The second skier of each bracket has to exceed the first skier’s score to advance. Ties would go to the first skier off the dock.

In the finals, each skier must start their round three passes prior to the pass of their average score.  For example, if a skier’s two-score average is 3 buoys at 35 feet off, they would have to start three passes back, or 22 off.

Registration/Tournament Entry Fees

Skiers must be a registered NESS competitor in order to receive series points and participate in the head-to-head finals. The registration fee is $40 for adults; Juniors are FREE.  NESS registration fees cover the finals cash prize and very minimal series costs such a points tracking, banners, website development, etc.  Every cent raised by entry fees and sponsorships will be put back into the series.

To register, click here.

The individual tournament entry fees (i.e. Pangaea Record, Dubes Pond Classic, etc.) still apply and are payable to each tournament organizer.   Signing up for NESS DOES NOT register you for the individual tournaments, you must still enter them as normal.  NESS participants do not have priority entry, so get your registrations in early to ensure you get in.