After eight qualifying tournaments in five states and the largest field of skiers in its history, the field for the finals of the 2026 Northeast Slalom Series presented by Radar Skis is set.
This Saturday, 16 adults and 8 juniors will face off at Pangaea Puddle in Canajoharie, NY, to determine this year’s champions. The adults will be competing for nearly $6,000 in cash and prizes, and the juniors for a new ski and bragging rights to last a lifetime.
Check out the final season standings here and the head-to-head matchups below.
The 2026 NESS season is sponsored by Radar Skis, h2oproshop/Fogarty’s Lake Flower Marina, New England Water Ski Collective, Zmetra Clear Spans, Avon Old Farms Skiers, Pangaea Puddle, FTI Coach, Cadillac Builders, Hinman Builders and an anonymous past series winner.
Half the 2026 Northeast Slalom Series Presented by Radar Skis qualifiers are in the books and this year’s series is looking like it’s going to be the biggest and most competitive in its 11-year history.
A few updates:
1) View the season standings here. Dennis Jenks is leading the adult field with Skip Hommel in second and Jason Peckham in third. Sydney Zmetra is only ten points behind Jason in fourth. In juniors, Gwyneth and Evelyn Peckham are bracketing Aaron Bartlett for the top-three spots.
2) This year’s sponsor support has been awesome, led by Radar Skis which has returned a second year as presenting sponsor. Additional sponsors include h2oproshop/Fogarty’s Lake Flower Marina, New England Water Ski Collective, Zmetra Clear Spans, Avon Old Farms Skiers, Pangaea Puddle, FTI Coach, Cadillac Builders, Hinman Builders and an anonymous past series winner. Please thank our sponsors and give them your business when possible.
3) The huge number of participating skiers and the amazing sponsor support mentioned above means that we will have our largest ever prize pool: approximately $4,000 in cash and a new Radar ski to the adult winner and a D3 ski to the junior winner. That’s roughly $8,000 worth of prizes!
4) The series homestretch begins tomorrow at Twin Lakes, followed by Eastern Regionals which always promises a motherload of series points. Avon and Peck’s fill out the qualifiers, with the head-to-head finals, some of which will be under the lights, Sept. 5 at Pangaea. View full schedule here.
Radar Skis is once again NESS’ presenting sponsor. If you see Trent Finlayson or any of the Radar crew this summer, please let them know you appreciate their support. Or better yet, buy some products from them at radarskis.com or a local dealer.
If your business would like to be a 2026 sponsor, contact Dana Hinman at dana@hinmaninc.com. The more sponsors, the bigger the cash prize!
You have to be registered for NESS to get your stop points! ***Take special note Sunday Dubes skiers**** Register online here. Adults are $40, kids are free.
Scoring, rules, format, number of finals qualifiers, etc., can all be found here.
This year’s head-to-head finals will once again be under the lights at Pangaea (Sept. 5). Thousands in cash and a brand new Radar ski will be on the line.
And just like last year, the adults finals will feature a field of 16 skiers – the 8 past previous champions plus the top-8, non-past champion qualifiers from the 2026 season standings. On the juniors side, the top-8 qualifiers from the 2026 season will make the finals.
Mark your calendars, the 2026 Northeast Slalom Series schedule is set:
Jake Ableson has the distinct honor of being nominated as one of 7 males to be chosen from to be the PanAm male junior athlete of the year. He can use all our supposrt to vote for hime to be the winner. Please follow the think to vote now and often and let get Jake Vote the PanAm Junior Male athlete of the year!
The Northeast Slalom Series presented by Radar Skis celebrated its 10th season under the lights!
Congrats to the champions, Chris Afonso (adults) and Charlie Bellefeuille (juniors), and to all who qualified.
Special thanks to Radar Skis for its support and to Pangaea Puddle for hosting. Drone video by Jason Peckham and photos by Barak Bejerano and Jodi Bellefeuille.
Greeting all. I hope that everyone has had a great end to the season. It is still warm out and hopefully everyone is still skiing a ton but the end is near as it happens here in teh east. For those of you who don’t know me my name is Matt Byrne and I am the newly appointed (as of the summer meeting at waterski nationals) EVP. I hope to serve the east in the best capacity that I can. Please feel to reach out to me anytime to discuss anything that you would like. I can be reach via email at easternevp@gmail.com.
I have uploaded the minutes form the summer meeting and the financials that were reported during the summer meeting. These can be found under the governance tab.
Enjoy the reast of the seaon!
Matt Byrne – Eastern Region EVP – easternevp@gmail.com
To celebrate its milestone 10th year and for the 2025 season only, the NESS Adult finals feature a field of 16 skiers: the eight previous champions (Chris Afonso is the only two-time winner), plus the top-eight (non past champion) qualifiers from the 2025 season standings. On the Juniors side, eight skiers will face off for the title.
And to make it all even better, this year’s Adults Final 8 and Juniors Final 2 will held be under the lights.
On behalf of the Pangaea Waterski Club and the Vosburghs, we want to welcome you to the Labor Day tournament at Pangea Puddle! For those of you who are camping, we have a limited number of sites that can provide 30 amp service (please remember to bring an appropriate cable) available on a first-come, first-served basis. These sites were created this year with a new dedicated service to ensure cleaner power. We will also have sites dedicated to those who are using a generator.
There is no fresh water available onsite, nor lav dump facilities. Porta potties are spaced throughout the property. Porta potties that have locks on them have been rented privately and are not available for use.
In addition to camper sites, we also have tenting/rooftop tent sites available, as well as a limited number of beds in our bunkhouse. If you choose the bunkhouse, you will need to bring your own mattress and bedding. There is a small community refrigerator and microwave available.
At the conclusion of the tournament on Saturday we will have a beer truck from local favorite Back Barn Brewing and a catered pulled pork dinner ($10 kids, $17 adults, cash preferred, venmo accepted). Finally, H2O Proshop will have their tent set up again this weekend for all your watersport needs.
Please note that at 9pm, the road by the upper lake buildings will be closed.
Camping Fees are as follows: Onsite Camping With electrical hookup $50/night $75 Weekend (Fri-Sun), $150 week Bunkhouse $10 per night per person. Tenting no cost. Hotels available within 30 minutes from site.
Friday Practice – 12:00PM to 7:00 PM $40 – 4 passes; $50 – 6 passes; $30 – 2 passes trick; $30 – 2 jumps. PayPal is preferred payment method. Friday can be selected as the tournament 3rd round score and you will be allowed additional passes to a maximum of 6. No practice charge for this option.
Saturday – 2 round slalom Directly into NESS Finals, which will feature our first head-to-head under the lights!
Sunday 2 round trick and 2 jump – Skiers 3rd round of slalom may also be optionally run on Sunday.
More details on the tournament will be included in a follow-up email. See you Labor Day Weekend!
Estimated Time Line
8/29/2025
12:00-6:00PM
● Practice begins – lake(s) TBA
● Optional 1st round of slalom (recorded)
○ The more people who take their 1st round Friday, the more time we have to finish the Slalom on Saturday in a timely manner
8/30/2025
8:00 – 4:00 PM
● 3 Rounds of Slalom
● NESS Skiers will NOT take their 3rd round
4:30 – 6:00PM
● First round of NESS for Juniors (4 Finalists)
● First Round of NESS for Adults (16 Finalists)\
5:00 – 7:30PM
● Food Available (Pulled pork Sandwiches & Sides)
● Beer Truck on Site (Back Barn Brewery)
6:00PM – 7:30PM
● Break to Prep for NESS Finals
7:30 – 9:30PM
● Kids NESS Finals (Final 2)
● Adult NESS FInals (FInal 8)
● Crown Winners
Note – Will be an ALL Correct Craft Finals with a 2024 and a 2026 Nautique.
Drivers TBA.
8/31/2025
9:00AM – 4:00PM
● 2 Rounds Trick
● 2 Rounds Jump
● Upper lake available for Slalom Practice or optional 3rd round
