PHOTOS: Belle River Festival Puts A ‘Splash’ On The Weekend

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The sun may be missing, but the splashing has just begun at the Belle River Sunplash Festival this weekend.

For the fifth year, the Canadian Watercraft Association (CWA) is holding races at the West Belle River Beach this weekend as part of the festival. This year it’s part of the CanAm tour, and this is the third weekend of racing so far.

“We have what we call closed course racing,” said Amy Green, director of the CWA. “We will have both stand up jet skis and runabout watercraft, people refer to them as stand-ups and sit-downs. We will have between five and 12 people on the starting line that will go and maneuver a course similar to a super cross course in motor cross and you’ll see the standup skis are highly technical. It takes a lot of skill to maneuver the stand up jet skis through the track. The runabouts are more for speed. You will see our runabouts going up to 80 miles an hour.”

Green said there are three classes of racers out this weekend – beginners, amateurs and pros. There’s a mixture of the three, with a total of about 80 racers, which makes the races interesting for all spectators to watch, and it’s free entertainment.

The watercraft races are just off the shore from the Belle River Sunsplash Festival, which also features a carnival by Carter Shows, vendors, food and even live entertainment.

More information can be found on the Windsor-Essex Summer Festival Guide.