Jon Thorndyke’s been busy.

The senior and the UNCW Waterski Club will play host to the inaugural Wilmington Spring Classic in the Brunswick County town of Bolivia on March 27-28.

The event, part of the South Atlantic Conference’s schedule, is the first competition held by the UNCW organization.

Thorndyke and the club’s staff put together the event after a last-minute opening emerged.

“UNC-Charlotte did not put together a bid for the South Atlantic Conference so at the last minute I did,” Thorndyke said. “I spoke with my coach. He pulled some of his people together (to be judges). He sent me with some names for the bid. When I put it in they talked with me for a few minutes and they accepted.”

Since then, Thorndyke and company have scrambled to get the site, temporarily dubbed Lake Seahawk, ready.

“Some of the things we’ve had to do is maintenance and repairs at the lake. Arranging for other teams to come, staying a hotel. Make reservations … provide hotel to go to and give a (discounted) rate,” Thorndyke said. “We tried to get sponsors from the community. I’ll leave it as some promotion. Of course, just trying to operate the tournament that day. Setting every thing up.

“I probably spent a minimum of 12-15 hours a week on paperwork alone. And then going out there. We’ve probably done 15-20 (more) hours of work … Cleaning out the banks, readying the jump ramp, getting a new dock as well. They’re putting in a jump grid – a computerized system that measures how far you jump.

“It’s crunch time now.”

After all the work, Thorndyke expects roughly six to nine squads to compete. Some of the schools expected are Alabama, Charlotte, Clemson, Georgia and Georgia State.

The schools compete in three events: Slalom (skiers work around six buoys), trick and wakeboarding.

With a young squad and up against a field that includes the South Atlantic Conference’s most dedicated teams, Thorndyke hopes for a strong UNCW finish, but is realistic about the situation.

“I think it will be good for our team to place third. I won’t say we’re No. 1, because we’ve got a lot of skiers out there,” Thorndyke said.

His viewpoint on spectators is a bit more nuanced.

“Turnout wise, I’d be extremely excited if we had 25-30 skiers. If we had over 100 (spectators) I’d be ecstatic,” Thorndyke said.

But he only wants a dedicated, small group of people to arrive, so he’s reluctant to give out directions to Lake Seahawk.

“Look up the directions,” Thorndyke advised interested spectators.To find the directions, go to UNCW’s homepage and type “waterski” into the search engine.