Lake Norman teen, No. 1 in US in her water sport, will compete in China for world title
Anna Burk buzzed around buoys on Lake Norman Friday, practicing a sport in which she’s America’s fastest female professional racer.
She’s 17, a 4-foot-11, 85-pound junior at Lake Norman High School who in just three years has become one of the best motosurfers in the world.
In August, Burk and a competitor from Panama City, Florida, will represent women’s Team USA in the MotoSurf World Championship in Chengdu, China.
Motosurfing is officially recognized by the Monaco-based Union Internationale Motonautique, the governing body of powerboating. The International Olympic Committee has recognized UIM since 2010, meaning motosurfing could one day become an Olympic sport, according to the American Power Boat Association.
Burk and other pros maneuver 45-pound, carbon-fiber, motorized boards on a course marked by buoys, typically 12 riders from across the world at once. Riders weave through a hairpin course at roughly 40 mph.
Burk made the World Championship during a recent qualifier competition on the Gulf of Oman in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. Twenty-four women and 24 men from 15 countries qualified for the games.
She also has competed in events on the Adriatic Sea in Italy and Croatia.
Burk won her most recent U.S. MotoSurf race in Sebring, Florida, in late September. She placed second in the North American Championship, which combines points from each race during a season.
She holds a world record, loved motosurfing from the start
Burk also holds the world record for youngest female to backflip a stand-up Jet Ski, setting the mark at age 13. She started water skiing on the lake at age 5.
Born and raised in Mooresville, she trains in motosurfing outside her family’s home on Lake Norman, and in Florida.
Her father, Ted, also is a top competitor. He’s on the two-member men’s Team USA for the World Championship in China. Burk, who is 47 and owns a DC power company, won the hobby class of the sport before joining its pro circuit.
Anna Burk said she was inspired to try motosurfing by an uncle in the sport.
“I tried the board and got used to it,” she told The Charlotte Observer at her home Friday before a practice round on the lake with her dad and trainer, Antony Squire of Charlotte. “I loved it so much, I didn’t want to stop.”
Motosurfing “is very fun, and you make so many friends that turn into family eventually, here in the United States and even overseas,” Burk said. “And you get to explore so many cool places.”
She said she progressed in the sport through “a lot of training, practice and trial and error,” such as positioning her feet different ways on the board. “And having one of the best trainers in the world helps a lot.”
Squire was the No. 3 male MotoSurf competitor in the world in 2023 and 2024 and currently ranks No. 1.
Teen motosurfer champ excels in academics, too
While motorized surfboards have been around since the 1930s, sanctioned MotoSurf racing began in 2012 by the owner of motorized surfboard manufacturer JetSurf, based in the Czech Republic, according to Motosurfing.com.
Burk and her dad’s JetSurf boards were handmade in the Czech Republic. The boards have a carbon fiber hull and a 100 cc fuel-injected, 2-stroke motor that generates 16 horsepower. Her board cost $13,000 and her dad’s, $15,000.
It takes a lot of muscle to “carve” around buoys on the boards, which makes her daughter’s accomplishments all the more remarkable, Chrystal Burk said.
“She’s an amazing kid,” Chrystal Burk said. “She can do anything she puts her mind to. She’s extremely smart in school. She has to keep up with her academics while we’re traveling to different countries. And she has the pressure of competing. She carries all that weight with grace and maturity.”
Anna Burk hopes to attend Davidson College and become a lawyer, competing in motosurfing “as long as I can,” she said.
“She takes her grades very seriously,” Chrystal Burk said. “In between races, qualifications, she gets on her computer and starts doing homework assignments, which is very difficult with an often 12-hour time difference. She’s just a great kid.”
Anna Burk’s grandmother, 89-year-old Anne Moose, has lived on Lake Norman for seven decades. She watched its creation in 1963 from her and her late husband’s home at the end of Brawley School Road, on a lot that cost $500, she said.
Moose said she loves her “sports girl,” how her granddaughter “does it all with a smile.”
“And if she doesn’t come in first, we know she gave it all she could,” Moose said. “She’s a wonder. She’ll carry these memories for the rest of her life.”
This story was originally published May 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM.