As we all know, Harper was AWOL during 'The Ties That Blind' for the surfing competition at Infinity Atoll.  Not very important stuff at first glance. It tells us that Harper loves surfing, and is a really great surfer. 48th out of ten thousand competitors really impresses us with that last fact. 

Or was it really not that important?

By surfing in that competition, Harper was in contact with 9,999 other people.  Some of them may have been new to the competition.  Others may have been attending for a very long time.  Chances are that Harper is on good terms with some of them.  So he'd probably spend some time catching up to them.  During that time, he would probably mention that he was taking part in a new mission to help rebuild the Commonwealth.

That last part would make some of them go 'yeah, right.'  But the word would be spread.  Someone was going to re-establish order to the universe.  And they had one of their friends along for the ride.  Maybe there could be something to all of this.  The surfers would talk amongst themselves, gossiping about what so-and-so was up to now.  By surfing in that competition, Harper was giving really good exposure for Dylan's mission. 

After the competition was over, the surfers would go home.  They would bring back that news, and it would spread to however far away the surfers had come from.  Gossip does travel fast.  Maybe some planets would not like the idea so well.  Others may love it.  But they know that they may be approached for the new Commonwealth some time in the near future.  They'll have time to think about it, and make their decision.  Some of them might decide to approach Dylan first.

All that could be accomplished by surfing in one competition.

(Of course, some may argue that this would give them an ample chance to seek them out and attack them, but like Dylan said, "Pessimism is not a survival trait.")