Monday, March 29, 2010

  Most Water Skiers Behind a Boat - Horsehead Waterski Club set world record

 STRAHAN, Tasmania -- After seven previous attempts, 114 Australian water skiers from the Horsehead Waterski Club were successfully towed by a single boat over one nautical mile - setting the new world record for the Most Water Skiers Behind a Boat .
 Photo: The record-breaking waterski run at Strahan captured by Mark Seaton Photographics
  ( enlarge photo )

The previous Guinness world record for the Most Water Skiers Behind a Boat was 100, set in Trinity Inlet, Cairns, in 1986, by Cairns & District Powerboat and Ski Club.

   Around 300 people, led by the Horsehead Water Ski Club, Australia’s oldest ski club, were involved in the record-breaking attempt for the most skiers pulled by a single boat over one nautical mile .

   Greg Hind from the world record attempt committee said: "Conditions were fantastic, the water was nearly glass, which on a bay of this size is absolutely unbelievable," he said. "We've got the best conditions we could hope for."

   Pulled behind the World Heritage Cruise's $5 million catamaran Eagle, 114 skiers broke the record in near-perfect conditions.

   "The logistics of what we have achieved is just military precision," Club vice-president Nick Wilson said . "Everyone was just elated. Our phrase from the end of it was `Mission Accomplished'."

   Water skier Nick Elmer says the persistence paid off. "Just buzzing, buzzing with excitement, it's just amazing, just the atmosphere here," he said. "Everyone here's really excited and very proud of themselves."

   It had been a case of disappointment after disappointment but at the eighth attempt, the world record was finally broken.

   The Horsehead Waterski Club, based at Lake Barrington, has been trying to break the record since February 2008 but the previous attempts all fell short.

   In the previous Tasmanian attempt in January, the boat crossed the line with 99 skiers standing, only one short of equalling the record. To break the record, at least 101 skiers had to remain upright for one nautical mile.

   "The sheer determination on the faces of the skiers as they were being pulled behind the boat was just astounding," spokesman and official photographer Mark Seaton said.
   "You could see they were really hurting, they were in pain but those skiers right at the front are some of Tasmania's best waterskiers and they held on for grim death and would not let go."

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