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 theMost
Water Skiers Behind a Boat. Photo: The record-breaking waterski run
at Strahan captured by Mark SeatonPhotographics
(enlarge
photo)
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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