Tasmanian water ski record attempt fails

Looking good and ready to go as 122 skiers take hold and signal for the power. - ski record Mark Seaton

’Eagle’ applies the power; shortly after this the primary tow line snapped ending the record attempt. - water ski record attempt © Mark Seaton

Despite the failure, club member and organiser Nic Wilson said all involved remained ‘upbeat.’

'It may go down in the books as a failure, but we gave it our best shot, learnt from it and the most important thing was that no injuries were sustained,' he said.

The club members and their ‘imports’ gathered on the Strahan waterfront on Saturday morning (January 31) for the attempt, with the 35.0-metre ferry ‘Eagle’ as the tow boat.

Boat builder, the respected Hobart firm Richardson Devine Marine, said the ferry had ‘ample power’ to do the job with its dual 15,550hp MTU shaft drive engines.

Everything was in place and ready to go on the Saturday morning until a strong breeze ‘came out of nowhere’, according to Nic Wilson.

'Wind was the last thing we needed, so we postponed until the afternoon hoping for a suitable weather window, but it was not to be and left us no choice but to hold over until the Sunday.'

Sunday dawned bright, clear and perfect for the attempt.

'I really thought we were going to achieve it, everything was in our favour and all 122 skiers appeared to get away to a good start,' Nic said.

'Then, after about 50-metres a primary ski tow rope snapped and that was that.'

Perfect conditions, glassy water, no wind, but it wasn’t to be. - water ski record attempt © Mark Seaton

Needless to say, all the skiers involved were disappointed.

'They’re great bunch,' Nic said, 'about 50-50 male to female, the youngest 10 the oldest 64.

'We had to conduct a series of interviews to finally select the skiers, mainly ensuring we only had experienced people on the tow bar,' he explained.

Club member and organiser Nic Wilson (left) with one of his assistants prior to the record attempt at Strahan. - ski record © Mark Seaton

Will there be another attempt?

'I’d like to say yes, for sure,' Nic told me last night.

'However, there will have to be a committee meeting of the club in order for that to be discussed,' he added.