Offshore Waterski Record Attempt - Lauryn Eagle set to fly

by Sam Crichton on 14 May 2009 The Eagle name and the sport of waterskiing have had an 11 year association on both the Australian and International stage and Lauryn Eagle is about to write herself into the history books as she attempts to be the first female to water-ski continuously from Sydney to Newcastle and return and set a new time record for this distance.

'It has been a physical rollercoaster and I can’t wait for the hard work to pay off next week. I planned to do this attempt with my father and am now going to do it in his memory. This is a sport I have competed in my whole life along with my family, it's what I love doing', said Eagle.

Lauryn will be watched from above by her father Peter Eagle, who tragically died in 2008 in a boating accident on Sydney Harbour and Lauryn is dedicating this record in his name.

No stranger to national and world champion titles, Lauryn has been preparing for this attempt for approximately one year and with the current official water skiing record from Sydney to Newcastle of 1 hour 55 minutes being held by Ray Wheeler she is hoping to complete the 222 kilometre round trip in less than three and a half hours. To achieve this time Lauryn’s tow boat will need to average 60 kms per hour for the entire 222 kilometres.

The team is waiting for the optimum weather window and the plan is currently for Lauryn to start her run at 7:30am on Monday 18th May but this date is very much weather dependant so the team has allowed for this and has set aside alternate days of May 19th through to the 22nd to give Lauryn to best weather option available.

Lauryn will start her record run off Little Manly Wharf heading out Sydney Heads and travelling north to Newcastle before turning around a position that will be identified by a Newcastle Maritime vessel that will be on station on the exact coordinates as required by the governing body, Water Ski Racing Australia. She will then be covering the same ground on the return trip crossing the finish line again in Little Manly cove.

After Lauryn has completed this attempt she will head to Belgium in July to compete in the Water Skiing World titles in Viersel.

This water skiing record attempt is being supported by Yamaha Motors, Protector Boats Australia and Immediate Assistants. Yamaha will deliver the constant, reliable power for this Sydney Newcastle water skiing record attempt.

The Yamaha F350 V8 outboard engine is the most powerful production outboard in the world, and the world’s only V8 4 stroke outboard engine.

'We're extremely excited to be a part of this record attempt.

Yamaha has a reputation all around the world for producing the most powerful and reliable outboard motors. With the state of the art V8 F350 powering this attempt Lauryn and her team will have that record in no time', commented Grant Binskin, National Marketing Co-ordinator Yamaha Motor Australia. www.yamaha-motor.com.au

Protector Boats Australia www.superyachting.com

Immediate Assistants will be providing on-water safety and medical support for the attempt.
Immediate Assistants www.ias.com.au

Lauryn Eagle sponsors are Canterbury Mini Garage and Wing Wetsuits.