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One boat and 145 water-skiers...

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by YachtForums, Aug 1, 2012.

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  1. YachtForums, Aug 1, 2012
    #1
    YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    One boat. 145 water skiers. One helluva wake!​


    That was the combination that set a world record for the most water skiers being towed by a single vessel, off the coast of Tasmania, in Australia. Earlier this year, ABC reported the ages of the skiers ranged from 12 to 60, and that the 145 participants had to stay upright for one nautical mile to qualify for the record. A tourist cruise ship did the heavy lifting, but it still took its two 1,550-horsepower engines 25 seconds to pull everyone up out of the water.

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  2. YachtForums, Aug 1, 2012
    #2
    YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    The engine manufacturer should get some mileage out of this...

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  3. YachtForums, Aug 1, 2012
    #3
    YachtForums

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    I'm betting the skiers at the far extremes are working their arms off to maintain position...

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  4. chuckb, Aug 1, 2012
    #4
    chuckb

    chuckb Senior Member

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    Safety?

    Yikes... that last picture shows craft with spinning props following far too close for comfort!:eek: At least it nots that way in the other shots!
  5. JustMag, Aug 1, 2012
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    JustMag

    JustMag Member

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    Couldn't agree more! Years ago, I was one of 18 people skiing behind a 34' Nautiline Houseboat on the Ohio River. and of course I was the first one to fall:rolleyes: Pretty amazing to get that many skiers up at once.
  6. YachtForums, Aug 1, 2012
    #6
    YachtForums

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    With every record, comes risk. I'm certain a few of the boats trailing were present in case of an emergency. Let's not let fear get the best of us. This was really cool!
  7. chuckb, Aug 1, 2012
    #7
    chuckb

    chuckb Senior Member

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    Agreed, that is an absolutely amazing accomplishment... too bad there isn't a video of getting them all out of the hole... there must have been a "swimming pool" of water swallowed during what must have seemed an eternity to some of the skiers....!
  8. Andrew B., Aug 1, 2012
    #8
    Andrew B.

    Andrew B. Member

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    Congrats...

    Way cool...

    And the support craft seem to have a safe enough distance while staying close enough
    to get a fallen skier(s) back in line ASAP for a restart of the distance...just a thought...
  9. David Bennett, Aug 10, 2021
    #9
    David Bennett

    David Bennett New Member

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    Hi Chuck
    Greetings from Tasmania Australia
    Thankyou for your interest in our world water ski record.
    It was quite an adventure lasting many years.
    There are many pieces of video footage available.
    Let me know if you would like to see anything extra.
    (email me at waterskiaustralia@gmail.com)
    www.skirecord.com.au has some small amount of extra information.
    Best Regards
    David Bennett
  10. BRyachts, Aug 10, 2021
    #10
    BRyachts

    BRyachts Member

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    Way back in the late 80's I water skied behind what was, at the time, a well known high speed 115' charter yacht. We tossed around the idea of doing something like this just for the advertising. We had 2 x 2000hp MTU's, so plenty of power. The two big drawbacks, on takeoff, those early MTU's, pre tier engines, would smoke like hell and you had to ski right thru the cloud blind. Which brought up the second drawback, just as you were hitting this big black cloud, you were also hitting MASSIVE propeller turbulence and once up to speed the wake was as tall as me, so "crossing the wake" slalom style meant going airborne over a 6'+ wake, LOL. We made the mistake of mounting the tow ropes at stern level, so the ropes actually dragged thru the wake making transition difficult. Do again we would mount to tows high like modern "wakeboard towers".
  11. David Bennett, Aug 10, 2021
    #11
    David Bennett

    David Bennett New Member

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    Hi to you BR Yachts.
    I am so interested in hearing about you and your water skiing activities in the 80’s. Do you have any vision or photos? How many skiers did you contemplate?
    On our previous web site (which got stolen☹️) we were building a library of stories such as yours in an effort to acknowledge every group worldwide who took up the challenge of towing large numbers of skiers.
    We would love to include you when we rebuild this library.
    (My apologies for not replying earlier in the day - it was after midnight for us when your post appeared!)
    I trust you are enjoying your warm summer weather (as we suffer through winter).
    Regards
    David
  12. David Bennett, Aug 10, 2021
    #12
    David Bennett

    David Bennett New Member

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    Thankyou Administrator for your comment.
    Safety was always our primary concern.