This year’s honorary starter of the Catalina Water Ski Race began helping to organize ski races in 1970. He was the race director for the Anacapa ski race (from Oxnard to Anacapa Island and back).

Update – April 17:
I have been told that you can make reservations for The Coast Hotel for the Catalina ski race weekend.

Thank you,
Ken Vaughan  -  Commodore Long Beach Boat and Ski Club
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Britain’s Rod Hawkins was captured getting some air off the coast of Lyme Regis (location of the movie “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”) by photographer Keith Slater in 2001.

Belgium’s Ivy Jennes was caught in the act of getting some air on a canal by Claude Herman.

After a bunch of people posted below, I think we can safely say that Luke Keys is the guy who Mike Kemp of Ultimate Image Capture captured in action here at the 2007 NSW State Titles.

World Champion Jason Walmsley was caught whilst airborne during the 2007 NSW State Titles by Mike Kemp of Ultimate Image Capture

Mike Kemp of Ultimate Image Capture has shared a great selection of shots of Blazen, Drippin Wet, Grant Patterson & Daniel Campbell, Hellbent, Justin Cadden & James Buser, Kristofer Knights & Aaron Sawtell, Stinga, Tania Teelow & Kylee Jones, Temper and Top Gun.

Danny Cropper (DC Waterskis) was caught getting some air at the 2007 NSW State Titles by Mike Kemp of Ultimate Image Capture

Back in 1999, Australia’s Howie Hook of H2O Graphics designed the skirace.net tshirts for the 1999 Worlds in Spain and I’ve used that design as a skirace.net logo ever since.

This week, Howie has designed and contributed a complete new banner for skirace.net (above) which incorporates the 1999 design and new artwork. The embeded photo will occasionally be changed but the shot that you currently see there has been contributed by Aussie photographer Rob Storum of In Tha Zone Images

My thanks to both Howie and Rob for their contribution to skirace.net.

Tim Dubois captured whilst airborne during Catalina.

British Water Ski has recently made awards to a select group of people in waterskiing. Honorary President of British Water Ski, Lord Moynihan, presented the 2008 awards at Queen’s Club in West London and water ski racing’s achievers were:

With the high profile 60th Catalina Water Ski Race fast approaching, I thought it would be good to share a couple of interesting Catalina snippets of information. Thanks to Ted Hoffman who helped put this together.

Stacky has published another great Stinga movie on YouTube.

Tania Teelow was caught getting some air in the final race on the Hawkesbury River at the 1988 World Titles, which she went on to win.

After a unanimous vote, Aussie Chris Stout gets named as the guy who looks as if he’s wearing sunnies at the Diamond Race whilst pulling off a bunny.

Steve Morley pulled this bunny off the Murray in 2006 whilst doing Mildura 100. Nicole Mitchell caught him in the act.

Britain’s Natalie Scott hops off Windermere in 2007.

Britain’s Paula Newland is seen here hopping off the River Tamar in Plymouth. Top ski racing photographer Keith Slater caught her in the act around 1999.

Australia’s Chris Gelle hopped off the Murray at 120mph behind Hellbent whilst on his way to winning the 2008 Mildura 100 outright with Jason Walmsley.

British Water Ski – the governing body of water skiing in Britain, has a new vacancy for the role of OPERATIONS MANAGER.

Ted Hoffman has just sent me the line up for the 1980 Catalina with yours truly listed as a Junior Boy. The British Water Ski Federation sent an official team to the 32nd Catalina Water Ski Race which was made up of:

America’s Kurt Schoen pulls off a bunny just before Easter at the Parker race this year.

Corbin Heinbuch pulling off a bunny hop amongst a gaggle of boats at the 2005 US Nationals/Open. Scott Atkinson of USAWS (USA Waterski) and editor of “The Waterskier” magazine captured the moment.

Italy’s Stefano Gregorio perms a bunny hop in the early 90’s.

America’s Todd Haig pulled this bunny out of the hat at the 2006 US Open in San Diego and Daren Van Ryte was captured the action.

America’s Mike Avila performs a superb bunny hop on a fun ski a few years ago. Incredibly, it was even after he hurt his arm.

Carlo Cassa on his way to winning the 1998 Catalina Race.

Aussie Chris Stout pulls his bunny out of the hat and an MPC crew member captures it at the Hawkesbuty 120 race.

Great new movie action of Jeff Barrus (from his helmet & boat) as he gets a little workout before Catalina.

Tim Lisens of Belgium performs his bunny hop on a canal in 2004. Kevin Malot captured the action.

Darren Kirkland’s Bunny Hop at the Lyme Regis National in 2001. Captured in action by Keith Slater.

The Hellbent team with driver Mark Cranny, observer Damien Matthews and skiers Jason Walmsley and Chris Gelle have taken out the Mildura 100 in a record time of 31:30.

11 year old Michael Förstel of Austria performs his bunny hop at last national race in Marbach on the Donau. He also went on to win the race.

Vera Van den Bossche has published the Belgian Water Ski Racing (KBWSF) calendar for 2008.

Boat numbers are now available from the Mildura site for those teams who have entered the Mildura 100, so please check them out. Visit the Mildura site

Superb on-board video footage of Stinga in action on the Murray River in the 2008 Southern 80 Baker’s Blitz. The movie was published stinga70 on YouTube.

Driver: Gregory Houston
Observer: Shane Helson
Skiers: Daniel Campbell & Grant Patterson

Mike Waterman has released the combined British Water Ski and EAME Water Racing Calendar for 2008.

Peter Procter, Mallory Nordblad and Marshall Cole enjoyed overall wins at the Parker Marathons on 8 & 9 March. Full results are at www.nwsra.net

After Wayne Mawer’s bunny hop shot was published, Kirsten Frost of Nature Photography captured a long bunny hop by Spanish Junior skier Marc Avella.

The Mildura & District Ski Club -the organisers of the Mildura 100 – have made available on their website – the entries for the 2008 Mildura 100. Due to the short turn around from when entries closed and when the race – NO notification of entries or Race Number allocations will be sent to team captains. This information is available on their web page.

Available today – 14th March – those entries received, please check them very carefully and let the MDSC know of any errors by Saturday 15th March AM please.

Calender of events with briefing information will be available on Saturday 15th March
Race Numbers will be posted on the web site on the evening of Tuesday 18th March

Peter Eagle’s funeral took place on 14 March 2008 at Caringbah Baptist Church. You can post a message at the bottom of this page.

Daily Telegraph Report here

Daren Van Ryte of www.ocphotographics.com was at Havasu on the weekend capturing America’s best (and a few visitors) in action. Below are a bunch of shots which Daren has kindly provided for publication.

On 30th March 2008 Morwenna Gibbs will be taking part in the Brooks 19th Paddock Wood Half Marathon (13.1 miles). She will be raising money for the Karl Brooks Memorial Fund. You can read more baout the run at www.paddockwoodac.co.uk

Rob Storum is a sports photographer from Sydney Australia who runs the company “In Tha Zone Images” (Action Photography). He has now launched his web site at www.inthazoneimages.com.au

Marshall Cole, Peter Procter, Mallory and Lacey Nordblad celebrated overall marathon wins at Lake Havasu USA on the weekend in America’s first big event of the season. The 2008 NWSRA Marathon / Sprint Series is sponsored by Nordic Boats. You can get full official results now on the “Race Results” page at www.nwsra.net.

Force Boats writes …Just last weekend, in Echuca at the Southern 80 Ski Race, the Force F19x “Stalker” broke the SMOC social record by 35 seconds, with a time of 40 minutes and 25 seconds! but wait there’s more…

Yesterday on the Murray river at Echuca / Moama, Team Hell with the boat Hellbent won the outright title for the 2008 Club Marine Southern 80.

The 2008 season of racing in the USA will kick off on 16 & 17 February at Lake Havasu. Get full details of this and other American racing for the 2008 season at www.nwsra.net

On 2nd Feb 2008, along Stahan Beach on Tasmania’s West Coast, 121 water skiers were prepared for an assault on the world record of ‘most skiers behind one boat over one nautical mile’.

Courtesy of the IWSF EAME Racing Council, below is the final 2008 Racing Calendar for the EAME Region (Europe, Africa & Middle East).

Justin Frank writes …As the dust begins to settle from last week’s event (Karl Brooks Memorial Golf Tournament), I’ve had some time to reflect on what a great time was had by all.

Chris Grabyn of NSW has launched a new photography website for ski racing at www.multi-verse.net

Force Boats notched up no less than 17 Aussie Titles at the 2008 National Speed and Marathon Championships held in Grafton this month. That’s 6 more than last year’s 11, and they snapped up 14 x 2nd & 3rd positions. Needless to say, the Force folk are rather chuffed with the results.

You can find the Australian Titles results and photos now on the Ski Racing Australia site. The list of Australian Champions below is reproduced from information published at skiracingqueensland.com.au by Peta Smail.

The Mildura 100 entry forms are now available via the Mildura website

Note that entries close on Sunday 9th March – NO LATE ENTRIES

There will be no acceptance of entries or notification of numbers posted out prior to the event. We will endeavour to have this on the website by Wednesday 19th March.

General Enquiries Meliss Hassall 0419032133 AH or email skirace@milduraskiclub.org

The 2008 European Ski Racing Championships is off to a great start this season with strong sponsorship backing from Thanet District Council and a champagne launch at the London Boat Show … as featured on BBC news.

Check out the British Water Ski site for Youtube video of this news feed.

More details of the European Championships are here

On 13th Jan 2008, Brendan Stout wrote …Hi everyone,

This is Brendan. Today is the 12 January. Its been 7 weeks since my accident in the bridge to bridge. I am spending the weekend at home from the hospital, however I go back tonight. Last week I was transferred from Westmead Hospital to Royal Ryde Rehabilitation Centre where I will probably be for 6 – 8 weeks for further recovery. I am getting stronger everyday. My memory is improving and is almost back to normal. It will still take some time before further recovery as I have several severed nerves in my face and forehead which have affected my vision and facial movements. The doctors say it could be 4 – 6 months before they are fully regrown. I am also trying to put on weight as I lost 13 kilograms at Westmead which has made me quite weak and fatigued however I’ve started to put weight back on again and am getting stronger by the day. I would like to thank everybody for their support and get well wishes as I’m sure this has helped me recover already as far as I have. I just could not believe how many of these messages kept coming in from skiers and school mates and their families from all over the world. The time in hospital has been very tough but I was never on my own as usually mum was there or if not, dad was there sitting by my bedside when I woke up.

My Girlfriend Maddy Brien has spent many hours next to me in the hospital helping me to recover. I would just like to say a special thankyou to her. She’s been a great support to me and mum.

Hopefully in the coming months I will be able to spend time with my many ski racing and school friends as my life comes back together.

Thanks again everybody for all your support – It is a wonderful feeling to know I have so many friends in a time of need.

Brendan Stout

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As we all know, Brendan Stout suffered an awful accident on 25 Nov on the Hawkesbury River in Australia when he fell at the Bridge to Bridge water ski race. Hundreds of people from all over the world have been sending get well wishes and praying for his recovery. Read the Xmas update on Brendan at www.skiracingnsw.com.au

On 25th Dec – Linda Keys wrote

Hi Robbie,

Just a quick note to thank you very much for all of Brendan’s beautiful messages, this wouldn’t be possible without your site. I would also like to thank all, both in and out of ski racing who have, and continue to send there best wishes to him

Brendan turns 18 on the 29th Dec, and hopefully he will have some friends with him and his family to celebrate this milestone. He has spent Christmas day at home with his family, and all going well will be able to be there a few more days before returning to rehab at Westmead where the hard work will begin.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas, and best wishes for 2008.

God Bless ….
Regards
Linda

.
On 14th Dec – Wendy Stout wrote a touching note to Brendan here

Updates on Brendan’s condition are being posted at www.skiracingnsw.com.au

Leave your messages for Brendan at the bottom of this page

Only a few weeks to the 2008 Club Marine Southern 80. Entries are now closed and well over 500 have been recieved.

Race numbers will be advised to team captains via email later this week and via snail mail on Monday of next week.

There have been a number of updates on the Southern 80 web page – here are some of the information that you can find on the web page: –
* There is a video of the Bakers Blitz course for people to view (it takes about 8 minutes to view).
* There are photos taken each week of the Murray River at Victoria Park boat ramp. To check out the previous weeks photos, check out the S80 Blog.
* Briefing is going to be held for all drivers and observers on the Friday night this year. The venue is the Echuca Recreation Centre behind Echuca College in College Drive (although some maps say it is Tech drive). Starting time is 6pm and aiming to be finished by 7pm.
Scrutineering is again at Byfords on the Cobb Highway Moama from 11am to 5pm on Friday 8th February.
* On both days at the finish line, the Freestyle Motorcross show featuring the Crusty Demon Riders will be demonstrating some of their skills at various times
* Saturday night and there are a number of events on in Echuca / Moama. There is Southern 80 River Rock Party to take place in the Aquatic Reserve featuring Screaming Jets with Future role models and DJ Owen. Tickets for this are available at the Southern 80 shop in Anstruther st Echuca.

Check out the Southern 80 web page for all the information about this years event.

Roger Lincoln has forwarded a link for a video of the 2005 worlds

Shane Wilson has submitted the following update on behalf of Don Gulley, concerning this week’s Australian National Waterski & Marathon Titles:

Due to the weather and rising river in northern NSW, there will be A ONE DAY DELAY in the running of the Australian National Waterski & Marathon Titles to be held in Grafton.

The same event program is expected to run with practise on Wednesday afternoon from 3pm and racing to commence 9am Thursday 10th, Friday11th, Saturday 12th, it is expected that some events may have to be carried over to Sunday 13th.

Ski Racing Queensland officials have met with the authorities and by delaying the event by 1 day will enable the river to go down even more and a cleanup of the venue. SO RACING IS STILL ON.

With some competitors already in Grafton or well or their way and the clearing weather, we are still looking forward to some excellent racing.

Sent for and behalf of Don Gulley
– Shane Wilson

This information is also posted at www.skiracing.com.au

If you would like to get involved with Roger Lincoln in making movies at the British water ski races this year, email him at roger@linc69.orangehome.co.uk. Both sponsorship and technical involvement is welcome.

Thanks to Roger Lincoln

Hover mouse over movie and click FULL to view the full screen version

The Australian titles are to be held at Grafton between the 8th & 12th January 2008. Lex Jones and Tracey Jones have provided some photos and the proposed course. Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge.

The American NWSRA has published its tentative race calendar for 2008. Racing kicks off at Lake Havasu on 16 & 17 February and runs through until October.

The NSW-ACT championship series is in its first year, with ACT-Country and NSW Ski Racing merging for a six-race series. On 15/16 Dec 2007, Wyangala Dam will welcome some of Australia’s top waterski racing teams for round four of the NSW-ACT Ski Racing Championships.

A number of photographers (professional and amateur) have been very generous by providing their photos for use on this and other web sites to help promote ski racing. You can see a list of them at the bottom right of this web site.

Justin Frank writes … (7 Dec 2007) First of all we would really like to thank all the sponsors, participants, and supporters that have already signed up for the tournament. Your quick responses to getting your entries in are greatly appreciated. This is a true testament to how tightly knit of a group we can be, and we just wanted to let you know how thankful we are for each and every one of you.

On the weekend, former World Champions Kim Lumley and Rob Manchett announced their engagement to be married. No date has been set but Rob (who did ask Tom’s permission) said; “it will be after the 2009 worlds – it has taken us eight years to get this far.”

‘The Rock’ needs a new pair of skiers for the 2008 Southern 80.

The full results from the 2007 Feros Hotel Group Bridge to Bridge Water Ski Race are now posted online.

The 2008 Club Marine Southern 80 is ON. The event, to take place on the Murray River at Echuca / Moama on the Victoria / New South Wales border in Australia takes place on the 8th, 9th & 10th of February 2008.

Chuck Stearns, Mike Avila and Marsha Fitzgerald – As in most sports, water ski racing has seen its fair share of accomplished athletes over the years.

Are you looking for a Christmas gift for a water ski racing fan? RMI Images has two 2008 calenders, which will make an ideal Christmas gift for the ski racing fan.

The USA National Water Ski Racing Association (NWSRA) has announced that it expects to modify its race format in 2008.

USA Water Ski has today reported that the American Water Ski Educational Foundation’s 10-member Hall of Fame Selection Committee has announced that Kris LaPoint and Water Ski Racing’s Marsha Fitzgerald will be the 2008 AWSEF Water Ski Hall of Fame inductees.

The Rollo’s Marine Yamaha Bridge to Bridge Water Ski Classic is over for 2007. It was a fantastic event that was enjoyed by all those who participated and watched in Hamilton and along the Waikato River throughout the weekend.

We have been working around the clock here at Head Quarters….so we have new boats and news for you in this edition.

The 2007 Feros Hotel Group Bridge to Bridge Water Ski Race takes place on 24 & 25 November on the Hawkesbury River in NSW Australia.

Results Page

Ski Racing’s family of Chris, Kim and Elliott King are all members of Lake Arrowhead Water Ski Club (LAWSC) in the USA and Elliott raced in the 2005 Worlds.

The full results from the weekend’s 2007 Rollos Hamilton Bridge to Bridge are now available at the New Zealand Water Ski Racing Association web site or directly here.

America’s Dusty Schulz spent a number of days with Mike Waterman, Vera van den Bossche and others in Belgium last week, inspecting the proposed sites for the 2009 World Water Ski Racing Championships.

Rollo’s Marine Yamaha Outboards Bridge to Bridge Water Ski Classic (www.nz.skirace.net) – the premier water ski event in the country will be held on the 27th and 28th of October. (Weekend after Labour Weekend).

The 2007 Mike Berry San Francisco Bay Ski Race will take place on 27th October and the proceeds will go to Benefit Contra Costa Hospice in memory of Mike Berry.

At the IWSF World Congress held on Thursday 30 August 2007 in Linz, Austria, the IWSF had received a bid from Belgium for the 2009 World Racing Championships.

The Worlds DVD has now been well circulated throughout the world but I know that many people still haven’t seen it. Below is a 5 minute extract from this superb production.

Congratulations to Hellrazor on winning another Barrie Beehag in a record time of 23:23.15. with skiers Chris Gelle and Jason Walmsley.

It was great to see the crowds on the banks of the river at Deep Creek and along the river enjoying the racing and so many families out enjoying the sport of water ski racing.

I hear (but did not see) the mankinis on display – can’t wait for the photos.

Great to see many records smashed – congrats to Sportspage, BL Marine, Petty Cash & Ace Racing (all in MOC). SMOC – Kaned it and Stalker broke records. Breakaway was the record holder in 60mph.

Thanks to the competitors for a great days racing

All results are now available at www.southern80.com.au and follow the links to the Barrie Beehag race.

Some photos from the event should be available in the next couple of days.

Most people know of the superb ski racing designs of Australia’ Howie Hook. Howie has launched his new h2ographics website where you can read more about his services to skirace and boat race teams around the world.

Brad Cannings has provided this link www.photocornwall.co.uk for some great shots taken by PhotoCornwall at the Torquay British national recently.

The results from the 2007 Grafton Bridge to Bridge are now available at www.skiracingnsw.com.au where you can see that a collection of records were broken this year.

Last week I had my first glimpse of the 2007 Worlds DVD. If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend you take a look.

Longboard Ski Failure – Written by Bob Maher

The Victorian Water Ski Racing Fraternity will be turning its attention to the Murray River on Saturday 13th October for the 2007 Barrie Beehag Ski Race.

Thanks to Sue Fleming, the results from the overall 2007 British National Championsips are now available here:

Austria’s Gunter Schmutz yesterday proudly announced the birth of his & Eva-Maria’s first child - Kilian.

Thanks to Sue Flemming, the results from Torquay – the 9th round of the British national championships are now available here: