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On October 7, 2000 we participated in a world
record attempt to break the current world of 100 waterskiers behind one
boat. Lake Washington a gorgeous autumn day in Seattle, WA. was the setting
& 120 skiers was the goal. The event was organized by the Seattle
Show Ski team, along with John Curley of Evening
Magazine, Jones Soda,
& Nichols Brothers Ship Builders. The boat used was the Klondike Express,
a 137' catamaran with two jet engines with over 6000 horsepower!
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Booms were built spanning 280' to handle
all the ropes. The booms were narrow catwalks & had places for 4 men
to ride in case any of the ropes needed to be cut in case of emergency.
Several local hydrofoilers decided that we could help with the ropes &
pickup boats. In exchange we were given the chance to break the world record
of 12 hydrofoil riders behind a single boat.
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Probably the most fun was riding on the booms
while the skiers tried to get up. Ian Lauder was also given the opportunity
to hang out of a helicopter while taking pictures of the event.
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The most work of the event was organizing
& hooking up the 120 ski ropes used. In order to get the skiers beyond
the horrendous jetwash, the ropes had to be over 250' long! Thats over
10 miles of rope!!
HO Sports sold the poly-E line to the ski team
for dirt cheap who will be using the remainder for a looong time....if
they can untangle it all!
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The waterski attempt turned out to be unsuccessful
due to the boat engines cavatation problems. The skiers were literally
able to hold the boat back!
The hydrofoil attempt was somewhat more dramatic.
We managed to get over 30 hydrofoil riders up.......and then after a series
of crashes, 14 riders managed to ride the one mile required to fulfill
the requirement!
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The entire attempt was shown on Evening
Magazine the following week. Kind of nice to see on TV, especially
since we were the only ones successful in the attempts!
Check the piece out in RealVideo here:
4:38
2.8mg.
Thanks to Ian Lauder & Larry Murphy for the photos.
And to Bill Curley & Kevin Thayer for putting it all together. |
