Worlds Biggest Ski Race

[gringo]

The Southern 80 on the Murray river in Australia. Bascially a 80 klm' (50 mile ) race up stream along the Murray towing two skiers in a varitey of classes and divisions.This Year had record entries over 500. To win outright you will need to finish in a nick over 30 min (thats about 100 MPH AVERAGE) and into the madness the course has 126 tight bends. Check out "TOP GUN" a nice peice of work but not enough to even get a place, this years winner "HELLBENT" took line honours and an outright record 30'43". Well done to the "HELLBENT" http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/45136/2001251886024469536_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001251886024469536)crew with bighttp://aycu12.webshots.com/image/43291/2001208983642159462_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001208983642159462) ballshttp://aycu20.webshots.com/image/46419/2001200019095493082_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001200019095493082)http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/43557/2001232378406681298_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001232378406681298)http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/46317/2001211847142394387_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001211847142394387)

[diamond-back]

That is too cool. And I think barefooting at 38 is fast. :P

[RIVERRUMMER 70]

That is too cool. And I think barefooting at 38 is fast. :P

HOW THE HELL DO YOU FOOT @ 38 MPH ?????
YOU MUST BE A LIGHT WEIGHT GUY. 130 LBS???????
MOST GUYS I HAVE MET NEED AT LEAST 45 MPH TO BE HAPPY AND I LIKE
50-55 MPH MYSELF.
WHEN I DROVE FOR THE SKI-TEAM HERE I HAD ONE YOUNG GUN THAT WOULD BEG FOR 60 MPH, A LITTLE MUCH IN MY OPINION BUT HE WAS A BAD ASS B-FOOT GUY.:cool:

[diamond-back]

HOW THE HELL DO YOU FOOT @ 38 MPH ?????
YOU MUST BE A LIGHT WEIGHT GUY. 130 LBS???????
MOST GUYS I HAVE MET NEED AT LEAST 45 MPH TO BE HAPPY AND I LIKE
50-55 MPH MYSELF.
WHEN I DROVE FOR THE SKI-TEAM HERE I HAD ONE YOUNG GUN THAT WOULD BEG FOR 60 MPH, A LITTLE MUCH IN MY OPINION BUT HE WAS A BAD ASS B-FOOT GUY.:cool:



:confused: lol... i mean, you barefoot at 50-55 on each run? I know it's possible to foot @ that speed, and well above, but why? Above 45 there's really no benefit other than just to "test yourself" to hit a new top speed... Just burns your feet quicker!

My guess is that your speedo isn't GPS and hasn't been calibrated recently at those higher speeds? Just an idea :cool:

And what the heck line length do you use at your "55"? Cuz 100' won't work, haha...

I weigh 165, and 37-38 on our GPS speedo is perfect.
my Dad weighs 135, and he foots @ 36-37 on GPS.
And add ~5mph above for one-foot speeds.


c'monnnn summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

[jamlucas]

Gday Gringo,

Good to see some good photos up on the site.
It had nothing to do with Americans barefooting, just pure speed.

[gringo]

cool MOC that yellow bullet . giddy up.......

[mr fun]

thats what i grew up dreaming about! in those days it was straight inboards though, schieda, hallett, cambell, daycruisers. catalina island race in long beach cali was the one everybody talked about here. what kind of ski's do people use there? maharaja is about the only one still around doing it that i'm aware of. nobody ski's anymore :( i want to get back out there. any pics of the winning boat, areal shots of the race? that would be an awsome site, 500 boats and a thousand skiers (if my math is right, belive it said 2 skiers per boat) thanks for the info, nice to see something different for a change! :D (everybody here just buys a fast tunnel and sprints around, as my dad would say, "couldn't pull a greasy string out of a cats ass ";) ):D :D :D

[gringo]

Its ski race season here in Australia, two weeekends back we had a 40 klm up stream then 40 klm second leg back to the start and i believe entries were around 300. today and tomorrow we are having a 50 klm up stream and 50 klm back again at Mildura. the river is straighter and wider than the famous SOUTHERN 80 and the average speeds are nuts most of the super class boats average over 100 mph. The skiers are full blown athletes who train like pro footballers and the boats are dedicated ski race boats that are purpose built to pull two skiers in a variety of water conditions at top speeds of up to 120 mph. No other sport compares to this, its the stuff of legends. I'll try to post some more potos.

[stvhelm]

Im drooling over that stainless steel trailer....

[zx1216]

Damn, taking a digger at 100 mph can't feel too good, how many people died last year doing this?

[Orbit`]

Not too many....I think I only recall one Serious injury that hit the media.

IIRC the skier hit a log at 90ish MPH

[yellowallison]

:) :)