Strahan, TAS: Home of World Record Waterskiing!

(The prequel to this post can be found here.)
Welcome to Strahan, a little town on the west coast of Tasmania. Population: 636

Our little cabin at the YHA hostel.

Part of the inside of the cabin. It was actually quite nice, although I remember it being a little chilly.

Jul was always taking photos of the flora and fauna.

The first evening that we drove into Strahan, we were driving around the town and along the harbour (Macquarie Harbour) when we came to see this boat.

When we first saw it, we thought that someone had had an accident because it was backed up right to the dock, there were huge cranes on either side, the road was blocked off, and there were people standing around watching. We decided to get some supper at a local restaurant and watch the happenings. After a while, Linden started asking people what was going on. That's when we learned that the town of Strahan was preparing to break the Guinness World Record for pulling the most waterskiers behind one boat for 1 nautical mile.

This boat was normally a touring boat for sightseers. But on Jan. 26th, 2012, it was outfitted with a large pipe frame across the back to which a large metal boom was suspended on either side. It was a huge ordeal getting this all put together, and we decided that we needed to get up at 6am the next morning, Jan. 27th, to watch history being made.

On a chilly, grey morning, 154 skiers lined up on Strahan Beach.

There were lots of brave volunteers out in the cold water getting all the ropes and handles attached to the booms, as well as keeping them from getting tangled.

If I remember correctly, Strahan had broken the record a few years before with about 100 skiers. However, another town in mainland Australia had upped the ante since and outdid Strahan with 110 or so, I think. This time, the people of Strahan were determined to break the record and set it so high that no one could out-do them.

It was quite a huge, long process to get this rig set up and ready.

The chilly skiers going into the chilly water with their skis to take their positions.

There were people there as young as 11, I think, and as old as probably 70.

Linden kept trying to get Jul and I to join them and actually asked a few people if we could ski, too.

 Here is just a small section of the skiers getting ready for take off.

Another section further out on the boom...

and even more way out there. They had all these ski-doos and other boats ready to follow along beside and behind to pick up fallen skiers along the way.

After about a 2-3 hour preparation, they took off! You can see some people fell off right away.

It was pretty impressive to see.

And since the water was pretty choppy due to the pending rain, it was even more impressive to see that many people make it up and stay up.

After waiting around for a little while to hear how many people made it the full mile and to learn that they were going to be attempting it multiple times that day until they attained their goal, we decided to hit the Tasmanian highway B27. This would take us northwest to Deveonport and Launceston.

Edit 11/29/18: Check out this page on the Guinness World Records website to see amazing photos, and video, of this event, and for more statistics if you're interested. (The video is pretty amazing - you should definitely check it out!) The weather definitely changed in favor of the skiers, as it was beautiful and sunny when they finally achieved their goal. Also, if you just Google the event, you can see a lot of articles from different sites, as well as great photos. I did see this YouTube video by one of the skiiers from the very first try. It is not a professional video, but it will give you an idea of how rough the water was when they started.

Edit 08/31/21: This website ( http://www.skirecord.com.au) was suggested by a David Bennett that saw this post. It was my impression that Mr. Bennett played a part in this event.