The Catalina Ski Boat Race Is Awesome Because Off Shore Boats Haul Water Skiers At 100mph In The Open Ocean


The Catalina Ski Boat Race Is Awesome Because Off Shore Boats Haul Water Skiers At 100mph In The Open Ocean

Catalina Island is a place that Californians and tourists alike love to hang out and enjoy, it is also the finishing point for a race that has been going on for more than 60 years now and is so crazy that we have a hard time believing that we just learned about it yesterday. What’s crazy about it? Looks like a normal boat race, right? WRONG. The major difference is that the killer, 100mph off shore racing boats are all TOWING A WATER SKIER! That’s right, there’s a skier hanging on for dear life behind every one of the boats that you’ll see streaking across the ocean in this video that was made at the 2010 event. The skiers are from countries all over the world and the boats are 42′ pieces of art that are powered by what we can only assume are multiple hairy gas burning engines. Those maniacs on the single long ski? They all belong in a nuthouse.

If you are wondering how the guys hold onto the rope, there’s an interesting explanation. The skiers wrap the rope behind their back and around to the front so it is their trunk actually carrying most of the load. If they were simply trying to hold on with their arm strength, they wouldn’t make it across the open ocean to Catalina. We’re not sure of the “fall out rate” that this race has but we have to think that not everyone that starts makes it across the finish and a fall at the speeds these boats are going would be like falling out of a car at 100mph onto concrete….at least it would feel like that to us!

Finally, there are always guys who say, “Wah…no one does anything cool anymore. Wahhh…we’re a bunch of softies…..wahhhh.” This is but one hardcore event that has decades of history and danger behind it that continues to go strong today. Water skiing behind a 100mph boat in a veritable sea of 100mph boats? Flipping awesome and flipping nuts all at the same time. We went with some vintage video from the 1984 event. They are still going on today. Why? Vic Edelbrock is in it!

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE A GREAT LOOK INTO A RACE WE NEVER KNEW EXISTED – THE CATALINA SKI BOAT RACE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd-PfbfreBU


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0

3 thoughts on “The Catalina Ski Boat Race Is Awesome Because Off Shore Boats Haul Water Skiers At 100mph In The Open Ocean

  1. keezling

    Yes, a long standing tradition. Most amazing is it takes place in anti-everything California.

  2. Jake Wilson

    Should check out how the Aussies do water ski racing. Two up on a 70m ropes doing 100mph on what amounts to wide creeks

Comments are closed.