I too had some exposure to fast boats in that era. We used to live at Swan Hill and got involved with the ski racing crowd out at Lake Boga. We raced for 6 or 7 years and went to all of the National Titles. They were a fun time going to places like Perth, Barmera, Sommerset Dam, Wyangal Dam each Summer. I started out quite well picking up three State Titles in a row, but unlike my opponents, I failed to hit puberty until Year 11. A few of my peers ended up with some nasty injuries such as nerve damage to their shoulder that meant they lost the use of their arm, so I'm glad that I left the sport when I did. Interestingly there are quite a few ski racers that ended up road cycling.
The black boat in this video was the one that I skied behind. By this stage it had a 510 ci BBC that put out 1200 hp.
