Like all sports Water Ski has some risks, but so too does Rugby league, AFL, Motor Racing, Hockey, Equestrian, Netball and most others. So a death in a water ski competition was news in itself.
A 41 year old man from Melbourne was competing in the 2010 Club Marine Southern 80 event, at Echuca on the Murray River, when he and another skier crashed shortly after 4pm on Saturday 13 February.
He suffered a cardiac arrest and, despite the efforts of paramedics, he could not be revived. Organisers of the event, the Moama Water Sports Club, issued a statement saying the accident had happened during the Presidents Invitational race.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/water-skier-killed-during-competition/story-e6freuyi-1225830047853
The Southern 80 water ski race is held from February 12-14 and takes place on the Murray River from Torrumbarry to Echuca, where there are more than 120 bends in the river.
http://www.southern80.com.au/
Water ski is both a recreational pursuit and a top level sport. For example, the Southern 80 water ski race draws competitors from all over Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the USA.
Sadly there are also those rare occasions when recreational water ski participants lose their lives when enjoying their leisure.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/waterskier-killed-in-tree-crash-20100221-on1e.html
Well-Being Australia's Matt Boyes and his family have been active in water ski as a recreation for several decades in Mourya. Out comes the ski boat and the life jackets, down to the river, generally the Tuross, and along with the adults, each of children and their friends' children are given water ski lessons.
Matt Boyes gives many of the talks to the Australian Institute of Sport athletes when visiting the Well-Being Australia respite facility, Basil Sellers Moruya.