LOCAL SKI TEAM GOES INTERNATIONAL
In August 2005 the Western Australian Show Ski
team received a call that was to prove their most challenging.
“Mileseum”, a company in South Korea had heard
about the WA based show ski team and enquired as to the
possibilities of the team travelling to South Korea to perform
at the 2006 World Dinosaur Expo in Goseong.
Apart from the obvious logistical problems of distance,
most show ski events are performed over 2-3 days. The Koreans
required the team to perform two shows a day during the
Expo which ran for 52 days. Organising one team to perform
overseas for two months would be difficult. To overcome
the problem the team was divided in to three separate groups,
each group to perform two to three shows per day over a
three week period during the Expo, the Koreans agreed and
soon in late September, Andrew the Show director and WA
Show Ski President Paul Hobbs were heading to Korea to check
out the site as well as the country. If they were going
to send groups of families to a foreign county to perform
water ski shows they needed to be reassured that everyone
was going to enjoy the experience as well as be safe.
Their concerns soon proved unwarranted as they found the
Korean people very friendly, the country clean and apart
from a communication problem with the language, a very easy
place to get around. They travelled to the Expo site, which
was in Goseong, located 400km south of Seoul. The Expo site
was approximately 40 hectares in size located on a natural
ocean inlet, the area was ideal for water ski shows and
the Koreans indicated that the weather conditions during
the Expo would be perfect.
After completing negotiations with the Koreans and attempting
to source a suitable tow boat in Korea, which proved unsuccessful,
it was decided that the WA team would supply two of their
own boats, along with all skis, ropes, costumes and inflatable
rescue boat.
Back in Perth the team had six months to create a water
ski show with an Australian theme and co-ordinate three
teams of skiers who would be able to duplicate the shows
over the 52 day period, also particular attention had to
be given to the type of music used in the shows as well
as having all the commentary pre-recorded and then translated
to Korean.
The teams were divided into three relatively small groups
of about 14, they had to perform a 30 minute water ski show
consisting of acts such as bare footing, aqua-ballet, comedy
routines, flag pasts, trick skiing, high speed stunt skiing
as well as a 3 tiered pyramid.
The final challenge was squeezing two 400 horsepower ski
boats, plus skis, ropes, rescue boat, ample spare parts
and all other necessary items into a 40 foot sea container
for the long journey to South Korea. With some careful planning
this was achieved and the container along with all the equipment
left Perth in March 2006 bound for South Korea’s main
port Busan.
The first team departed for Korea in early April and found
themselves conducting their first performance to a crowd
of 3000 people and a television audience of many million
South Koreans.
After 9 months of planning and 3 months of skiing the WA
Show Ski Team performed a total of 92 water ski shows to
a combined audience of over 1 .5 million people. The entire
exercise certainly gave the Koreans an insight into the
world of show skiing as well as putting the local Western
Australian show ski team on the international map.
The entire exercise has left the WA Show Ski Team well
prepared to explore all opportunities anywhere in the world.
Distance is not a factor when you consider the WA Show Ski
team to conduct professional water ski shows at your next
event
The following link is short video of a 30 minute show edited
to 3 mins. for download purposes as performed in South Korea.
(commentary in Korean)
View the video - 13.25 MB
A full DVD with English commentary only, showing comprehensive
vision of show content is available. Please contact
us to have a copy mailed to you.
Please see our reference
from our South Korean client who was given
the task by the South Korean government to find the best
mobile Show Ski Team available on the international circuit.
Also
see attached
article appearing in October’s issue
of “Recreational Boating Western Australia”
Please contact the WA
Show Ski Team when organising your next event for a competitive
quote to perform high quality water ski shows with an Australian
theme.
