Girl Power

Sat in an isolated airport in Eastern Europe on a cold and white Sunday, I received a text message on my cell phone from Kim Lumley in Britain. “Girl power … Tracey and Jo have won the Bridge outright”, it read.

By now, most readers will have heard that two women won the 1998 Sydney Bridge to Bridge water ski race in Australia last month. Outright! –Beating over 500 others skiers, mostly men. 26 year old Tracey Graziano was skiing her 9th Bridge to Bridge along with World silver medallist Joanne Hamilton, a 24 year old physical education teacher from Echuca, now living in Cairns with the current men’s World champion Wayne Mawer. Tracey’s boyfriend happens to be world No.2 Stephen Robertson.

The Sydney bridge to Bridge is an age old Classic. Running 116km from Brooklyn to Windsor, the record time so far is 39min 54secs, set by Dean Hankel and Stephen Robertson behind triple rig. Mr. Walker.

This year’s running began with a problem for the two girls however. Just two minutes before the team’s grid was due to start, the race was red flagged and all teams were called back to the island. There had been a problem at Wisemans Ferry which would have interfered with the race. For safety’s sake, teams had to wait for the course to be cleared, and this took around half and hour. Tracey said, “having to re-prepare for another start was fine, but owner/driver Brian Hobson was concerned as to whether he now had enough fuel to finish the race”.

But after 44 mins 54 secs, the Aussie women made history and won the Bridge to Bridge outright. Tracey told me, “we wanted to enjoy the race and win Women’s Open. We achieved our goal and were all very surprised with the outcome at the end of the day”. She went on to say, “the best section of the race was from Wisemans Ferry (which is about ½ way) to nearly the finish. By Wisemans we had established a good lead over Status, which was towing Leanne Brown and Emma Carson. Our Crew knew that if we maintained our pace and had no problems we would win. Having a clear lead and being the first boat up the river for the day was a great feeling”.

So at over 100mph, Tracey and Jo tore up the river on their Bushey Brown skis, with driver Brian Hobson and the legendary Darren “Hass” Cook in the observer’s seat on ˇWild Turkey´, a Race Craft with a 498 Twin Turbo, Intercooled Chevy.

The Hawkesbury was rougher than usual this year, but in the morning it had still been pretty smooth. There was a reasonable head wind, and a bit of a chop for the first section of the race, but this didn’t bother the girls as they knew everyone had to ski through it. Tracey said, “skiing into a head wind makes you feel like you’re going a lot faster than you actually are. So it took a little getting used to”. The wind really blew up for Super Class and Tracey admits it was a lot rougher for those guys. “For Super Class, it was probably the roughest Bridge ever”, she said.

Although the team dominated the Bridge this year, they didn’t quite manage to break the Women’s Open record of 43min 12 seconds which Joanne and Leanne Brown set together in 1997, just 1 week after the World Titles.

But back to the race and the mishaps which almost cost them their win. The team were screaming up the river when they nearly went off course to Spencer. Only at the last second did Brian realize he was heading in the wrong direction. Tracey said, “he slowed right down and made a sharp turn to get back on course. Status was about 200 metres behind us and closing the gap due to the error. So for the next few straights we has to push very hard to regain a decent lead”.

Back on target and all going well, they were by no means expecting the next hazard in this eventful race. Just four straights from Windsor they were picking up a good pace and all set for a great finish. Proving that a lot can happen over 116 km of river, a fair sized fish jumped out of the water and hit Joanne right on her back knee. Tracey said, “Joanne was in a lot of pain and shock, and was finding it hard to ski in a straight line. We slowed down to around 40mph and at one stage thought we might have to stop. Hass wondered what had hit her and thought something had fallen off the boat. Then another fish jumped and hit me”. She went on to say that Joanne struggled and managed to tough it out until the finish. They lost a lot of time here but the team isn’t complaining because, they won the Bridge and Jo didn’t sustain any serious injury.

Tracey said, “we were all very happy to have won Open Women’s, but we were concerned about Joanne and her knee. Super Class had taken off two hours after we had finished and none of us even dreamt about the possibility of winning the Bridge outright. It was a real surprise when we discovered we’d actually won Outright. For me personally…I’m still in shock”.

So there we have it, not quite plain sailing but plain enough to see…that two talented Aussie women have just won one of the World Classics in Outright, in 44 mins 54 secs.

Both have achieved a lot in ski racing already, but neither have won the ultimate World Title yet. Joanne by all accounts is set for Spain in 99 but Tracey is yet to decide, whether she will aim to join her there. She told me, “I’m still undecided and will make a final decision in February”.

Words by Robbie Llewellyn with thanks to Tracey Graziano Photography was supplied by Australia’s John Watson, known for capturing the best of Australia’s teams in action, on water.

By Robbie Llewellyn (1998)