The Sydney Uni Waterski and Wakeboard Club has been around in various forms for longer than many would realise. Its origins can be traced back as far the 1960′s, although it really began to flourish in the 90′s with the efforts of Sydney Uni students such as Jo Robertson and Brett Turner. The club’s boat at this time was a centre-mount Gilflite, and the orientation of the club was predominantly 3-event biased (slalom, trick and jump). This was because the club was fortunate enough to be based at a venue where the facilities for 3-event were available, and other variations such as wakeboarding were still a few years away.

As the club grew in strength and members, we developed a close relationship with Malibu boats, and consequently we were equipped with the latest and greatest, starting with a Response, which at the time offered the best wake for the rapidly growing sport of wakeboarding. As time went by, wakeboarding began to take over and the subsequent boats became more and more dedicated. Our next boat was one of the first Wakesetter’s in the country, and was often used at many of the national competitions. By this stage, our club boasted many members who competed at state, national and even international levels.

Next came the Supra. A great boat that was purcahsed after a lot of hard work from its dedicated committee members. In the early 2000′s a sponsorship arrangement was struck with Vodafone, who were the main sponsors of the Gravity Games held in Perth. The official towboat for the Games was Supra, so in conjunction with Supra and Vodafone, we acquired the latest Supra Launch 22SSV. This was, and still is, one of the best wakeboarding towboats around.

Unfortunately however, the club went through some tough times after acquiring the awesome Supra. VSU (Voluntary Student Unionism) was introduced in July 2006, and resulted in Uni students not having to pay compulsory student union fees. This in turn affected the Sports Union (Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness) which helps fund and run all the sporting clubs associated with the university. There was much uncertainty as to how much funding clubs would receive and whether or not our small club would get swallowed up. Fortunately, SUSF has fought a hard battle for all clubs and we have managed to pull through relatively unaffected.

The club was then hit with another massive blow. NSW Maritime introduced new legislation which classified the club and its boat as a commercial vessel, requiring it to adhere to strict survey requirements. It was up to little university clubs and other non-profit organisations to fight for their own survival. Many thanks go to Giles Richardson (our current club president) who attended numerous meetings with SUSF officials, lawyers and NSW Maritime officials. All hope look lost as NSW Maritime did not want anything to do with us and blatantly knocked back all suggestions. Finally, with the support of many other clubs and individuals alike we managed to persuade the Minister for Ports and Waterways to extend the exemption on non-profit organisations with a few slight changes to the rules, allowing our club to continue after all! We now had the boat exemptions in place, however our drivers still needed to be commercially qualified in subjects not relevant to our sport. All associated clubs and societies agree that thorough training for boat captains is necessary, but the units required involving ocean skills were not appropriate to our operation. After another exhaustive round of meetings and “policy” discussions NSW Maritime finally completed their U-Turn by reducing the requirements down to a NSW General Boat Licence.

Although this has limited the qualifications back to a purely recreational level, you will be pleased to know that the Club insists on a much higher standard than this. We have a very thorough, waterways endorsed in-house training programme. This programme assures you of the highest level of competence from your driver when you ride, and offers you the chance to train to this standard if you wish to get involved with driving the boat.

With all the paperwork out of the way and all our legal ducks lined up, in late 2010 we approached all the big brands for a deal on a new boat and then put the proposals to Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness. Negotiating skills worthy of the United Nations, secured us a BRAND NEW MASTERCRAFT X2 as detailed below. The industry is constantly changing and TR Marine at McGraths Hill have taken over the Mastercraft Dealership. The benefits of this deal are numerous, the largest being the locality of the dealer (just 10kms from where we keep the boat). TR Marine gave us an awesome deal on the new boat and are one of our major sponsors, hence theirs and MASTERCRAFT’s Logos adorn our home page.

And so the story has a happy ending, or rather beginning, as we look forward to a worry free chapter in the clubs future with an awesome boat and strong committee and membership base.

So for the opportunity to ride with some of the best equipment, boat drivers, riders and coaches around for the cheapest rates anywhere (Wakeboard Schools cost over 5x as much for a casual ride), come join us on the water! Even if you have never ridden before it’s a great way to meet a bunch of cool people and have loads of fun.