Eight hundred forty-nine feet: that was the old record for the longest distance water skied on two hands. The new record is more than 2,000 feet farther.
On Lake Petersburg, Illinois,, a U.S. Navy veteran of the Gulf War, waterskied 2,956 feet on his bare palms on September 1. After three months of review, Guinness World Record officials confirmed that Carrels’ feat is valid.
A popular move among trick water skiers, hand skiing looks just as much like waterboarding as waterskiing. During his record-setting run, Carrels hooked his feet around the tow-rope and sustaining a push up on the lake’s surface for over a minute while the boat pulled him at 30 miles per hour for more than a half mile. Carrel only stopped because the boat ran out of lake.
“I work out all year long just to stay in shape for skiing,” Wayne told . “Achieving a Guinness World Record is the thrill of a lifetime.”