5 MINUTES WITH MICK: ISSUE 15, 26 FEBRUARY 2015
Mick Kelly is connected.
World champion observer, winner of the Southern 80, top racer, mentor to
newcomers, sometimes outspoken, always with the best of intentions, Mick’s up for a
chat.
So why not share it? In each edition of Racer’s Edge Micks going to put one of our
members under the spotlight.
You don’t have to be famous, don’t have to be a winner. But you do have to be
committed and you must love our sport.
That’s what turns Mick on, and why he wants you to spend:
5 Minutes with Mick…
WAYNE MAWER, 40
Name:
Nickname:
Age:
Favourite Race:
Team:
Wayne Mawer
Turtle Man!
40
Cairns to Port Douglas Race
99 Psycho Clowns
Q:
A:
So we have just had the Southern 80. How many times have you competed there?
I don’t know exactly but I would have to say eight times.
When we first started competing in the 80 I competed with a total of three crews from Cairns.
The first time was behind the boat Legless with Howard Hook (legend). For the next few years
I skied behind Gotta Be Crazy with Adrian Pickering, and the first year with this team we
came 2nd and the next year we came back and won it (1996) and broke the record that year,
which didn’t stand for long as Gods Gift took it back two years later.
My last southern 80 in the 90’s was with Cyclone racing with Gavin McKay driving, Darren
Catalan (Wax) observing and I skied with Troy Penny.
I remember it be such a huge trip to the 80 as to get from Cairns to Echuca is a bit over 3500
kilometres. It took us two days of driving non-stop to get there. There were four or five of us
piled into a car and we took turns driving. It was such a big effort, which is why we never
really did every river race because it was just too far.
The last two southern 80s I did were 2012 and 2013. In 2012 I skied with Luke Keys, behind
the Black velocity Clowns boat, and in 2013 I had the privilege of skiing with yourself behind
Dan & Bakes with the blue force clowns where we got 2nd outright.
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The very first year I came down as a kid, I bought the sweet southern 80 shirt with Gotta Be
Crazy on the back – how old were you when you won it the first year behind ‘the thong’?
I was 20 years old
You got 2nd outright two years ago – that’s a fairly long time at the top of such a prestigious
event. How do you manage to keep yourself at the pointy end?
I just love to ski, and I love racing. I guess I have always done the sport for the right reasons. I
am never too far away from the water.
Q:
A:
What has changed in that time at the event?
I would have to say the speed at which the drivers are getting the boats down the river, the
reliability of the boats and bigger horsepower pushing the boats along. I think all of these
things are the biggest changes.
Q:
A:
Times have dropped, how much faster can they go?
Wow, after seeing the time Team Hell put down over the 80 weekend this year surely it can’t
be too much more. It would take a team as committed as Team Hell to come close to their
time and then they still have to beat it. That’s a big mountain to climb, but records are meant
to be broken.
Q:
You were in the boat this time around, observing for the lovely Jessica Pearse. How much
different was your race prep from previous years?
It’s a little different. I definitely wasn’t shitting myself as much before the start of the race this
year as an observer as when I was a skier. I definitely loved the experience of being in the
boat watching the skiers – it didn’t feel out of place. It is a totally different roll being in the
boat, instead of being the one giving the instructions I was the one taking instruction, getting a
bit of my own medicine back!
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Are you scared in the boat?
Not one bit. I was lucky enough to be in the boat with one of the smoothest and fastest drivers
that have driven that course. Jess was extremely smooth: yourself Codie and Steve can
vouch for that.
Q:
You’ve won Worlds (numerous times), Catalina, Diamond Race, Southern 80…. Everything
that is anything really. What keeps you coming back?
Yes I have been lucky enough to win three Ski Racing world titles and two wakeboarding
ones. I guess what keeps me coming back is I just love to ski, and that’s all types of skiing not
just racing. I am competitive and I love to win or should I say trying to win. For me it’s the
journey of getting to the top that helps to keep me coming back, and it would have to be the
friendships and camaraderie of being in a great team as well.
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Which race meant the most?
Wow that’s a tough question. I would have to say the 2013 worlds in Spain, purely because
my family were there to share the journey and the win with me. It was a very proud moment:
lots of highs and lots of lows.
Q:
Last year’s Catalina was the fastest on record and you were within inches of winning
according to the time sheets – obviously you’d be frustrated with the outcome, but are you still
stoked with the time/effort?
Ha ha that’s a dangerous question to ask me Mick – I don’t know if you have enough print
space for me to answer that in detail! I am very proud of that race; it was once again another
dog fight with Todd Haig and his crew. I was lucky enough to get a call from Mike Avila three
weeks before the race, due to Pete Procter not being able to make it over last year. I was
hesitant to accept Mike’s offer, as racing and training had been the last thing on my mind
since I finished the worlds in Spain. I really didn’t think I could be ready in three weeks to do
such a big race and be competitive.
A:
With the support of my good mate Matt Ducie in Cairns who decided I wasn’t going to
Catalina without him, he dragged me around the ocean as much as we could for the next two
weeks, to try and get some ski time on my legs.
We arrived in long beach nine days before the race and we did four practice runs to the island
and back. We did some great times which gave me a bit of confidence, until I had a fall on our
third practice run to the island and busted my ankle, but still had six days to heal as best as I
could.
The next challenge we faced was securing an observer, as Mike’s usual observer was
unavailable, so it was Matt (aka Duce bag) who got the hot seat as our observer, which was
not a bad race to make his debut.
The race came down to the wire. The lead changed five times and it was our last move
coming into the breakwater that put us in the lead. From there the race was ours to lose. We
had a half a rope length lead as we approached the finish turn, and this would be the same
spot were I guess you could say I choked or at least made a bad decision.
I remember feeling very confident at this stage that we had it won as I was almost level with
the team 191 boat, and as we approached the turn, out of pure precaution, I gave a few
downs as I could see some rougher water, and for this decision I payed the price.
With such big boats once you call down they take a little while to get back to speed, and that’s
exactly what happened: team 191 came back up on us as they kept their throttle down around
the outside of us and narrowed the gap. By the time the boats hit the finish line, WARPATH
(our boat) was half a boat length in front, which is about 20ft for a 43ft boat, but Todd was
running a 20ft shorter rope than I was. At this stage our boat was in excess of 105 miles per
hour and as the skiers crossed the line it was anyone’s guess.
Both teams dropped into the water with no idea who won, waiting for the chequered flag to be
delivered to the winning boat. The time that we did the race in was a little surreal to start with,
we had just broken Todd’s old record by three-and-a-half minutes: the official record time is
now 46:36 and our finish time was six hundredths of a second slower.
I’m not quite sure how the Judges got that official time but the rest is history. Todd has now
won the Catalina 12 times, overtaking Chuck Stearns’ record of 11 wins.
MK:
Well handled. Obviously something that close is shattering, but the time is something that I
think will stand for a while to come.
Q:
What’s your take on timing things that close? Surely it’s a bit much to suggest that people
sitting up to 100m away over three stories high at about a 30 degree angle to the finish line
with hand-held stopwatches or timing devices is the most accurate way to do it? Can we
really be separating things by less than a second?
No not at all; not even if you were in line with the finish buoys. It’s always going to be pure
guesswork rather than an exact science and will always leave itself open to making the wrong
call.
A:
I understand that to do this would be of great set-up cost but to have something like a race
safe system set up at any world class or major race could be something to look at if clubs,
judges/officials around the world want to better the sport.
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You and Todd (Haig) have gone head to head all over the world – friendly rivalry or is there a
strong desire to beat each other?
I would have to say a strong desire to beat each other on the water, but we have a lot of
respect for each other off the water which is a very healthy competitive friendship.
Southerners seem to think we’re a little different north of the border in Qld, and you’re a long
way north!!! Any comment?
Ha ha. It’s good to be different Mick: people are usually scared of what they don’t know!
You weren’t too bad on a wakeboard back in the day (in between winning world’s ski racing).
What were your biggest wins and how brutal was it on the body?
Wake boarding was and can be brutal on the body. I had to have an ACL replacement on
both knees.
My biggest wins would have been the IWSF world titles in South Africa, and the WWA World
Titles in Open. I also won the Asian X Games which qualified me for the ESPN X Game which
were held in Philadelphia, in America were I made the finals and got 7th.
Who parties harder: ski racers or wake boarders?
I would have to say ski racers
Q:
A:
Dan told me he was wakeboarding over summer – did you see this? Have you got any tips for
him?
No I have had no visual evidence of this but I did see his new wake board and wake skate,
and my advice would be attack the wake like you drive your boat, just hit the wake fast!
Q:
A:
You’re in a team with a bunch of clowns – how’s that going?
I have had the opportunity to ski with the best and most committed teams around and the
Clowns are one of them.
Dan and Bakes have set a good platform for the Clowns to continue their success. They have
upgraded their skiers (yes Mick, we got to old!) in Codie and Steve and they fit the clown’s
criteria perfectly: incredible skiers, committed and willing.
Dan has now given himself the boot, and Jess is leading the way with her driving, giving the
Clowns the best outright times in races that the Clowns have seen, and she’s way better
looking than Dan!
Q:
Were you surprised at the doubters going into Teneriffe? I may have only heard bits, but there
seemed to be a lot of talk about whether the team was capable of winning against the best?
Yeah but I guess that comes with the territory, when people don’t know what’s going on in
your team I guess the best thing they can do is speculate.
The biggest thing I was hearing was how much the boat was always flying out of the water.
No one in the team had a real issue with this, and there is a really easy explanation, the faster
you go, the bigger you go.
You need to put yourself in our shoes and be doing exactly what we were doing at the same
speed in the same conditions and then go and win a world title in the ocean to see that was
what was needed.
We raced a team with a boat that a lot of people class as the best rough water ski race boat
around, but it didn’t help them at all as we were convincing winners.
Out of four hours of racing, we were only challenged once, where we were pasted for the
lead, but by one lap later we were back if front by more than a rope length.
A:
Q:
A:
Just how high can Dan jump a 21ft Force?
Ha ha yeah not bad but I think he can do better.
Q:
What do you say to people who say that when you skied next to me you looked like a 10-year
old?
Ha ha ha – truth hurts I guess. We made an awesome team bank robber if only we could
keep our bodies together at the same time, we may not have been given the boot!
A:
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What’s next for the Turtle Man?
Just the norm at the moment mate. Nat is doing a Half Iron Man in June so she is now in full
training and I’m getting a little taste of what she went through when I was training.