Bill Izard is a man on a mission. His commercial fishing boat, 'Wizard II', reviewed by Baird Publications shortly after it was built in 2005, was touted as one of Australia's fastest fishing boats.
But 'Wizard II' has an altogether different purpose other than meeting Bill's prawn trawlers at sea and bringing live breeding prawns back to Australian hatcheries.
'Wizard II', built and designed by Obsession Marine in Queensland, has an overall length of eight metres, a beam of 2.4 metres and a draught of 400mm. The vessel is powered by a Mercury Optimax 250 XS outboard engine, providing the vessel with an output of 223kW. 'Wizard II' can achieve a cruising speed of 40 knots and a maximum speed of 51 knots.
Several times a week, this high-speed fishing boat is used to train semi-professional water ski and wake board titleholder, Wayne Mawer. Wayne has won every major championship in Australia and last year travelled to Europe where he won several titles.
Speaking in Cairns last week to Baird Maritime on the eve of their departure to Belgium, Bill explained that Wayne was going for a new title, in the hope of turning his love for water skiing into a profession. But how exactly did a humble yet fun-loving fisherman like Bill get involved in water skiing?
Bill's father was part of the pioneering group of fishermen in the Western Australian Shark Bay Fishery in 1963. When his fishing contract finished, he was unable to get a fishery license and decided to leave Australia. The family eventually ended up in Thailand in the mid to late 1960s and young Bill continued his schooling through distance education. During his leisure time however, Bill began water skiing in the open seas. It was this thrilling discovery of utter freedom that has led Bill to revisit his passion, decades later, and has spurred him on to help Wayne in his career.
At the moment, Wayne is still considered a semi-professional water skier. The men are hoping that by winning the new championship, Wayne will be able to turn his talent, skill and passion into a full time profession, so that he can not only earn a living through doing what he loves, but also get endorsements.
"Racing in flat water is one thing, but racing in ocean water is completely different. This is what Wayne specialises in," Bill said. "Wayne said to me that there's probably a hundred water skiers in Australia that can ski at over a hundred miles an hour, but only about five that could ski in rough water."
Besides this, Bill is hoping that through winning the new title in Belgium, the recognition that Wayne will get will be able to be used as a means of promoting tourism and "putting Cairns back on the world map as a tourist destination".
Bill has been active in the production of a DVD featuring some spectacular footage of Wayne skiing in Cairns. He hopes that this could be one day sold to a sporting programme for good money. It would also be a brilliant opportunity to promote Cairns in a truly exciting way.
"If you travel overseas and ask people, they don't even know where Cairns is. It's sad because we don't promote ourselves very well," said Bill, who said that tourism revenues in Cairns are down by 50 percent. And he's determined to be proactive about bringing the tourists back. After all, he reasons, there is a sort of symbiotic relationship between tourism and the restaurant industry, which the fishing industry backs. Ultimately, it's a win-win situation for all those involved.
"This is a unique part of the world. It's a reef and it's a rainforest. It's spectacular, what nature's provided for us. We've also had more world champion water skiers trained in Cairns than in any other part of the world."
But for now, Bill says it's time to take on Belgium.
