Named after former Dimboola Boat and Waterski Club member Peter Taylor, the event will lure some of Australia’s best barefoot skiers to the river.

Touted as one of the best places to barefoot ski in the country, the club’s president Darren Bone said it promised to be a very big weekend for the club and town. 

“It’s our biggest event by a mile and obviously it is good to bring in a bit of money for the community,” he said.

“We will run a charity auction on the Saturday night with money going to the Wimmera Cancer Centre.”

The event will be a spectator’s paradise, capped off with a longest jump competition on the Saturday night. 

“We have some great jumpers coming, including Ben Franks, who is Australia’s open number one jumper, as well Brendan Paige and junior world champion Tee-Jay Russo, who jumps as far as the adults,” Bone said.

“We also have Michael Taylor, Peter’s son, who made it to world number two in the juniors at one stage.”

Brendan Paige is the Australian and Asian trick record holder in barefoot skiing. He said he was excited to be back at Dimboola for the third time to compete in the challenge.

“I love it here and they just can’t keep me away – it’s the third time I’ve been here now,” he said. “The location is great and it’s an awesome event. We had some lessons and coaching on Thursday and then some of Australia’s best will come down for the competition.”

Bone paid tribute to Peter Taylor. Taylor lived in Ballarat but was an active member of the Dimboola club.

“Peter rated the skiing at Dimboola as probably the best site he had skied in the world,” he said.

“He used to come and stay up and here and would always ski on the Wimmera River. He was president of the Victorian Barefoot Waterski Club for many years and has passed away from cancer. 

“This weekend is in honour of him. He was one of our best mates.”

There won’t be any Dimboola representatives competing in the jumping competition, but the club’s treasurer Andrew Schulz will be in action across the competition. 

Bone said more than 30 skiers would be in action – he encouraged those interested to head along to the banks of the river at Dimboola for some great viewing and extreme tricks. 

“We will have full catering on the course from Friday,” he said. “We lead into Saturday with the night jump – that is probably the biggest and most exciting part of the event with skiers jumping as far as they can under lights. We will have some presentations on Sunday.”