From water baby to champ in five years

By Sarah Schwager
A CRANBOURNE boy is making his mark in the world of water speed racing.
At just 10 years old, Jake Hinterholzl is already a force to be reckoned with, topping the ranks in the water-skiing sport in his age group.
The Cranbourne West Primary School student was recently named the under 10 Victorian Water Speed Racing Point Score Series winner for the second season.
He also came fourth in the under 10 Australian Championships for Water Speed Racing.
Jake started water speed racing when he was five years old and now clocks speeds of just over 100 kilometres an hour.
The competition involves the water skier being towed behind a speedboat at high speeds for up to 20 kilometres.
Jake said friends had got the family interested in the sport and they had not looked back.
Both Jake and his father race and his younger sister, Tayla, will begin racing in September in the under 10s.
Jake said he loved racing because it was fun and he liked travelling interstate, often travelling to New South Wales and South Australia.
He said Robinvale, on the Murray River near Mildura, was his favourite place to have travelled to so far.
Jake said he would keep racing “for as long as I can”.