THE heart-pumping action of the popular Wagga water skiing event, the Barry Carne Memorial, will make a highly anticipated return to the shores of Lake Albert in May.After torrential downpours earlier in the month turned Lake Albert from an aptly nicknamed duck pond into a thriving hub for water-sport activities, the Barry Carne Memorial has been reinstated onto the Wagga calendar.Drought forced the cancellation of the Barry Carne Memorial event four years ago, but the current level of Lake Albert has enabled racing to make a return.Committee member Mick Henderson yesterday confirmed the Barry Carne will be held on May 15 and 16, declaring it was "fantastic" to see racing making a return to the city."There is a lot of organisation to get done in a short space of time but there has been a lot of interest locally ... and in Victoria and Queensland," he said."We are hoping to have 40 to 50 boats competing over the two days with everything from superclass down to boats going at 100 kilometres an hour."We will have a major race on the Sunday."Mr Henderson yesterday dismissed suggestion the lake could drop below the minimum water level before the weekend of racing arrived."The depth of the lake is about 2.6 metres and we need a minimum of two metres to meet the safety requirements," he said."There will be no fear it will drop below that level before the weekend."We used to hold it on the Mothers' Day weekend but we have changed the date because there just wasn't enough accommodation available with the clash with the Wagga Gold Cup."The event is named in honour of Barry Carne, who was killed while competing in a skiing meeting at Lake Albert."It is a New South Wales versus Victoria event," he said."Like a ski-racing State of Origin."Mr Henderson said the event caters for competitors ranging from five years old, right up to veterans.There are also disability sections.Despite the drought forcing closure to the lake for water skiers in the city, Mr Henderson revealed that has failed to quell the Wagga community's love for water sports."The amount of people out on the lake shows how much people have missed being out on the water," he said.