The 19-year-old has just strung together two successful competition results and is preparing for the national championships in Perth next month.

But the slalom and jump specialist admitted water-skiing had a brutal way of sorting out the field.

“You just keep going until you crash,” he said of the slalom event.

“You do learn how to fall, but sometimes it’s just like hitting concrete.”

Martin has just returned from across the Tasman where he competed in the Australia-New Zealand Junior Championships.

The Australian junior slalom champion finished equal second in his favoured event, but came last in the jump.

Despite the disappointing result, Martin still found a positive from his 33.5-metre leap.

“I did a personal best on my first jump and I snapped my ski on the second . . . so I must have been going pretty hard,” he said.

Martin only learned how to jump this year and is quickly becoming a real threat in the discipline.

Three weeks ago he contested the Victorian titles at Mulwala and took out the under 21 high-flying event.

Martin managed to add another 60 centimetres to his previous personal best to post 34.1 metres.

“I only just started jumping this year,” Martin said.

“It’s a pretty big thrill.”

Martin also came second in slalom at the state competition.

The carpenter is now preparing for the national championships in Perth at Easter.

While he is a surety for the slalom, he needs to clear 38 metres to qualify for the national tournament.

In preparation for the titles, Martin travels to Bridgewater each weekend for specialist training.