Water Skiing

Water Skiing as a Recreation and Sport

Water skiing is a sport and recreational activity that involves a skier being pulled behind a boat while gliding atop the water on skis. Water skiing was invented by an 18 year old American named Ralph Samuelson in 1927. However, others claim that the French invented water skiing a decade earlier. Water skiing is popular throughout the world where ever you can find a body of water that is relatively calm and unaffected by waves.

Many people find water skiing a great recreational activity. Many beginners begin by being pulled behind a boat traveling between 15 and 20 miles per hour and using two skis. As skiers become more confident in their ability they often move to the more advanced single ski that is made for you to stand one foot behind the other. Once you are more experience the boat pulling you will begin going 24 to 35 miles per hour. It really depends on the individual skier on which type of equipment they prefer to use and at what speed they can comfortable enjoy skiing at.

A competitive water skier will have their skis made from either wood (ash or hickory) or synthetic materials like fiberglass. For competitions there are enforced regulations on the length and the width of the skis. The minimum length is 39 inches and the width cannot exceed 9 3/4 inches. The first ever national water skiing championship was held in 1939 by the newly established American Water Ski Association.

Most water skiing tournaments have three events. They are the slalom, ski jump and trick skiing. Slalom water skiing events entail a boat pulling the skier that is on a single ski and they must negotiate a course that has a series of six fixed buoys. The skier will make several passes through the course while increasing their speed. The ski jump has specially designed longer skis for the competition. Each skier is then pulled behind a boat that travels at the same speed for each skier. The skier must gain speed by using certain maneuvers and then jumps off the standard 6 foot high ramp. The skier then travels the ramp and propels him/herself as far away from the ramp as possible. The person with the furthest distance wins the competition.

With trick water skiing the type of ski used is up to the skier, they can use one or two skies. The skier then has an allotted amount of time to complete as many tricks as possible. Most of the tricks are similar to gymnastic maneuvers. Judges give points on originality, difficulty and whether they were able to land the trick.

These events often times include water skiing races that are simply a race between boats that have a skier behind them. Then you have the show skiers. These skiers usually perform a well choreographed routine that involves several skiers in unison doing pyramids, jumps and swivels. Judges will score the routine on difficulty, timing, execution and the routine's overall appeal.