Water Skiing

Water skiing is both a recreational and competitive sport in which participants plane and jump across a surface of water on one or two skis while holding a rope that is being pulled by a motorboat. Some highly skilled individuals ski barefoot. Among the competitions held throughout the world for men and women are the slalom, jumping, and trick ski events. Water skiing was invented by American Ralph Samuelson in 1922 and the first contest was held in 1935 on Long Island, where the first national championship tournament was also staged four years later. This section focuses on water skiing.