WaterSki Magazine

WATERSKI Magazine
2001-06-14 15:00:00 | 106 views |
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After Ralph Samuelson gave birth to water skiing in 1922, lakes were hardly teeming with copycats. In the following three decades anyone who strapped a pair of boards to his or her feet and asked to be pulled on top of the water would have to be called “loopy.” Water skiing was not a sport. It was an activity for daredevils.

Only a handful of people through the late 1930s had any idea about the working components of water skiing. Typically, the first person on the lake to try this stunt went to the attic, found some old boards and clothesline and rigged up his own state-of-the-art equipment – just like Samuelson. One of the earliest advancements? The kitchen mop handle replaced the metal ring at the skier end of the rope.

This isn't to say people lacked innovation. Word spread slowly around the world for the first 15 years or so. (Some people actually believed they were the inventors of water skiing up until 1930.) Momentum picked up after the first U.S. Nationals in 1939 at Jones Beach on Long Island. It was a revelation to thousands of Americans who had never seen skiers on water. By the end of the 1940s there were ski schools, ski clubs, ski shows and ski pros. The activity was shaking its circus image and creeping into Americana.