Water Skiing For Everyone!

One of the Oldest of Watersports

As a young boy we always spent our weekends and summers at our summer place which is right on one of the Great Lakes. About 15yrs. old most of our Dad's let us take out our "small boats" as opposed to the larger family boat who no one could touch but Dad. It worked for us though - no complaints!

My buddy had a 16' Lyman with a 25 hp Johnson motor and was very gutsy in the short haul. More horses but a lot of weight. We had a small 15' Crestliner aluminum boat with an 18 hp Johnson motor. Now Dave (my friend from above) would gun his throttle and lose me for about 20 yds as my lighter boat kept rising, nose first, into the air. At that point, the nose would slam down into the water as the perfectly balanced boat and motor planed out perfectly smooth, with only the prop in the water. It would only take a minute or so and it was bye bye David! I had often had larger boats clock me at full throttle - doing 25mph - which is scorching hot in a 15 ft aluminum row boat. I can still see it some 40 yrs later as if it were yesterday. So we took turns driving and usually ended up in gas docks where the attendants would sell anyone beer and smokes, who had a boat to pull up with and tie off. At 15 yrs old we were living large. We then filled up and cruised the deep water row of buoys, where all the teens bobbed up and down - with toes just touching enough to keep their mouths above water. We waved to the girls and usually scored a date for the night at our local Club's dancehall. There was a section closed off where you could buy brews if you were 18 but that never stopped us from slowly getting into the good graces of the bouncer "Frog" who sat outside the chain link fence beer section. I guess after a few years Frog just assumed we were old enough and allowed us free and safe passage into "The Cage". To be in Frog's company nightly and obviously his little buddies - we were bulletproof against anyone 18 and over. That came in handy on many occasions since "The Cage" erupted into full scale brawls on a nightly basis. Touch the little smart a** punks - unthinkable, they're with Frog.

One last thought about the Frog. He was about 6' tall and weighed in at about 300lbs and sported the longest, greasiest DA haircut you've ever seen. His hair would put Elvis or the Fonz to shame. He was also impervious to pain, or so it seemed. He routinely cleared The Cage, carrying out skinny 19 yr olds - one in each hand and toss them into the gravel outside the entrance to the dance hall. But I digress....

Half the day was spent using our precious funds for water skiing gasoline. We would do both skis, one ski - it didn't matter so long as we were jumping the wake and slamming into the water eventually from exhaustion or a bad move. We skied off the piers from our butts, laying in the water and being pulled out with two skis and dropping one, or just start solo which is mostly what we did - saved time locating the kicked off ski. Worst injuries were usually incurred by "not" letting go of the tow rope and almost drowning, followed by a trailing ski smashing into our skulls at about 20 mph - just as we would surface with a gasp for air and big smiles on our faces! OHWWWW! That really hurts! Yes, we took our share of stitches, lumps and black eyes. Now, I always carry a first aid kit and put it into a waterproof case for protection.

My most vivid memory of some serious water skiing came when a loud rumble was heard one morning from down at our docks. Here one of my pal's Dad was a factory authorized Mercury outboard dealer and put together a very - VERY hot boat for us to play in. It was a twin v-hull two seater with small jump seat area for gear and gas, then two large 140 hp Mercs on the back for power. It was not a choppy water boat but we used it largely in the bays and inlets where we could really open it up. The speedometer buried at 60mph+ as the theme from Twilight Zone plays. So what did we do first day? Right - we put on a full body skiing jacket, I jumped in the water first and we decided to take it up to the limit using hand gestures. I noticed that when I gave him the "let's go" signal and he floored it, there was no dragging, I just popped upright immediately (that takes a lot of weight or power). I kept motioning him "faster" and he held up 5 fingers to let me know we were approaching, or at 50mph. All being well, I gave him one more hand forward gesture for speed and the freakiest accident happened. The prop wash trail lengthened - being so powerful that it didn't smooth out until a few feet before my ski tips! And in the blink of an eye I saw the prop wash cover the left ski tip and all of a sudden I had been hit a crushing blow by Mike Tyson or been hit by a semi-truck! I hit the water so hard that it didn't even feel like water but concrete that I was rolling and tumbling across. Suddenly it softened and there I bobbed, feeling elated at the monster ride but a little worse for wear if I may say so!

So if you have a rowboat with a motor that will get you over 20 mph or a Funny Car version like I wiped out behind. There's plenty of fun to be had with one of the oldest and most practiced water sports. Get out those water skis and have a go at it - you'll be glad you did!