Waterskiing (redirected from waterski)

waterskiing

Sport of planing and jumping on water skis, broad skilike runners that a rider wears while being towed by a motorboat. The sport originated in the U.S. in the 1920s. International competitions have been held since 1946. Single-ski slalom competition is held on a course consisting of a specified number of buoys around which the skier must negotiate. Jumping competitions employ a ramp; skiers are judged for distance and style. Barefoot and trick skiing are also part of some competitions. A later development in waterskiing, wakeboarding began in the U.S. in the 1980s when surfers began riding their boards as they were pulled behind boats. Since the mid 1990s wakeboarding has been an event at both the Gravity Games and the X Games (see extreme sports) and has become the fastest-growing water sport worldwide.

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Waterskiing 

a sport in which a sportsman moves along the surface of water on water skis while being towed by a boat. The sport includes slalom skiing, jumping, trick skiing, and various all-around competitions. Usually, there are three-event competitions that include slalom, trick skiing, and jumping.

In a slalom, sportsmen on a single ski or double skis com-pete on a course laid out with six buoys to either side of the course of the boat; the result is determined by the number of buoys correctly circled by the sportsman as the difficulty increases. In trick skiing competitions, the sportsmen are expected to execute in two 20-second periods the greatest possible number of maneuvers (90°, 180°, 360°, or larger turns and side slipping), each of which is valued at a specified number of points. For jumping, a sloping wooden plank is used, with a maximum height of 180 cm for men and 150 cm for women; the speed of the boat may not exceed 57 km/hr for men and 45 km/hr for women.

Waterskiing began to develop in the 1930’s. The first world championship was held in France in 1949. The sport has be-come most popular in the USA, Australia, France, Canada, Mexico, and Spain. As of Jan. 1, 1971, sportsmen from the USA had made the greatest achievements in waterskiing: in men’s slalom—K. LaPoint (50.5 buoys, 57 km/hr, 12-m line); men’s jumping—M. Suyderhoud (49 m); and men’s trick skiing—R. McCormick (5,346 points). Women’s records are held by E. Allan: slalom—54.5 buoys, 54 km/hr, 15-m line; jumping—33.5 m; trick skiing—4,258 points.

World championships are organized every two years by the World Water Ski Union, which was founded in 1946 and united 45 national federations.

In the USSR waterskiing competitions have been held since 1958, and annual ail-Union championships since 1965. The All-Union Waterskiing Federation was organized in 1963. The first chairman of its Technical Commission was In. A. Gagarin, and since 1968 the chairman has been pilot-astronaut A. A. Leonov.

REFERENCE

Tyll, A. Vodnye lyzhi. Moscow, 1969. (Translated from English.)

V. I. OZHOGIN