The sport of water skiing was invented in 1928 by Ralph Samuelson and melts in one single sports activity two disciplines, skiing on snow and surfing. The skier is pulled behind by a motor-boat with a nylon rope and firmly holds the other rope end in his hands, which ends in an interwoven triangle with a rubber coated iron grip, the so called ‘handle’. He glides on the water surface with different types of ski boards which vary according to the individual sports discipline of the athlete. Ski boards are made out of different materials, such as honeycomb, carbon fibres, graphite, carbon-Kevlar fibres and have an internal core out of polystyrene or wood.

The slalom ski has a metal part, almost always made of aluminium, with a depth of 5 to 8 cm, also called ‘fin’ which depth and angle can be adjusted lengthwise by the skier. The two jump ski boards have both a small fin, with a maximum depth of about 3 cm. There are no fins on the bottoms of trick skis, so it is easier to slide and turn which is important in this discipline. In fact, the fundamental role of a fin is to give a direction of the ski board at the back side of the board, the so called ‘tail’ of trick skis, should not be subject to direction limits. The skis have a soft rubber binding which are different from the ones used with traditional snow ski boards. Since the '90's, also rigid bindings are on the market, with a similar foot part like a rollerblade, in order to give a higher performance of the ski with special, technical movements.  

This is why there are numerous models of more or less rigid bindings, to satisfy the different preferences of the skiers. In contrast to the surfing disciplines, water skiers avoid waves or wind which can create obstacles when skiing on the water. Another important element represents the dependency on external factors: whereas the different surfers use sails, waves and kites to advance, the water skier makes use of the speed of the motor boat in order to increase his own speed. This outdoor sports discipline involves a lot of fun and is done with full respect to nature.

ORIGINS OF WATER SKIING
The sport of water skiing was born in the ’20's of the 19th century.  Since the origins of mankind, man has always been trying to dominate water in some ways and with the invention of boats and ships he reached a first step. Then man strived for a physical domination, to rise above water, similar to the divine signification the bible assigned to Jesus Christ’s famous walk on water. There were many experiments in the course of history so that man would be able to move with minimal interference of external factors in or above the water. Here it is worth mentioning the experiences Perez made: a Spanish inventor who attached an iron fork with variable width to two wooden bodies which were inclined upwards.  Perez succeeded in fact standing upright on this metal bifurcation and when performing the classical walking movements, he was able to move forward and cross rivers and small water basins. Furthermore there are reports on some Danish people who in around 1870 were moving along in upright position, rowing with a prolonged paddle on canoes which were arranged in a typical “H-form”. In 1928, the so called “water-walking” was invented in Austria: a pair of skis similar to two small kayaks and in which the “walker” put his feet, and the propulsion was accomplished with two sticks with a similar form of those used in Nordic skiing. During the first years of the 19th century, young boys of the American west coast were pulled behind the first fishing boats with ropes of only a few meters long, and with wooden fish boxes on their feet.

This quickly became a ‘fashion’, which however disappeared after only a couple of years with the passing on of the boat captains of these ships. The true revolution came with Ralph Samuelson, universally acknowledged as the inventor of this sport. Son of a ship mechanic, Samuelson was known as a person who did not blanch in front of any danger and who was ready to face new and even the craziest challenges.  In 1922, he formulated the following hypothesis: “If I can ski on snow, then I should also ski on water.” It was then so that he tried to be pulled behind a boat with a pair of straight wooden boards and thus with scandalous consequences. He also faced other problems with the snow skis which were too narrow and too thin for the water. So he went to the local carpenter and made him carve a pair of wooden boards with the tips pointing up, the forefathers of our modern ski. From 1922 to 1928, he performed shows with his experiments, while he was constantly looking to increase his speed (in 1925 he was pulled behind a hydroplane at a speed of 130km/h [80 miles/h]) and to face always bigger risks, like the jump from a small ramp which was covered with grease for better slipperiness.

Samuelson never asked for money when performing. Unfortunately, he suffered a back fracture in 1937 which consequently interrupted all of his activities. He nonetheless enjoyed high esteem for having created the preconditions for a sport activity which then should evolve to the discipline of water skiing. The thirties saw an evolution of forms: the triangle with the rubber coated grip was invented and new methods were experimented like the mono-ski, with both feet placed one behind the other in a vertical line. The developments ceased with the Second World War.