Kirk Estes, age 13, of Orlando, Fla., for his question:
WHEN WAS WATER SKIING INVENTED?
Water skiing is a recreational and competitive sport in which persons mounted on special skis are towed across the surface of the water by motorboats moving at speeds of from 15 to more than 35 miles per hour. The sport was invented in 1922 in the United States.
The ruling body of the sport is the American Water Ski Association (AWSA). The organization was founded in 1939 when the first national water skiing tournament was held at Jones Beach State Park, Long Island, N.Y.
Water skis are usually made of ash, mahogany or plastic reinforced with glass. They are generally five and a half to six feet long and six inches wide. They are equipped with rubber foot bindings. Fins located on the underside of the skis promote stability and facilitate the execution of sharp turns at high speeds.
The towrope for water skiing is a quarter of an inch in diameter and about 75 feet long. It may be made of manila hemp, cotton or other material.
Water skiing runs begin usually with the participant crouched on skis and holding a towrope attached to a motorboat. As the boat accelerates, the skis begin to plane over the water and the skier stands upright. Some skiers, at speeds over 35 miles per hour, can skim across the water on their bare feet.
Certain maximum speeds are allowable, depending upon the age of the skier. In endurance tests, experts have traveled more than 700 miles on water skis without stopping.
Competition on water skis is conducted under close supervision by judges who award points to the contestants. The six categories of skiers range from novice to master. The chief events in water skiing contests are slalom, jumping and trick riding. Water ski kite flying, including slalom and trick riding, has also recently become part of AWSA competition.
The AWSA has more than 16,000 members in some 250 affiliated water skiing clubs.
In an ordinary slalom event, the towing boats speeds straight through a field of anchored buoys while the contestant, riding on a single ski, pursues a zig zag course in and out of the buoys, swinging back and forth across the wake of the motorboat.
Contestants who complete the course successfully are towed through it at successively higher speeds until the maximum under the rules is approached. Then, if more than one skier remains in the contest, the towrope is shortened until all but one are eliminated as a result of falls or of missing a buoy.
Tn the jiamnyg event, the contestant, towed at a speed depending upon his or her particular age group, skis up a waxed, wooden ramp and leaps off it for distance. The ramp is 12 to 14 feet wide and 21 to 22 feet long out of the water. At its highest point it extends from five to six feet above the water.
To execute a jump the contestant swings about 40 feet to one side of the wake of the motorboat and ascends the ramp. Jumps made from a six foot ramp at 35 miles per hour have been measured at over 160 feet.