Water-skiing
In the sport of water skiing , the person performing the exercise is pulled standing over a surface of water on skis, which are similar to snow skis. The drive is usually carried out by a motor-boat or a water ski lift on a water ski rope with a handle, which also is called dumbbell. For practicing, a stable handrail is sometimes attached directly to the boat so that the practitioner can drive next to the boat and talk to the trainer .
The water skis are bent up at the front and have a soft rubber sleeve , known as a binding, in which the feet find support. The water skis are guided by a small fin on the underside of the back.
This water sport is very popular - especially with tourists - in the warm months, popular due to the large number of water ski lifts in Germany and, in contrast to motor boats, it is also relatively inexpensive.
The American Ralph Samuelson is considered to be the inventor of this sport .
functionality
Water skiing behind a motorboat usually begins with a "deep water start" or from the jetty. The skier crouches down with his knees bent. The arms are straight, the body leaning backwards, as if sitting on a chair. The ski tips point upwards so that they protrude a little out of the water. The pull rope is located between the skis or, if only one ski is used, on the right if the left foot or on the left if the right foot is in front. When the skier is ready, the driver accelerates the boat to pull him out of the water. At this point it is important to remain in the crouched position and wait for the boat to accelerate enough that there is enough force between it and the ski.
In addition to the boat driver and the water skier, a third person, an observer, must legally be present for safety reasons, whose task it is to pay attention to the skier and to inform the driver if z. B. the athlete falls into the water.
The speed varies depending on the skill or competitive event.
The start at a water ski lift takes place almost exclusively from a jetty. In normal operation, water starts are now prohibited on all German lifts for safety reasons. The posture is very similar to the water start behind a motorboat, but there is no need to shift your body weight backwards. With sufficient speed at the end of the jetty, the transition to the water takes place smoothly.
Variations
As an advanced variation, the water skis can be replaced by:
- Monoski (not to be confused with monoski for snow) or slalom ski : It consists of just one ski with a fin, on which a simple loop for the second foot is attached behind the binding. The bottom of the monoski is curved inward in the middle of the length; a distinction is made here between three types: tunnel, tunnel concave as a mixed form and concave. Sometimes a second binding is attached to the back for competition purposes. The athlete has two ties from the start at the water start. The counterpart to this for the snow is a skwal .
- Jump skis: Two longer and wider skis with fins, for long jump over a hill.
- Trick ski: A short, wide board without a fin, on which the foot straps are attached one behind the other, the front one pointing in the direction of travel, the back one at an angle.
- Plate: A round wooden disc without a fin with two loops / ties for a stand about shoulder width apart. Ideal for learning all slid turns.
- Wakeboard : similar to the snowboard from winter sports, but the board is thicker and strong bindings are usually used instead of loops. For tricks, the tension of the pull rope is often used for "inverts", the jump effect of a wave or obstacles. Obstacles can be jumps with or without a kick, but also rails, tables, walls, FunBoxes, ...
All known elements from the BMX, snowboard, skateboard, ... area are possible.
- Wakeskate : similar to the wakeboard but without bindings. You can ride barefoot on foam or with shoes on griptape (sandpaper). The tricks come from T. from the skateboard area (Shuvit, Kickflip, ...) and z. T. from the wakeboard area.
- Wakeski : similar Twintips from the winter sports, however, wider and shorter and thicker in place with ties equipped loops. They are curved upwards at both ends, which enables reversing. Wakeski are mostly used to perform tricks, these being based on the tricks of the wakeboards and the alpine variant.
- Kneeboard : on which you kneel and are pulled while sitting on your heels. In competitions, screw somersaults are even achieved over jumps. In disabled sports, there are corresponding variants for paraplegics or lower-leg amputee athletes.
- Barefoot: You do not use your skis and you ride on your "bare" feet at high speed. Only used by experienced water skiers and requires some training. In addition, an extremely calm and clean water surface is required.
Classic water skiing consists of slalom, jumping and figure running with a trick ski as well as the combination:
- Slalom is about driving around 6 buoys at high speed. When the runner has reached 55/58 km / h at some point and drives through this speed, the leash is gradually shortened from 18 to 16 up to currently 9. xx meters and then tried again directly at top speed. And so the line is getting shorter and shorter. The shorter the line, the harder it is to avoid the buoy. In the end it is only possible with the outstretched arm to reach the necessary length to go around the buoy. This requires perfect timing, strength and technique. The extreme inclination with the corresponding spray effect when circling the buoys results in spectacular photos. The maximum speed in slalom is set depending on gender and age group, a maximum of 55–58 km / h.
- The "figure run" with a trick ski is about getting the highest possible number of points. In contrast to the wakeboard, no ramps or similar aids are used. wr points for turns or flips (somersaults) are set by the German Water Ski & Wakeboard Association (DWWV). Twists start easy, start with simple 90-degree turns, and end with difficult turns in mid-air. Flips are also quite demanding, you build up pressure with the trick ski by pushing the ski into the water and then jumping off and turning. These spectacular air jumps are rewarded with high scores.
In the competition (2 × 20sec), 20 or more tricks are often shown, which is too fast a sequence for most spectators. The tricks start with jumping or sliding screws and currently end with screw somersaults or one-legged parts with the second foot in a foot dumbbell.
- The "jumping" discipline is about jumping over a hill at high speed; this discipline is not about posture, just the width of a jump. The width is measured with a special device. When jumping, special skis are used to pull towards the jump at the speed of the cable car or boat. Most of the time, the jumps are very tight, because for a long jump you “pull up” on the hill very late. The equipment: Professional jumpers have so-called impact protection, which protects the back area. A helmet is also put on. There are helmets that are specially made for this discipline. You can often compare them with those from motocross, but these are much heavier and aerodynamically built differently. Of course, not every jumper starts right away with the top speed of 58 km / h. At higher speeds of 45 km / h or more, a so-called “jump belt” is usually put on. This belt goes around the body once and has a loop for the right arm on the right side at waist level. Its purpose is not to be pulled too far forward at higher speeds and to keep the arm close to the body.
For safety reasons, jumping in training and competitions is only permitted if a lifeboat is available in the area of the jump, because even for experienced jumpers, even the smallest mistakes can result in brief loss of consciousness or dislocated shoulders and even hips (e.g. DM 200x in Kiefersfelden) at jump distances of over 60 meters cannot be excluded. 58 km / h maximum speed of the pull rope == speeds of over 100 km / h during slalom or ski jumping.
Web links
- dwwv.de - Official website of the German Water Ski and Wakeboard Association
- surfda.com / ... - Overview of water ski facilities