Water skiing lessons If anyone was wistfully gazing over the Swan River yesterday from a Perth high-rise office-prison and noticed some people water skiing, then it might have been us. A high school sports teacher we know had just bought a one year old ski boat for fifty thousand dollars. Some boat - I nearly fell overboard when he told me the price. I would have guessed about eight thousand dollars. Silly me.
But he said it was imported from the US and the big attraction was its powerful inboard V8 power unit with heat exchanger. Heat exchangers prevent the engine from being destroyed by salt water. The unit was powerful enough to drag a dozen skiers without any stress, and little noise.
Besides being a cashed-up teacher, he was also a water ski instructor and president of the local water ski club. He was giving introductory lessons to friends willing to contribute eight dollars a head to fuel. This was a pretty good deal. It included all the gear and insurance. The boat was rigged for teaching and had an extendible boom from the side to help newcomers on their feet quickly.
So yesterday was the first introduction to water skiing for our two teenage daughters and ten year old son.
The day was perfect. No wind to speak of. so the water was dead calm. Also pure sunshine right throughout the day. Although I kept in the shade, wore a hat and kept my arms and legs covered, this morning I realise that I should have put some sunscreen on my face. The radiation reflecting off the water got to me. A penalty for having shaved off my beard earlier this year. The rest of the family are okay, they used sunscreen. I would have too if I had seen them applying it.
The first to have a go at skiing was our fifteen year old teenage daughter number two. My wife and I were invited to go along for the ride and take a few photos. We weren't disappointed. Our daughter is something of an athlete. She stood up on her skis immediately. Within five minutes she had enough experience on the boom and was skiing from the end of a rope behind the boat. It was that easy. We zoomed back and forth in front of the Burswood Casino waving at the agog Japanese and Chinese tourist-gamblers. Then for good measure we towed her under the arches of the Perth traffic causeway. Some stunt for a beginner. I was reminded of people who did crazy things like flying under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I got a nice bragging photo for our Christmas family newsletter.
As I understand it from the screaming of the instructor, the trick with water skiing is to not bend you arms, to keep your knees bent (the natural way) and thighs flexed. Never let your feet pass behind your arse, because they will keep going, and then you fall flat on your face. One of the other tricks in preventing the latter is to not let your bum hang out the back like some sort of verandah. It has to keep up with the rest of the body and find the centre of gravity. Keeping the backside and the frontside in a harmonious vertical association with eachother is definitely advantageous. It also looks better in the photos.
Teenage daughter number one (17) didn't understand this quite as well as her younger sister and so there were a number of false starts. She would have done better with less squealing and calls of, "Oh my God!" But she got there in the end and I have the photos to prove it. Alas she didn't quite get up enough skill for a tow under the causeway bridge, but I feel sure she will the next time.
We hadn't been intending for our ten year old son to have a go at all, but the instructor sensed another eight bucks in my wife's purse. After all, he was also a chalkie and had a fifty thousand dollar boat to pay for.
There was no point in resisting the invitation. I could visualise our youngest son getting awfully grotty if it was declined. So away we went again, with him clinging to the boom. He was much lighter than his sisters and skimmed along with relative ease, but overall he wasn't as strong and so fell off a few times, especially when his skis struck a jellyfish. He didn't graduate for a tow behind the boat, but it won't take much more effort before he does. I still managed to take some great photos.
I think I impressed the instructor when I told him my half-brother Donald had many, many, years ago set an inaugural water skiing record by being towed from Fremantle, out past Rottnest and Garden Islands then back through the channel at Point Peron, past Rockingham and back to Fremantle. I don't think its been done since. Now a healthy 82, Don lives on a houseboat in Queensland. He acquired quite a water skiing reputation when he was younger and undertook numerous such activities around the nation.
© MMVI Paul R. Weaver.
About the writerCheck out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write a million words.
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