Is Skiing Passe'
 

Growing up around the lake, the mark of adulthood was getting up on one ski. It was the greatest thrill and sense of accomplishment that could happen to a young person.
Now, after years of accumulating a shed full of everything from beginner to advanced and competition slalom ski's......I'm not seeing anyone skiing on any of the lakes.
Really don't want to go the wake boat route but wondering if time has passed us by and want to keep teen grandkids interested in water sports

Sadly I see about 100 to 1 ratio of tubers to water skiers.

At this point I think I see more wake surfers than water skiers,,, Sadly,,, And I would welcome a good 70's above the water line open exhaust ski boat ANY day to the crap coming out of the stadium sound systems on the towers of the wake boats.

Not much you can do, change is not easy to stop, so the best you can hope for is something better to come along to replace whatever is the annoying fad of the day is.

No wake-boats here. All my grandkids are avid water skiers....three on one ski and rest on two. Now some have transitioned to wakeboards...not wake surfing. These wake boats are very offensive. Go back and forth in our cove all day. Make huge wakes that destroy our shorefront, boat whip's, etc. etc. Loud music etc. Why don't they stay in front of their own places rather than bother us?

So, yes, there are still water skier's....not everyone has taken on the fad of wake surfing.

All these comments are so true. It was a huge deal to get up on one ski when we were kids. Now, very few ski. Although I must admit I think I would have like wakeboarding.

Water skiing is alive and well in Wolfeboro, out back there, out behind the town center out on Back Bay ..... www.abenakiwaterskiclub.com ..... since 1959 with a slalom course and a ski jump.

On Lake Winnipesaukee the water skiers usually get up early and hit the water at 7-am, looking for calm waters before the boat traffic shows up, or something.

Not everyone that chooses wakeboarding or wake surfing falls into this category of offensive, obnoxious boaters.

We have a surf boat and surf often. I don't ever crank the radio, we usually leave it off so that we can communicate with the rider. We don't surf in coves, we ride the broads off East Bear, far from shore.

Surfing is a lot easier on the body than skiing. Try it sometime, you may enjoy it!

My thirty-something children do both and enjoy both. It's not a either/or.

I never could get up on skis, but that doesn't mean I missed out! I was content to face the skier and relay signs to the driver. I do remember rigging tow ropes
to rubber inner tubes and being pulled that way. The original tubers!!
Hang onto those skis; we all know what goes around comes around.

We see skiers every day, and thankfully, very few wake boards. I think the boards seem more popular because they are circling and irritating. Plenty of kids on tubes, but they're kind of young for skis. I'd buy a tube for the tots and skis when they are ready

WOW thats alot of kids !

Hoping it's not to passe, I just finally got up (on two skis) this year! Watersking has been on my bucket list of things to accomplish, since I was a teen.

Suppose now I need to add "on one ski" as the next goal.

The boats are so different now. In the 50's and 60's there were aq lot of flat bottom , 15-16' boats that could pull a skier with 50 hp. No wake, so it was easy to ride a disc, aquaplane, trick skis, slalom, etc. I learned to jump with 50 hp on a ski jump in Paugus Bay. Not many of these around any more. As boats got bigger, and added deep-vee hulls, wakes got bigger and less suitable for all sorts of skiing. On smaller, calmer, lakes I think there is still a lot of skiing. We even changed the law a couple of years ago so that certain, specially equipped, slalom boats don't need an observer practicing on a certified course.

Agreed! We have a boat with twin 350 Crusaders- sounds amazing burbling at the waterline and running at speed!

This year all 3 of my kids (9, 11, and 13) have been up on skiis and loving it! My 11 year old was dropping one while still on beginner skis, I had to upgrade to get him a spot to put his back foot. It's been one of my proudest dad moments!

Awesome! I remember retrieving dropped skis. Wishing everyone who skis alot of luck, and keep it up! Who knows? Some kids might see you and
want to try it! After they ask Dad What are they doing?"! Lol:laugh:

Well skiing may be in decline, but it clearly appears like we have a lot of enthusiasts.

LOVE to hear about anyone giving it a go, old or young!

Best ski boat we ever had was 70s tri-hull with a 75 Evinrude Stinger. It had just enough snap to get you on top quickly, left a very good wake for skiing behind or crossing over to get on the outside, and it didnt get puller around too much.

Those were fun times. My dad could ski for miles, and he LOVED it!

We can only hope it see a resurgence again.

LOVE to see some pictures, I'll see If I have any.

Fading skier here
 

I learned to ski on this lake, as did all my kids. But at my age (65) those ski falls hurt. So I've taken up foiling. I fall more often, but at a slower speed. Still, looking forward to the day that my grandkids learn to ski! On the same tin boat that my kids learned on.

Really doesn't matter which toy one chooses, as long as one is courteous (no music no waves near shore).

Here's my youngest, who's still on two... My dad is happier than he is!

:laugh: Three, thirty-something kids (plus spouses) :rolleye1:

Waterskiing
 

We are a water skiing family. I'm 70's something Senager that still enjoys slalom skiing—been a while since I went barefoot.

My biggest peeve today is folks who pick up the drop-off ski and keep them! MP even picks them up and I have to go to Glendale to pick it up. Miss the old days.

I'm looking for a decent Northland tunnel grooved slalom ski. My favorite ski was stolen out of my boat at Glendale. I am looking for a replacement since. The new O'Briens just don't cut it!

Any one would like to part with their Marharejen longboard? Lend mine out and never got it back!

Made me think. My kids are now in their 30’s and I haven’t had skies behind my boat(s) in close to 15 years. What a shame!


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I started trying to water ski at the age of 12 when my parents bought our first boat, an 89 Bayliner with a 75hp force on the back. I was a bigger kid and it wasn't an easy endeavor, I'd make my father drag me up and down Upper Suncook for hours trying. It took me until I was 24 and with a more powerful boat, to be able to get up haha!

My problem nowadays is finding someone to drive the boat so I can go! I've talked my wife into driving for me a few times, and usually get to give it a go once a year. I went for a nice rip around Suncook this year at 38, still need to work on dropping a ski though!

The best skiing story I have is when I was probably about 19 years old and my Dad, grandfather and I skipped out on Sunday church services. My Dad and I were down at the dock doing something on the boat when my 80 year old grandfather came down and asked to go skiing "quick while your grandmother is at church!" He popped right up and went right around the lake and just missed gliding right back on to the dock! That ole' Marine still had it even at 80!!

My four brothers and I all skied in Paugus Bay in the 80s, sometimes three at a time with yellow ski belts behind the 16.5’ Wellcraft with 100hp Johnson. It took me three years to get up but I finally did it while staying at Ox-Bow. I’ll never that feeling of the first time. I was on one ski pretty soon.


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Forty-plus years later I’m still doing it but it’s tough to find a driver. Didn’t need any stinkin’ license back then.


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I'd Ski Again...
 

We (and our neighbors) had 14' boats. In the days of the required "ski-belts" we pulled skiers behind either one, depending on who had the most gasoline! But in Winter Harbor, it was only a mile trip to refill at Winnipesaukee Motorcraft. Right next door, we would mail letters or buy groceries.

Ours, a lighter wooden powerboat had a 20-HP Mercury--theirs, a 30-HP Evinrude on a fiberglass boat. We progressed through two skis to one--and we discovered that was where the fun was. I don't see the fun with a wakeboard. Some spectacular stunts are possible, but nobody here seems to have any wakeboard skills! :confused:

"Sky-skis" are something else! There's a reason most wear helmets. :eek:

Starting on one ski was easy from a dock or float. You just gave the boat a 30-foot head-start, and gave a short leap onto the water. With a little practice, you could also land at dock or float! :cool:

You still see slalom skiers carving graceful turns, but they're usually out early, before oversized boats tow tubes to throw a choppy wake.

We'd ski in the rain...:coolsm:

Ah yes, skiing was wonderful in the 60s and 70s. I too had a 14' sears aluminum with a Scott 14 hp engine that could pop my barely 60 lb sister out of the water. For myself, male cousins, and other older relatives we employed our PennYan with 100hp inboard to pull us. Not too many seen these days. I did see my first E/foil this summer, It looks fun to do.