Water skiing is a Surface Water Sport

History & information (types of skiing)

Surface Water Sport and recreational activity invented in Lake City, Minnesota in 1922

International Water Ski Federation (IWSF) is the international regulatory body promoting water skiing and other water sports, setting the official rules of water skiing and official tournaments, coordinating the work of national federations.

In the confines of being pulled along by a boat, skiers can control direction by balancing weight on different sides of the ski. This is used to zip back and forth behind the boat.

Recreational skiers usually learn skiing with a ski on each foot, but improve to usually progress to using a single ski, placing the other foot into another binding behind the main one. Beginners on two skis are usually pulled along at around 25 - 35 kilometers an hour, more advanced social skiers travel at between 40 and 55 kilometers an hour.

skis were originally made of wood but now are usually constructed out of fibreglass-based composites.

Competitive water skiing: Slalom, Trick skiing, Ski jump, Ski races, Water Skiing Hall of Fame, World Water Skiing Championship.

Slalom most resembles recreational water skiing. In it, six buoys are set up, three on each side of a centre line, along which the boat travels. There are two entrance gate and two exit gate buoys. The boat drives through the middle of the buoys, and the skiier must pass to the outside of each buoy, the first being to the right of the centre line.

Trick skiing is performed using one or two very short skis rather than the conventional gear.

Ski jump
The ski jump is performed on two long skis similar to those a beginner uses, with a specialized tailfin that is somewhat shorter and much wider

http://www.britishwaterski.org.uk The Home of Water Skiing in the UK: British Water Ski is the National Governing Body for water skiing in Great Britain and is recognised as such by the UK and English Sports Councils and is in receipt of Exchequer Funding from them.
The 2005 World Water Ski Racing Championships was held in Norfolk for the first time. The event, took place in Hunstanton on Saturday 11 June saw as many as 70 of the world's fittest sports men and women descend on the resort to take part.

http://www.worlds.skirace.net/ World Water Ski Racing

New sports have been invented that involve being towed behind a boat. They include wakeboarding and kneeboarding. Some other water sports are wakeskating, hydrofoiling (hydrofoiling allows a rider to "fly" the hydrofoil above the water. The sport is very USA based, but it is also becoming very popular in Mexico, Canada, & Switzerland to name just a few places. In fact, one of the major investors lives in Switzerland.), trick skiing, and ski jumping

Wakeboarding is a surface Watersport. It was created from a combination of water skiing, snow boarding and surfing techniques. Before it was called wakeboarding it was called skurfing.

They are pulled by a typical ski boat using similar equipment as water-skiing & wakeboarding.

Barefoot skiing is water skiing behind a motorboat without the use of skis, commonly referred to as "barefooting". Barefooting requires the skier to travel at higher speeds than conventional water skiing. Barefooting is known for its falls, which can be very painful. Barefoot water skiing originated in Cypress Gardens, Florida. Dick Pope Jr., on March 6, 1947, was the first recorded person to ever barefoot, though some believe it was in fact A. G. Hancock.

Though barefoot water skiing does not require skis, there are many pieces of equipment to participate in their sport safely.

Barefoot Wetsuit, Padded Shorts, Handles and Ropes, Boats, Booms (Barefoot booms are used for learning barefooting and also, learning new barefoot tricks.).

Foreign terms for water skiing

Wasserski = German

Vattenskidor = Swedish

Vesihiihto = Finland

Waterskiën = Dutch