Trick skis don’t have the fins. Of course they are much harder to control.
Cypress Gardens was closed; a guy who owns some other theme parks (one is in Valdosta, GA) bought it, updated it to attract younger folks (while maintaining some of what originally made it an attraction) and reopened it sometime in the past year. So your memory is fine.
Another example ski ramp lies on Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg in Webster, Massachusetts. We go there every summer and watch the Nipmuck Ski Club practice on the ramp (it’s owned by them, a private club). It has a gate that is locked when they aren’t using it.
Heck, that gates’ just there to keep out the riff-raff who cannot be bothered to learn to spell Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg.
They do have fins. They are very low profile, maybe 3/4 inch tall on a 9 inch across ski. They need fins because to get a good jump, you gotta pull hard across the wake to get speed.
No, the surface is slick. You can’t tell from the page I linked, but there is a PVC pipe/water pump deal that squirts water on the ramp. Very slick.
Actually, you want to stay on the balls of your feet. Like galt said, everybody ends up on their ass the first time, not anticipating how slick it is. I did, it was ugly. That ramp looks like a brick wall the first time. It really is cool when you get it down, you hit that ramp, pop off the top and everything gets really quiet for a couple of seconds.
As an aside, you don’t have to land nicely for your distance to count in competition. I’ve known many a jumper to lose a ski on the landing and ride it out on one to score. I actually heard of a guy that lost them both but the boat driver was aware enough to hit it, pull the guy up barefoot and past the buoy.
There is a private waterski park right off IH35 in Texas with ramps, sliders, and other obstacles to do tricks off of. In a man made lake you can chose to go around getting pulled by a cable or get pulled by a boat. I believe most use wakeboards though.
Texas Ski Ranch
well, er maybe now but back in the day … plain wood, no water flow, no plastic, no varnish and the jump was adjustable.
We used regular skies with a single small wooden fin on the bottom anmd then learned that dual little fins were better *::: learned the hard way::: *as it kept the ski more stable. {{ can you say splinters, twisted ankles etc? I thought so ::: }}}}
The we found ( in the late 50’s )that the skies with a metal or wooden tie across the front would keep the odd ski from splitting on contact if you were going very fast and the jump was set very steep. *::: learned the hard way::: * {{{ can you say splinters? … I thought so … }}}}
You actually speed up as you go up the ramp so leaning back is VERY counter productive. *::: learned the hard way::: *
If you don’t have a good driver who accelerates as you go off the edge, you will be sailing along with a slack rope, this makes a good landing VERY hard. *::: learned the hard way::: *
A slight curve with the tow boat and an fast cross all aligned to put you across the ramp parallel to it’s orientation will over come the lack of boat speed due to it being the 1950’s… *::: learned the hard way::: *
A good boat driver for water ski sports is much harder to find than a good skier…
We were using a cold molded plywood boat with the biggest outboard on the lake at the time, a 22 HP Evinrude with a cotton rope with a wooden handle that you wound on top of the engine like the old lawn mowers. When the engine started in the start position, you left, no gear shift. Dad eventually learned to slow down to idle until we were lined out before hitting the lever to fast.
My older sister got up the first summer on our homemade skis, about 1954 I think. I could not get up until the next year when Dad figured out how to run in a circle and get boat speed to pull me out as I was already 6’1”. We got our first factory built skis in 56 I think.
When a neighbor got one of the first Merc 55 ( 40 HP ) engines on the lake, we were in heaven, and then we met the guy with a Higgins inboard… Wow … first time I had seen an inboard get up and plane in a flat attitude… {{{ can you say, ‘ski on your feet is now possible’ …??? I thought you could… }}}}
Then it was off to the races, saucers, boards, single ski, slalom ( what was a ‘fin’? ) *::: learned the hard way::: * , trick, banana, jumps, ( slalom jumps, just remember to remove the fin… ) *::: learned the hard way::: * kites, regular fishin boats over the ramp set on low, *::: learned the hard way::: * and that neighbor’s oldest girl spent a season with the “Tommy Bartlett Water ski and Jumping Boat Thrill Show” My sis did not want to go away, I think she regrets is now…
I am normally a clumsy person but I could water ski and I got very good at getting out with an under powered boat, skiing along behind a car ( 70MPH ) during high water, ( very dangerous, don’t do dat. ) *::: learned the hard way::: *, was next in line to ski behind the Piper Cub when the weather shut us down… Grrr, never got another chance at that. Learned to go from a dock in January without a wet suit. ( stupid idea) *::: learned the hard way::: * But a real incentive to get it right…
At one time with the local kids and young macho men, we did a 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 ( 4 guys, 1 guy and two girls, 2 young ( and gutsy ) girls and 1 very gutsy and good skiing little boy ) pyramid for about 100 yards after two years of trying… we did not get a picture that I ever heard about but we were the talk of the lake that summer. Only got it done once… ::: sigh ::: then the bottom row and second row were going into the military and college and we never tried again…
Anywho, when you hit the ramp, you will speed up. ( unless you crash ) Be ready for it…