Colorado Watersports Rule: A Travel Guide for People Who Want to Do Things like Jet Skiing or Water Skiing This Summer

Go get wet and enjoy some splashy fun. What better experience can you have in the intense heat of the summer? I went to Sloans Lake once - it's right on Sheridan Blvd., I took my jet ski out, zipped around, revved up the engine, and jumped high over the surface of the water. That's an exhilerating feeling. But, to be honest, it's not quite so exciting as going water skiing out on that lake.

Water Skiing

A fun sport in which a person holds onto a rope and rides behind a power boat on two traditional skis. This is not as easy as it sounds. You have to start on a ramp, waiting for the person or persons in the boat to rev up the engine, and yank you out onto the lake. There really hasn't been too many people in the last 2000 years who could walk on water. But that's how you feel when you're gliding across the surface. Water is spraying up in your wake.

Things to do on the skis

Trick skiing is not easy and not something I want to try any time soon, but a lot of people do. You use a different kind of ski and perform gymnastics on the water. Pretty scary if you ask me.

Ski jumping is another thing you won't see me do until I'm comfortable enough with traditional water skiing. You use the same skis that a beginner uses, and take flying jumps off ramps in the water. Professional jumpers have to be able to make a good distance in the air, come down on his or her skis and keep a hold of their ski rope. I would imagine you have to have good balance and strong legs to keep from crashing into the water each time.

Ski racing is where the skier has to hold a position and hold the ski rope above the water at all times. The boat driver and the skier must keep the line tight.

Alternatives of traditional water skiing

Wakeboarding

Fun Facts

Water skiing started in Minnesota in 1922 when a man named, Ralph Samuelson attached two boards to his feet and rode his boat on a clothesline.

Samuelson made this new-found sport popular by using it as a daredevil stunt. He took his act on the road. Then, before long, everyone was doing it, and water skiing became the great, fun sport we know today.

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