Water skisIn 1922, a day before his 19th birthday, Ralph W. Samuelson became the first person to ride on water skis he had made as they are used today at Lake Pepin, Minnesota. He had tried a few days earlier with barrel staves and snow skis, with no real success. This day, he used two boards, eight feet long and nine inches wide, with curved tips. He had boiled the tips in his mother's copper kettle and using clamps and braces he curved the tips of the boards and let them set for two days. Binders made from scrap leather held the skis to his feet. Ben, his older brother towed him behind his work launch, which was powered by a converted Saxon truck engine (top speed 14 knots) with a 100-foot sash cord and iron ring as a tow line. |
