Emergence of watersports
Origins
Everyone has their own interpretation of the origins of water skiing, depending on which side of the Atlantic they are or whether they are from the Côte d’Azur. If we exclude floating skis, from 1904 on the lake at Bois de Boulogne forest, or the crossings by Rémy Brika (Channel, Gulf of Lion, Atlantic?) in the 1980s, people in France would say 1920. On the other hand, Americans point to a demonstration by Ralph Samuelson in 1922 and a patent from Fred Walker in 1924. In 1929, French soldiers trained for mountain conditions did some tests in Annecy. The members of Club de Juan les Pins set the date as the founding of the Fédération Méditerranéenne in 1935. The Yacht Moteur Club de France, which organized the “6 heures de Paris” event, was behind the unified federation (FFSN) in 1947. But its president, Jean-Noël Bladinaire, who was world champion, and the YMCF are not mentioned in Maxime Vazeille’s book on water skiing, which is very focused on the Côte d’Azur; there seems to be a certain antagonism between Juan les Pins and Paris.
The arrival of ski boats
A “true” ski boat is a heavy runabout, with more than 100hp of inboard power (300hp is a good level). Its speed must be at least 65 km/h. The tow rope is attached to a pole in the rear. The driver must have a rear-view mirror and the passenger-observer must have a seat that can turn around. It needs to have a flag holder to indicate that it is pulling a skier.
In the south, this used to be called a Chris Craft, even if it was a Gonzague Olivier, and in the north, it was a Luizzi or another type of boat. The speed needs to be constant and the tow rope must be as “taut” as possible. The wake must be as smooth as possible, but with clearly defined waves, so the hull needs quite a hard chine. The power makes it possible to gradually “lift” a skier even if their position is not perfect.
The popularity of water skiing owes a lot to Club Méditerranée and inflatables. An outboard dinghy can be used for leisure activities, because there is no need to fly along at over 60 km/h, but a good skier pulling “crossways” will drag it off course, which is not ideal for slaloming. If the ski planes from the outset, you can get out the water with 9.5hp behind a light inflatable and with 25hp for mono skis. But a reasonable level of power in terms of quality and pricing is 40 to 50hp. If there is no towing pole fitted, you can use a V-shaped rope configuration attached to the transom.
On the sea, it is preferable to ski early in the morning, when you go to collect your bread from the bakery for breakfast, or around six in the evening when the wind drops.
Disciplines and competition skis
The shape of the skis depends on which discipline you want to do, but you can have mixed skis – bi and mono – for your holidays.
For more in-depth disciplines, this also depends on the skier’s preferences in terms of bindings, fins, shape, concavity and edges, as well as the type of water. For heavier skiers, the skis will need to be wider to ensure a better lift. For mono, you take what you can find, but for slaloms, this becomes a work for specialists.
For tricking or figure skiing, you have small, oval-shaped or oblong skis, with a tip at both ends, or even special skis and a dedicated handle. Lastly, jumping is a discipline in which the various elements – ramp, boat and skis – must be perfect.
Jean-Marie Muller and Patrice Martin were famous names in their time as world champions.
The slalom courses have very specific dimensions, set by a surveyor. A master cable is fitted with perpendicular wires that are attached to the moored buoys with elastic fixings. On the River Seine, at the YMCF, the buoys needed to be removed in the winter months and then redeployed. A team of divers were called in to find the concrete blocks that served as the anchorage points. Beneath a meter of sludge, in the middle of sunken trees, with 10cm visibility, sometimes they had to follow guide ropes and use a compass. Good training for the divers tasked with recovering boats that sank during the Paris 6 Hours race in October.
Combining adrenaline and elegance
Hang gliding, parascending, acrobatic jumps and pyramids are just some of the things that have been done.
With two or three skiers and shorter 3m or 6m ropes. Light skiers will easily be lifted out of the water successively with a 50hp engine. You can do tricks, slaloms and jumps over the ropes, but good preparations are vital. You need to take great care and let go of the handles if there is an incident.
Speed skiing is a discipline in which a speedboat tows a skier on the sea. This is really challenging for both the driver, who must not lose their skier, and the person who has to negotiate the waves for hours. In the 1960s, the Relex skis had bindings fitted to an aluminum sheet. After removing the skis, you could simply use the “plates”. By continuing to reduce the sliding surface, we arrived at barefoot skiing, reserved for champion level skiers.
At the YMCF, this was fashionable at a certain time, but its president, Bladinaire, recalled that one day his friend, Bernard Fichot, crashed into a board full of nails and they had to make shoes with steel armor plating. Water skiing has been done by everyone, or nearly everyone, then around 1980, wake boarding appeared, inspired by snowboarding and surfing. There are various specialty sports and this is a leisure activity for holidays, like surfing behind a boat. But this is another story.
Underwater exploration: boats and equipment
In terms of water-based activities, fishing, whether underwater or on the surface, is the only one that does not need a boat. But to go below the sea, you often need to go out on the water.
Between 1948 and 1955, the FFESSM federation saw the same type of disputes as with water skiing, between the south and Paris, but this time, Marseille won. To go harpoon fishing, you need a permit issued by the marine affairs unit, or the hunting section in Marseille, which is closer to the people taking part in the sports.
From 1947, the Marine Nationale has divers, which also makes it possible to have a number of civil instructors (70 federal certificates between 1957 and 1959). It is not until around 1954 that holiday-goers have access to French equipment: Squale mask, Godel or Douglas flippers, Douglas or Hurricane speargun (both of these brands are French). The snorkel was often a piece of hosepipe. Then, two rivals, Cavalero (Champion) and Beuchat (Tarzan), developed an industry to compete with Spirotechnique (Air Liquide subsidiary, Henri Melchior was the father-in-law of J.Y. Cousteau).
Various clubs made key contributions to the development of underwater sports: Touring Club de France, Club Méditerranée, UCPA (first diving pools), alongside the federal centers of course, including Les Glénans. The first hunters swam all the way to the holes where their prey was hiding, or used any floating craft they had access to. Amateur groups used Zodiac Mark IIIs (4.7m, 10 person – Marine) and the clubs, the first fishing boat launched with a large rear deck. This is how many trawlers embarked on a new career. Then, hunters used Mark Is and Mark IIs. For two hunters, the minimum requirement was a Junior with a 9.5hp engine, but with four divers on board, they needed 4.20m (6 person – Marine) and 40hp. With Zodiac, the Mark Vs and some Mark IIIs were lent to the CIP Bendor Club and the Federation to ensure safety for hunting competitions. The magazine published by Jean-Albert Foex (JAF), L’Aventure Sous-Marine, had good relations with Zodiac and regularly featured tips and advice on how to fit out an inflatable. The Zodiac became the outstanding boat for diving.
To address this situation, Yves Buissonade’s yard SMAP-Neptune equipped an existing hull with benches for divers, but this never really established itself. Aluminum boats had more success, with both V-shaped monohulls and catamarans. But as diving developed, the clubs wanted to go quickly so they could have two trips in the morning and several in the afternoon. They then switched to semi-rigid dinghies with an outboard engine to carry up to 20 divers. An outboard engine takes up less space inside than an inboard, and they benefit from the advent of 4-stroke engines.
In tropical countries, local products are favored over inflatables. The most advanced boats are catamarans with an outboard engine on each hull, a small cabin in the front, opening out onto a small foredeck for mooring, a helm station next to the cabin, access to the water between the hulls at the rear and on each side of the cabin. They also have boarding ladders with flat steps and small platforms. The dive packs are positioned on the sides behind the divers, with the possibility to connect them to a compressor.
For wealthier clubs, they sometimes set their sights even higher, with 20m units featuring a large rear platform that runs the entire width and can be raised and lowered hydraulically. The tank backpacks are stored on the platform and the compressors are in the machine room with a direct connection, which limits the handling of heavy packs.