Water ski weekend at Homewood may become annual event

The sport of water skiing is 88 years old. Tahoma’s Les Bartlett is 75 years old. The two got together along with some 20 somethings and other assorted ages to put on quite a show for the Tahoe Maritime Museum’s first on-the-water exhibition of water skiing.

Bartlett demonstrated how “not to learn to water ski” by skiing hunched over as well as dropping his derriere repeatedly into the water as the crowd in boats and on shore looked on. A crowd of 100 plus watched the July 23 morning events from the Obexer’s Marina pier while another 70 or so were crowded into 17 boats to survey the demonstrations of slalom skiing, wakeboarding, wakeskating, kneeboarding, trick skiing, double skiing, wakesurfing and aquaplaning.

Les Bartlett without a wetsuit on Tahoe's icy water. Photo/Tom Bredt

Ten-year-old Amanda Shepherd of Homewood concluded the day’s exhibition on an aquaplane by being the youngest “skier” on the oldest piece of equipment. The aquaplane’s heyday at Lake Tahoe came in the 1940s before water skiing had really dipped its toe in the water at the lake.

Event coordinator Warren Fallat called the Water Ski Weekend “a great success” and said he hopes the event can be held in some fashion on an annual basis.

The lineup of demonstration skiing/boarding went as follows: Wakeboarding and Wakeskating, Jeff Stoike; Slalom Water Skiing, Lee Schmidt; Kneeboarding, Robert Dawson; Trick Skiing, Warren Fallat; Double Ski’s – how not to water ski – Les Bartlett; Wakesurfing, Greg Felsch; Aquaplaning – Amanda Shepherd; and a special “Air Chair” exhibition by Ron Rupp.

Contact the Tahoe Maritime Museum at (530) 525.9253 for more information, photos or video of the Water Ski Weekend.