What Is This Thing?

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I've never seen anything like it in my life. While I was shooting the New Year's Day water skiing in the Mississippi, a man walked onto the little floating dock with what looked like a hovercraft weed whacker. It had a seat, a single ski and a shaft that ran down from it to an airfoil cum scythe. What?

The rider or skiier or whatever you call him dropped into shallow water, grabbed the tow rope from a speedboat and rose up into the air, as below. The structure you see at the upper left, above, was clearly acting like an airplane wing but in the water, elevating the rider. How could it be stable? Then the rider sent it soaring and flipping, like an aerobatics plane.

The gizmo is a Sky Ski. Being someone without a drop of athletic talent, I was dumbstruck (although my right index finger stayed loose). Anybody ever ridden one? If the rider sees this post, please send me an email. I'd like to give you credit.

AFTERNOON UPDATE: I was glad to receive an email from our aqua-aerobat here. Jim Woodson writes that he and his wife "ski on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers pretty much every weekend (unless we are out of town skiing). Once you learn how to ride one of these toys...e skis, wakeboards, kneeboards, etc. get pushed to the back of the garage never to be ridden again. It's a whole lot of fun and VERY addicting." He suggests that anyone in this part of the country interested in giving it a try contact these people. Jim is going to get in touch this summer and we'll do a Sky Ski shoot out on the river. Sounds like fun.