Water Skiing’s Unsung Pioneer - Jack Andresen

In 1933, Jack Andresen. then 16. saw a picture in the New York Times of a French woman, Maggie Savard (who later became an official of the World Water Ski Union), jumping on skis on the French Riviera. Using the picture as a scale, he made a crude pair of skis from pieces of ash and bent the tips in steam. “They were eight feet long and eight inches wide. and had simple toe straps for binders. Remembering his experience with aquaplanes, Andresen attached hooks to the toes of the skis, facing backward. His homemade towline had a single handle and two short looped lines attached to the main line six feet from the handle. The loops were put on the hooks so that the boat would actually tow the skis as it would tow an aquaplane. Then, at least theoretically, once the skier was up, the line could be hauled in hand over hand and the loops unhooked to facilitate "free skiing."

Andresen's first ride was in April of 1933 on Glen Wild Lake. "It was much too cold," he remembers. '`I'm not sure what made him decide to try it that early." A friend had a 10-horsepower boat behind which they carefully rigged the ropes and hooks. Says Andresen: "When I was ready, I hollered, 'Hit it!' Oddly enough. I have no idea what possessed nee to say that. but I guess it stuck. He pulled me off the dock and to my surprise. I was still standing five seconds later. I guess I rode about half way around the lake, maybe half a mile, then got the nerve to pull back on the loops and unhook the fronts. By then the short lines were limp anyway, so it didn't really make any difference.

“I was fully dressed because I didn't want to get any colder than I had to, and was trying to figure out how to land. We came by a dock with a protruding diving board, so I motioned to him to slow down and I kind of wrapped myself around the board as we came by. It wasn't too graceful, but it was a dry landing." Andresen competed in the first water ski tournament organized by the AWSA soon after meeting Hains in 1938. Somewhat ironically, Bruce Parker won the overall title. Parker had been impressed with Andresen at the exhibition two years earlier, and had asked Andresen to show him how to get up on skis. Parker had taught himself the rest and incorporated water skiing into his aquatics show at Long Island's Jones Beach. "By the time the first competition came up," says Andresen, "Bruce was probably the most proficient skier around."