Water skiing is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires sufficient area on a stretch of water, one or two skis, a tow boat with tow rope, two or three people, and a personal flotation device. In addition, the skier must have adequate upper and lower body strength, muscular endurance, and good balance.
A runabout is any small motorboat holding between four and eight people, well suited to moving about on the water. Characteristically between 20' and 35' in length, runabouts are used for pleasure activities like boating, fishing, and water skiing, as a ship's tender for larger vessels, or in racing. Some common runabout types are bow rider, center console, cuddy boat and walkaround. The world's largest runabout, Pardon Me, is 48 feet long and owned by the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York.
A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine.
Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) was a maker of Evinrude, Johnson and Gale Outboard Motors, and many different brands of boats. It was a multibillion-dollar Fortune 500 corporation. Evinrude began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1907. OMC was based in Waukegan, Illinois. They also owned several lines of boats such as Chris Craft, Lowe Boats, Princecraft, Four Winns, SeaSwirl, Stratos, and Javelin. OMC was also a parent company to Lawn-Boy and Ryan, which made lawn mowers.
Mercury Marine is a marine engine division of Brunswick Corporation headquartered in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The main product line is outboard engines. It also produces the MerCruiser line of sterndrives and inboard engines. Some manufacturing is in Fond du Lac, while 40-60 HP engines are made in China. Smaller engines are Tohatsus that have been rebadged.
The MasterCraft Boat Company is an American manufacturer of luxury high-performance boats. The company was founded in 1968 in Maryville, Tennessee, and is currently headquartered in Vonore, Tennessee. MasterCraft boats are used in waterskiing, wakeboarding and wake surfing. Although, the company has also produced several boats that are not focused on water sports, such as the NauticStar line of fishing boats.
Tiara Yachts is a boat manufacturer headquartered in Holland, Michigan, and is one of the oldest privately held boat manufacturers in the United States. The company, founded in 1974 by Leon Slikkers, manufactures luxury inboard and outboard yachts ranging from 34–60 feet.
A yacht tender is a vessel used for servicing and providing support and entertainment to a private or charter yacht. They include utilitarian craft, powered by oar or outboard motor, and high-speed luxury craft, supporting superyachts, powered by inboard engines, some using water-jets. Some superyachts have a support vessel that follows them with bulky items that are not conveniently stowed aboard the main yacht, such as a helicopter, automobile or larger watercraft.
An inboard motor is a marine propulsion system for boats. As opposed to an outboard motor where an engine is mounted outside the hull of the craft, an inboard motor is an engine enclosed within the hull of the boat, usually connected to a propulsion screw by a driveshaft.
The word Drascombe is a trademark that was first registered by John Watkinson who applied it to a series of sailing boats which he designed and built in the period 1965–79 and sold in the United Kingdom (UK). They comprised the Coaster, Cruiser Longboat, Dabber, Drifter, Driver, Gig, Launch, Longboat, Lugger, Peterboat, Scaffie, Scaith and Skiff, together with a few other one-offs. They have wide and deep cockpits, adaptable boomless rigs and high bulwarks.
Wakeboard boats also known as wakeboats, surfboats or tow boats are designed to create a large, specially shaped wake, for a wakeboarder to jump the wakes from side to side doing aerial tricks. They developed from the Runabout type.
Fairey Marine Ltd, latterly known as FBM Marine, was a boat building company based on the River Hamble, Southampton, England. The company was created in the late 1940s by Sir Charles Richard Fairey and Fairey Aviation's managing director, Mr. Chichester-Smith. Both were avid sailing enthusiasts along with Chichester-Smith's good friend and former Olympic yachtsman, Charles Currey.
Correct Craft is a United States-based builder of powerboats primarily for waterskiing, wakeboard, and wakesurf use. It was founded in 1925 by Walt C. Meloon as the Florida Variety Boat Company. Correct Craft is the oldest family-owned and operated boat manufacturer in the world. Currently celebrating 98 years of excellence in the marine industry, Correct Craft is focused on “Making Life Better.” The Correct Craft family includes Nautique, Centurion, Supreme, Bass Cat, Yar-Craft, SeaArk, Parker, and Ingenity boat companies, Pleasurecraft Engine Group, Indmar Marine Engines, Velvet Drive Transmissions, Mach Connections, Merritt Precision, Osmosis, Watershed Innovation, and Aktion Parks.
Nautique Boat Company is an American boat manufacturer that produces boats primarily for waterskiing, wakeboarding and wakesurfing. With models in the Super Air Nautique and Ski Nautique lines, they are widely considered the gold standard in the inboard towboat market. Owned by parent company, Correct Craft, Nautique is a member of the oldest family-owned and operated boat manufacturer in the world.
Hydrodyne was a boat company founded by Abner Crosby in the late 1950s. The company was then later run by his son Abner (Ab) Crosby Jr. until 1993 when he sold his interest in the company to private investors. The Hydrodyne trademark is owned by another ski boat manufacturer and may one day reappear on boats. At the current time, the use of the name for marine applications is non-existent.
From its inception in the late 1940s through about 1984, Wacanda Marine, Inc. was owned and operated by Forrest Collins, Colville, Washington. From 1984 to 1988, the company was owned by the Yakima Indian Nation, Wapato, Washington, although Mr. Collins managed the production
American Skier boats was a tournament boat company founded by Ken Elkind. Elkind of North Miami Beach, Florida, United States, in 1975. Mr. Elkind, after retiring from the offshore racing circuits, became interested in the water skiing business. In the early 1980s American Skier became one of the first tournament boat companies to be approved for competition by the American Water Ski Association. The first 18' Skiers came out as 1976 models from a shop in Opa Locka Florida. In the early 1990s WESMAR took over ownership. They built the 1991-95 models in Ocoee, Florida, moved it to Cape Coral, Florida, and moved it again, this time to Giddings, Texas. Ron Tanis purchased the company in 1995 and moved the molds from Giddings to Winnsboro, Louisiana. Ron Tanis sold the company to the politician Jay Blossman, and the former professional water skier Ben Favret. Tanis had met Favret in high school. Ben and Jay renamed the company to Elan Boats. The last "true" American Skiers were built in early 2002.
Centurion Boats, owned by Fineline Industries, is a manufacturer specializing in the production of water sports boats, primarily tow boats for wakesurfing and wakeboarding. It was founded by current owner Rick Lee. Its headquarters and manufacturing operations are in Merced, California.
Malibu Boats is an American manufacturer of recreational boats, founded in Merced, California in 1982, and currently headquartered in Loudon, Tennessee with additional production facilities in New South Wales, Australia. Malibu is "the world's largest manufacturer of watersports towboats", used both recreationally and in water skiing and wakeboarding events.
