A TURNING POINT: MIKE MURPHY’S FIRST ROLL
Our family is at the Marine Stadium in Long Beach, CA on a beautiful spring day in 1991. I usually ride first but today is different. Uncle Mike suits up first because he has a new move to show off. He tries to keep it a secret, but can’t resist […]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A TURNING POINT – MIKE MURPHY’S TITLE ROLL
FIRST FLIGHT > STAND-UP FOILS – (1906-1989): Learning to fly on water: from boats to people
KNEEBOARD HYDROFOIL > AIR CHAIR – (1983-1991): Developing the first sit- down hydrofoil
3 NEW MOVES – Strapping one on to invent the wake front roll, air wrapped 360, and Skidder.
SHOOT TO KILL – A […]
The genie is out of the bottle.
Lovers of towed watersports may not want to hear this or even consider the possible long-term effects caused by multiple hard falls.
Who wants to find out that the sport they love can have a direct and serious affect on brain function later in life?
I’m all about assumed risk. People […]
19: THIS IS THE END – OR IS IT?
The golden days of kneeboarding ended when it got dropped from the Pro Tour. Gone was the industry backing with big cash tournaments, and the spotlight of TV and constant magazine coverage. Without those incentives , there was little reason for riders to advance the sport. After […]
18: A NEW DIRECTION
A trio of riders from North Carolina refused to roll over for the wakeboarding juggernaut. Jonathan Macdonald and his brother David were joined by Billy Rossini in an effort to resurrect kneeboarding., The triumvirate of tricksters pushed kneeboarding into a new direction that was based on big air. Not the big air […]
17: SWITCHED STANCE
In 1992 The Budweiser Water Ski Pro Tour added kneeboarding and wakeboarding competitions. For the first time in several years, the kneeboarding event was not a Hydroslide exclusive, and all the best riders had a chance to participate. But even that couldn’t lure me out of retirement from competitive kneeboarding. Sea-Doo was the […]
16: THIN IS IN
Kneeboarding was on the Pro Tour as an exhibition competition from 1986-1991. I was there, but was not invited to compete. That’s because Hydroslide was the exclusive kneeboard sponsor, and I worked for HO. I took my turn on the water performing my hot dog slalom routine, but the kneeboarding was left […]
I started posting on Instagram in May, 2013 and it has been an amazing journey. My brand of skiing is visual, and people everywhere are responding to it.
In the days before the digital revolution and the widespread use of social media, the magazines and manufacturers were the main way to get noticed. Today they no […]
15: SCARED STRAIGHT
One of my scariest moments in skiing came during a ski show in Guayacil, Ecuador. Fabrizio Malnati invited the HO/Hyperlite team south of the equator to help promote his ski shop. The team consisted of Darin Shapiro, Bebe Anderson, and myself.
During one part of the show Darin and I both rode behind one […]
14: DIGITAL DRAMA
In the fall of 1989 I wanted to do one last sick kneeboard move for the record. My longtime photographer Rick Doyle was behind the lens to capture the action frame by frame. I was on home waters; the Parker Strip, so it only seemed right to go back to the move that […]
