4: TUNNEL BOARD
I made my first video appearance at 10 years old on another one of the early kneeboards. Tunnel Board was founded by my uncle Mike and Andy Remy. The gas crunch was over, and with that Mike and Andy opened two businesses at the same time in 1976. The first was Murphy’s Water […]
3: GLIDE SLIDE
In the early days of Knee Ski, Hulst asked Murphy to find another water skier to help with promotions. Murphy chose fellow skier John Taylor who was ready to go to work right away.6 But bringing John on board was jumping the gun. Murphy was still at work shaping the original test boards […]
1: THE HISTORY OF THE KNEEBOARD
Kneeboarding has had a rocky road on its way to becoming one of the mainstays of the water ski industry. 2013 marks 40 years as a commercially produced product. That’s been enough time for the kneeboard to grow from a fad in the 1970s, to public darling of the 1980s, […]
A TURNING POINT – THE JOKER’S WILD
The UPS truck pulls to my house with a special delivery from HO Sports. I have been waiting for months, and I tear into the large box with great anticipation. A swash of primary colors covered in plastic emerges from the cardboard cradle. I’m ecstatic to see my new […]
Table of Contents, Preface, Acknowledgements & Photographers
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A TURNING POINT – THE JOKER’S WILD – A vision quest with Herb O’Brien.
1: THE HISTORY OF THE KNEEBOARD – Waves, discs, and dreams.
2: KNEE SKI – The first production kneeboard by Mike Murphy and Bud Hulst.
3: GLIDE SLIDE – John Taylor creates the modern day plastic and foam filled board.
4: […]
Recently retired watersports “superdealer” Tommy Phillips has been given a higher calling to create the Wakeboarding Hall of Fame (WHOF). People everywhere are sharing photos and stories from the early days. Along the way Tommy has contacted many key people around the world to help him turn his vision into a reality.
The Wakeboarding Hall of […]
Jump! Let your feet fly back in an act of faith. Tug on the handle to ride it out. It’s commonly known as an Air Raley, but the generic term for this gravity-defying trick is the Layout. Versions of it have been performed for decades on just about everything. Here’s an inside look at the […]
Like any good story, book, or movie, your run on the water can have an entertaining start, middle, and end. My years as a show skier and long-time exhibitionist have taught me to squeeze every moment out of each run.
Today’s tip is how to bring some attention to your last splash. Most riders end their […]
Because I have skied on so many different things people often ask, “What is your favorite ride?”
So here’s the answer, and 9 more of my all-time favorites:
1. Sit-Down Hydrofoil: AKA Air Chair, Sky Ski, Next Foil.
My uncle Mike Murphy was the co-inventor of the original Air Chair in 1989, so the sit-down foil has been […]
Lately I’ve been thinking about all the ways to get towed while water skiing.
Of course we have the standards – boat, personal watercraft, cable, and winch. But with the recent viral video of World Champion barefooter Keith St Onge getting towed by a seaplane, my creative thoughts have moved towards how many different rides there […]
