him by motor boat he tried first with skis made of barrel staves then with snow skis

then with skis he made out of pine boards 2.4 meters long. This type of water skiing

is called slalom skiing. Winding through a course on a single water ski. One foot behind

the other in boots mounted to the ski. The core of this top of the line slalom skis is

high density PVC foam. Exceptionally strong, yet light weight. A computer guided machine

cuts the ski shape. Then pockets to receive various components. Workers flip the core

upside down and the machine shapes the bottom. Workers then turn the core right side up again.

And fill the pockets with glue. They insert an alignment tab in the tale pocket, to help

correctly position the core in the mold. They install fiberglass neon blocks. These will

anchor for mounting the skis boots and the fin. Now they begin building up the water

ski with multiple layers of carbon fiber. An ultra strong fabric. They apply the first

layer to the bottom. Wrapping it around to the top. This will prevent the ski from twisting.

After stapling down the carbon fiber and trimming off the excess they saturate it with resin

and apply carbon fiber to the top of the ski. Depending on the model and the performance

specification they wrap the core in up to seven layers of carbon fiber controlling the

flex and additional areas along the way with additional patches. Then they top the ski

with woven synthetic fabric, to prime the surface for the decorative graphics. On the

bottom of the ski they apply a sheet of super light weight polymer. It creates a white background

to highlight the sheet of decorative graphics. They coat it with a special resign which cures

into a hard hydro dynamic surface, that increases the skis speed. The graphic design that is

on the top of the ski is printed on nylon. They mount it to the top part of the ski shape

mold. Then lay the wrapped core into the bottom part. A heated press closes the mold. Compressing

the contents under high pressure for nine minutes. This bonds the layers which forms

contours in the ski and adheres the graphics. The pressure squeezes out excess resin along

the perimeter. So once they remove the ski from the mold they cut of the excess with

a band saw. Then with a custom made router bit they precision trim to exact specifications.

Next, a three faze filling of the skis edge. First with a large file, then a small file,

then a razor blade or medium grip sand paper. Then with the help of a template they drill

18 reinforced holes into the ski. They screw a threaded insert into the whole and it locks

into the block. There are more inserts than required this gives the skier different positioning

options. Now the last edge sanding with fine grit paper. After wiping the ski down with

an alcohol cleaner they install the final but most important component, the fin. Its

made of aluminum which is chemically treated to be ultra resistant and anti corrosion.

The fins position critically effects the skis traction and stability so the use a micrometer

to measure to the millimeter. Securing the fin in with in the design engineers specifications.

Non the less competitive water skiers adjust the fin to their own preferences. In hopes

of leaving competitors in their wake.