JIM “PAPPY” MOORE: Skiing – Water and Snow

By Jim “Pappy” Moore

I learned to water ski when I was eighteen. My friend Ronnie McMullen had bought a small speed boat with a huge engine. The boat was a two-seater. It was only about ten feet long, so it was tiny compared to other boats. He convinced me to try water skiing. Now, Ronnie Mac was a large man, with great girth. He did not have a water-skiing body is what I’m saying. But he knew I was a lean, mean, fighting machine without an ounce of fat on my body. He knew I would take to it like a duck to water, and turned out he was right.

We were on Lake Sam Rayburn on a sunny day in May of 1968. I was soon going into the military, and getting in new adventures was on my list of things to do. When Ronnie Mac proposed that I try water skiing, I said “sure, why not?” 

Ronnie Mac had a pair of skis. He told me to get into the water behind the boat, then he put the skis into the water behind the boat. He coached me on getting the skis on, then threw me the rope. He told me how to crouch down so that I could pull myself UP when he took off. To my amazement, it all came off without a hitch. I got right up on the first try, and off we went.

I skied the entire length of Lake Sam Rayburn. It took about an hour. To my delight, everything went well, and it was the kind of thrill I loved having. I was sold on water skiing. 

Over the years, I would water ski whenever the opportunity presented itself. I continued doing so until my late forties. 

In my twenties, I got interested in snow skiing, but I didn’t have the money for that until I was a year out of law school at age 29. My first skiing trip was in late 1978. Getting down the mountain turned out to be a lot harder than getting UP on water skis. I got some ski lessons and soon began to master the process. But I did continue to take some hard falls. Why would I do it? Because as I told people back then “snow skiing is the most fun I’ve ever had with all my clothes on!”

Throughout my thirties and into my late forties I would continue to go snow skiing and got very good at it. Still, I would have some spectacular wipeouts when barreling down the mountain. It was not unusual for my skis to be behind me fifty yards or so when I finally stopped rolling. Not to worry. I was durable. My body could take it. Then my late forties came. Suddenly, I was not nearly so ready to give up my body. The aches later suggested I should temper my speed and ski with more caution. Of course, snow skiing was much harder on the body than water skiing is.

I continued water skiing until my late forties. I had a deal I offered to friends who owned a big ski boat and liked to go out a lot. I would pay for all the gasoline if he would provide his boat. 

In my mid-forties my son was in middle school/high school. He wanted to boogie board, which consists of getting on a beach area, kneeling on the boogie board, then using a strap to wrap around your thighs above the knees, holding you fast to the boogie board. Then hold the ski rope as the boat made a fast take-off and off you went.  Either you got UP or you got wiped out in a hurry. It is not for the faint of heart. My old, departed friend, Buster Cole, was the guy with the boat, and he was good at getting us up on the boogie board. My son and I would take turns on the San Jacinto River feeding into Lake Houston. We would boogie board great lengths, jumping waves to add more fun to it.

Oh, those were the days! 

Well, my skiing days are behind me. Now I take care not to bump into a door jam on the way through the door. My body speaks to me and it says to me “be careful, don’t take a fall!” Life has a way of teaching us how to accept the change in our bodies as we age. But oh, the memories of water skiing and snow skiing! I would not change one minute of it!

Copyright 2024, Jim “Pappy” Moore. All rights reserved.