Summer water-skiing

Lake Winnipesaukee is a playground, and each summer the fun includes tubing, wakeboarding and, the newest water sport, wake surfing. But a half-century ago, when the lake was just beginning to be seen as a destination for fun in the sun, a different sport was king: waterskiing.

Some people still waterski today, of course, but in the 1950s and ’60s, the sport dominated Lake Winnipesaukee, and some of the region’s other water bodies, too. There were even water-ski teams that competed on the lake and put on demonstrations to wow spectators.

Lynda LaFlamme remembers that era fondly. Her father, Albert, owned LaFlamme’s Bakery, and after he got out of work every afternoon, he’d take the boat out and pull the kids for the rest of the day.

“It became a family thing; we came from a very small community, we started our own water ski club, the Prescott Bay View Club. First of all, it was competition – my family thrived on competition,” LaFlamme said. “It was a fun time in our lives, it was a memorable time, because all these years later we’re still talking about it.”

LaFlamme lives in Florida now, but her waterskiing days aren’t just a memory. Her son and daughter-in-law have a home on Lake Opechee, and they’ve kept the waterskiing tradition alive.

“I can still get up and ski, and every once in a while I can still one-ski,” LaFlamme said.

Gretchen Shortway, who grew up in Gilford, was part of the storied ski team sponsored by Goodhue’s Boatyard.

“I must have had around 50 trophies,” she said. As a kid, all of her friends’ families had boats, and they all waterskied. Shortway, a wiry girl, was stubborn on skis. “I never wanted to fall, so I held on for dear life,” and her tenacity was noticed by Tup Goodhue, whose father owned a boatyard in the Glendale section of Gilford.

Tup asked Shortway to join his ski team, which already featured Brad Thompson. The team put on weekend shows off Weirs Beach, and they featured stunts such as Shortway riding atop a human pyramid of other skiers. They also competed in relay and distance races. A 50-mile waterski race, said Shortway, would take a week for her body to recover from, but she didn’t worry about that until she reached the finish line.

“You don’t think of it when you’re doing it, your mind is on the course, your mind is on finishing,” Shortway said.

But those long-distance races could be harder on the boat driver than the skier, Goodhue said. He built a 19-foot Hydrodyne – which his father was about to send to the scrapyard – into a ski boat. He had to refiberglass the hull, and he scavenged a pair of Mercury six-cylinder engines off a work barge to power it. In those days, most fuel tanks were flat on the bottom, and toward the end of a long race and if the water was choppy, the pumps could suck in air, causing the boat to stall. So, with help from his father and the yard foreman, Goodhue found two beer kegs and installed them as round-bottomed gas tanks.

Those came in handy for his father’s 60th birthday, when he commissioned a 60-mile race – held over a weekend on Winnipesaukee – that took skiers from one corner of the lake to another, then back to the start. The Saturday portion of the race went fine, but on Sunday the lake was so rough that Goodhue eased the throttle back as much he could while still keeping Thompson on top of the water. Then, near Rattlesnake Island, a wave crested over the bow.

“It washed me right out of my seat, and I still had the steering wheel in my hands,” Goodhue recalled.

He scrambled back to the cockpit and shoved the wheel back on its spindle and was able to finish the race. A few days later and still sore, his dad urged him to visit the doctor.

“I had three broken ribs. I didn’t even know it.”

Waterskiing today

Waterskiers might be harder to find today on Winnipesaukee, but they’re there if you know where to look.

Becky Bartlett is the president of the Abenaki Waterski Club, which practices and competes on the still waters of Wolfeboro’s Back Bay. The all-ages, all-abilities club has about 50 members, she said, including people who live in the area year-round and people who come up for just a week.

Bartlett understands the attractions of other water sports, but says there’s a special draw for waterskiing.

“I personally just love the feeling of going around the buoys, seeing how well you can do,” she said. Then there are the jumps. Abenaki has jumps that are usually five feet high and, depending on the skill of the jumper and the speed of the boat, can launch a skier airborne for up to 100 feet. “Oh my gosh, when you hit that ramp and you’re flying through the air, it’s so much fun,” she said.

Want to see what competitive water skiing looks like? The Abenaki Waterski Club is hosting slalom, jump and trick competitions on June 22, July 20-21 and Aug. 17.

Waterskiing is like riding a bike, Bartlett said. Once you’ve learned how, you’ll have that skill whenever the conditions are just right. The Abenaki Waterski Club has certified instructors who would be happy to introduce people to the sport that once held court.

“If you’re looking to take it to the next level, we are definitely there. But we also have people in our club who teach lessons,” Bartlett said. “Anyone can be part of it.”

For more information, email abenakiskiclub@gmail.com.