The sport of towing a rider on a water planing device behind a boat is well known. The types of devices may generally be divided into the categories of water skis and water planes or aquaplanes. In the categories of water skis the advantages of control and versatility are available. However, water skiing requires a development of sufficient strength to hold onto a tow rope while maintaining the skis in a parallel relationship and standing erect while doing both. This makes waterskiing a difficult and often frustrating sport for the beginner, requiring the simultaneous development of arm strength, leg strength and balance.
Water planes are generally a single flat, wide board on which the rider stands. In some versions, for example the water sports vehicle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,328 of Smith, the problem of direct force on the rider from the tow rope is alleviated by connecting the tow rope to the front of the vehicle and having a handle extending from the front for the rider to hold for stability without requiring a great deal of upper body strength. Typically, however the water planing devices fail to provide as much control as is available with water skis, requiring considerable skill to negotiate turns while remaining erect.
Several devices have been disclosed which are hybrids between the two aforementioned categories including the aquaplane of U.S. Pat. No. 2,841,805 issued to Roudebush and the U-shaped water ski described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,585,664 of Thompson. These devices primarily take parallel skis and join them by a rigid or semirigid crossbar at their front, thereby maintaining the skis in a permanent parallel relationship. Similar to water skis, these hybrid devices require a relatively high minimum speed to prevent the rider from sinking, further requiring a substantial amount of resistance to be overcome, thus considerable leg strength and balance, in order to initiate planing. Further, because of the fixed location of the tow rope attachment at the front of the device, the only possible means to adjust for different riders is variation of the length of the rope extension from the front of the device to the handles onto which the rider holds. No adjustment is provided for either the rider's weight or skill level, or for allowing the device to plane at different speeds.
It would be desirable to provide a water ski board for towing behind a boat or the like which may be used by beginners or accomplished skiers, by providing the stability needed by beginners as well as adjustability for speed and skill level for increasing the challenge and controllability for advanced skiers. It is to such a device that the present invention is directed.