Adaptive
Adaptive
Adaptive water skiing offers thrilling adventures for individuals with physical disabilities. Using specialized equipment, athletes perform exciting maneuvers and compete in high-energy events, transforming limitations into empowering challenges.
Program
Our mission to provide opportunities for towed water sports enthusiasts of all levels to get involved in adaptive waterskiing through clinics, recreational events, and competitive tournaments. Water skiing has been adapted so that physically disabled athletes can participate and compete. Tournaments offer slalom, tricks and jumping events for vision impaired individuals (blind or partially sighted), multiplegics (paraplegics and quadriplegics), leg amputees (above and below knee), arm amputees and athletes with both arm and leg disabilities. The skiers in the latter three categories compete with the same water ski equipment used by able-bodied athletes and have the option of using a prosthesis.cs and athletes with both arm and leg disabilities.
Adaptive Events Bulletins
BULLETIN 1 & 2 NOW AVAILABLE FOR THE 2023 IWWF WORLD DISABLED WATER SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS |
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The 2023 IWWF World Disabled Water Ski Championships will be held at Shortline Lake, Elk Grove CA (USA). on September 14-17th. This 3-event site offers ideal skiing conditions and excellent accessibility for everyone. The lake is 2400 ft. (730 m) in length with turn-around islands at both ends. For Bulletin 1 CLICK HERE |
Training Camp |
| TSchacres Lake Lacombe, Alberta July 3-7, 2023 |
Canadian National Championships |
| Shalom Park Edmonton, Alberta August 8-13, 2023 |
Worlds Training Camp |
| Location TBD Pleasant Grove, California September 4-8, 2023 |
2023 IWWF Disable World Championships |
| Shortline Lake Elk Grove, California September 11-17, 2023 |
Disciplines
Slalom
In the slalom event, skiers navigate six buoys on a 259-meter course. Each successful run increases boat speed by 3 kph until reaching 55 kph for women and 58 kph for men. Then, the skier’s 18.25-meter rope is shortened incrementally. Skiers continue until they fall or miss a buoy.
Trick Skiing
The tricks event, also known as figures or shortboard, is the most technical event. Beginners use two short skis, while advanced athletes use one flat-bottomed ski. Skiers perform various tricks on the surface or in the air during two 20-second passes, with each trick scored once. Tricks can be done with the handle in hand or using a toehold. The highest point total wins.
Jumping
In the jump event, the skier skis over a ramp and tries to go the farthest possible in the air and ski away. There are no style points. Just pop off of the ramp and fly! Each athlete has three attempts to jump as far as they can. The ramp is 14 feet wide by 22 feet long. The height of the ramp can be set at 1.25m (4’), 1.5m (5’), or 1.65m (5.5’) and is selected by the skier.
Categories
Seated
Those unable to stand to ski use a sit ski. Sit skis are longer and wider than able bodied skis and include a metal seating frame (aka a cage). A narrower slalom course is an option for those whose disability is greater such as those with quadriplegia and athletes with both arm and leg disabilities.
Standing
Standing athletes use the same equipment as able bodied skiers and may choose to ski with or without prosthesis.
Vision Impaired
Those with vision impairment also use able bodied equipment; however they’re guided by another skier in the jumping event (guide cannot go over the ramp) and use audible signals instead of buoys in the slalom course. The skier turns at the sound of a tone rather than turning around a buoy. The tone is produced by the Audio Slalom Signal Generator (ASSG). The ASSG measures the angle of the rope in relation to the boat path and sounds a tone when the skier has pulled far enough to the outside to simulate a turn around a buoy.