Internet Ski Update
By Terry Jones

It has been over a year since the original articles on accessing water
ski information using the internet. The internet is a changing entity
and many things have changed since that article. Here is a brief
rundown of some of the changes.

At that time there were only a couple of World Wide Web (WWW) sites
with water ski information. Since then, numerous new WWW sites have
sprung up all over the world. The two original sites were the US site
and the Canadian site, but now there are a large number of
clubs,individuals, and retailers that have WWW pages devoted to water
skiing.The original sites are still the best starting points in your
search for information. Their content has grown considerably over the
year. For example, on the Canadian site, OWSA has started providing
back issues of this publication. It's a real trip down memory lane to
look through the "history of water skiing" as seen through the Ontario
Water Skier! Other new additions are tournament and event schedules,
site maps to Ontario tournament sites and more personal ski pictures.
Also on the Canadian site is the 1995/1996 Official Rule Book for
classic events, provided by Water Ski Canada. This is a great reference
for traditional three-event skiers.The Canadian WWW site also has a
section for water ski related software available for download. You can
download scoring programs to help manage your tournament paperwork!
There are also dozens of new pointers to other water ski related WWW
sites. For example, you might want to visit a number of the WWW sites
related to boat manufacturers such as Correct Craft, Tige or Malibu
boats and see what they have to offer for 1996. There are also a number
of boat dealers that have started WWW sites to help serve their
customer.

It isn't just boat manufacturers and dealers that have started using
the WWW. Retail ski shops have also jumped on the internet. Overtons
and Ski Limited are two well-known mail order water ski retailers that
are now doing business using the WWW. You can browse their electronic
catalogs or even order using the WWW. There are also a number of
smaller shops that are doing business on the WWW.  Locally, Water Skis
Etc, McClintock's and Bond Lake all have small ads on the Canadian
site. Others, like Waterline, will have their own WWW pages in the near
future.  Tommy's Slalom Shop is a notable US shop in that Tommy himself
is a very active water skier in the water ski newsgroup, posting useful
information and answering many water ski related questions that get
posted to the newsgroup. Links to all of these are available from the
Canadian site.

On the club front, there are quite a number of clubs that now offer
information on the WWW.  The most notable Canadian entry is Alberta's
Wizard Water Ski Club
(http://gpu.srv.ualberta.ca/~kelder/GET.WET.html). 
These local club WWW sites are great sources of local information.

Many internet service providers allow their customers to create their
own personal WWW home page. A number of water skiers have created water
ski related personal home pages. These often contain local information
about water skiing near them as well as some interesting water ski
pictures and other water ski related links.

Of course the water ski newsgroup is still alive and well and the
number of "threads" has grown considerably.  A year ago you could
easily keep up with reading every article posted to the newsgroup. Now
you might have to choose a topic of interest, and may still have
trouble keeping up!

So next time you are browsing the WWW, stop in and visit! If you need
more information, or want to provide information for the Canadian
site,contact me!

Terry Jones 
(416) 267-9325 
terry.jones@utoronto.ca

Editor's note:  The International Water Ski Federation also has a home
page which contains the IWSF rule book, current standings lists, rules
addendum and tournament results.  The page is updated frequently.

WWW PAGE ADDRESSES

Canadian Water Ski WWW site:
http://www.utoronto.ca/ski/water

US site at:
http://waterski.net

International Water Ski Federation at:
http://members.aol.com/IWSF/iwsf.htm