Zambia World Wide

Most of the unusual acts we developed ourselves, one of these we called “Handstand Topside”, Laurie and I wore belts with D rings fitted, which we would connect our ropes to. Jan had no ski rope, she would come out of the water with one foot on my left ski and one foot on Laurie’s right ski. Once out of the water Laurie and I would connect our ropes to the belts, leaving our arms free. Jan supported herself by putting one arm on each of our ropes, and then lift her legs onto our shoulders. We would then lift her legs up into the handstand position, which she would hold for the length of the course without losing her balance. Another act that she was involved in with Ron was “Handstand on Disc”, this called for good balance by both of them. When they were pulled out of the water, Ron was kneeling and Jan was laying down lengthways holding onto the front edge of the disc. Once on the surface, Ron stood up and Jan worked her way to the front of the disc. Once in position she kicked up into the handstand position where she was then supported by Ron.

Some of the acts were comedy acts, one of which was to have a drunk stagger from the bar down to the ski jetty, shouting abuse all the way. Then ski-ing off and wobbling all over the place. Another comedy act was a bath filled with bubbles towed behind a boat with a man and a woman having a bath together. Another of the comedy acts was a bicycle on a ski with the cyclist pedalling furiously pulled behind a boat, the ski was hard to spot from the shore. One of the best remembered acts for us was the “Family Pyramid”, not because pyramids were unusual but this time Laurie, Sandra and their son Geoffrey formed one pyramid and Jan, myself and Gary formed the second pyramid. The two lads were a little worried to start with “they were only seven”, we assured them that they would come to no harm. We practiced on land until they felt more confident, then started practice on the water. Their confidence did ebb a little when they saw the skis’ cutting through the water. We had worked out a safe way for them to come out of the water, they would stand on the front of their mothers skis’, once on the surface, Laurie and I had a free hand and lifted them onto our shoulders. Once they were up our two wives passed them their ski ropes and they were on their own. It probably was a little worrying for them as we were travelling at 25mph across the water, but they pulled it off. As far as I’m aware this was the only time a two family pyramid had been performed in Zambia. When the boys dropped off in front of the clubhouse, where most of the spectators were. They received so much applause and had to shake hands with so many people, I am surprised their arms didn’t fall off. I am sure the welcome they received made up for the worry and practice they had put in over the past few weeks.

There were many acts, I will mention some but to write about all would take forever. Pete had always been keen on the disc, we had watched a film taken at Cyprus Gardens of an act which he felt he could improve. He painted one side of the disc and sprinkled sand over the wet paint, to get more grip. The idea was that he would take a chair with him and once on the surface, place the chair and then stand on it. He practiced quite hard and finally his efforts paid off, not only could he stand on the chair but also turn in circles. The boat drivers played a very important part in the show, most of the acts required a very steady and correct speed which the drivers would have to maintain, the speed also varied constantly as the acts changed. Generally there would be a co-driver in the boats who would monitor the position of the skis’ and watch for hand signals from the skiers, the co-driver would constantly update the driver with any information he needed to know. Some of the acts needed a quick release mechanism between the boat and skiers as in the case of the “Handstand topside”, Laurie and I were held by the ropes and could not let go if anything went wrong. It was the job of the co-driver to watch and if things went wrong release us from the boat. Every year the number of spectators increased, they came from all over Zambia. Many camped overnight, if they had to travel a long way, within a short time of the show starting there would be a holiday atmosphere. At lunchtime and after the show we had boat rides for the children, which were a great success, many had never seen a high powered boat and the chance to ride in one was exciting for most. We then started to get complaints from some of the spectators who wanted to know why we didn’t offer rides to the adults also. Ah Well! Why not, so we gave rides for the adults also. We made no charge for the boat rides, the pleasure we received from seeing the look on the children’s faces was enough. At the end of the day there was so much clearing up to do, we generally left it to the following morning. It had been a good day and given a lot of pleasure too many people, we also enjoyed the day although it was hard work, and the day of the show was the conclusion to weeks of work and fun until next year when we would start again.