Water Skiing
We’re not sure, but we think this looks awfully like someone water-skiing in Wollochet Bay, right next to Tacoma Narrows Airport. What do you guys reckon?
Thanks to Ericson Canavan.
Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.
13 Responses to 'Water Skiing' 
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Could be wakeboarding
Or, it could be a jetski hitting the boat’s wake.
I’d agree w/ the mad friar.. Looks like a jetski riding/jumping the boat’s wake…
I Think that it is wakeboarding. That boat is really plowing the water to make a nice wake to do tricks off of.
Hmm…It looks like they’ve always maintained a position behind the boat and to the right of it. However, you can only pull yourself out to the side so far when skiing/wakeboarding/kneeboarding/chairboarding. But, it looks like they’ve stayed within that range during this picture.
Or it could be Jaws.
The boat is obviously going quite quickly, given the size of its wake. I think therefore that it is unlikely that a waterskier would generate a wake that would even really be visible from this altitude. Yet the wake of the smaller craft/object is fairly significant. In my opinion we’re looking at a jetski.
That is definitely a wakeboard. When the wakeboarder turns, the rider digs in hard to the water, creating a large wake. Jetskis are not small, they are def. bigger than people. We would be able to see the craft more clearly if it were a jetski. Also, the path left by the smaller object goes over the wake a few times.. def a wakeboarder. It’s really illegal to do that on a jetski.
This is definitely a waverunner (or whatever name-brand you prefer).
A) That boat is going too fast for a wakeboarder… look at the white-wash coming off the bow… only a boat going 30+ MPH would generate something like that
B) the waverunner is staying off to one side. If it were a wakeboarder, all the speed they generated from cutting into the wake to jump would cause them to go all the way to the OTHER side of the wake.. which definitely isn’t happening.
anyone who said this “is definitely a wakeboard” had definitely never wakeboarded.
Here’s a zoomed in shot from world wind. I don’t see any jetski… My money’s on a wakeboarder.
http://img219.echo.cx/img219/9365/huh3gh.jpg
One thing people may want to consider is the exposure time needed to take the picture. Granted, it isn’t a *long* time, but it may be enough for the long wake to be visible to the camera.
It also depends on the water. If the water was relatively calm (which it appears to be), you’ll see a longer wake.
These factors could also explain the fairly long trail for the object itself.
But, I would also agree with the fact that there is no visible “object”, so it is most likely a boarder of some type.
Its not a wakeboard. FINAL!
Long exposure time? If the exposure time was long enough to extend the wake, then the boat itself would be incredibly blurred. The fact that I’ve never seen any motion-blurred images on Google Maps, especially from planes, leads me to believe that they’re not captured with a long exposure time.
If you’ll zoom in until you’re about 150″ above the surface, you’ll see that the “object” has turned enough to be heading southwest away from the boat, a trick no wakeboarder is capable of. Jumping a boats wake with a wave runner isn’t illegal everywhere, (not that laws deter everyone)and this is without a doubt a wave runner.