About Us

In the international sporting arena the UK excels at the sport of waterskiing.  In 2010 British water-skiers won 106 world and European medals. 

History

In the 1950’s one of the first centres for waterskiing in the UK opened at Ruislip Lido. The Ruislip and Rickmansworth clubs were affiliated and in the 1960’s the British team would train at both the Lido and Batchworth Lake during the summer months and then exclusively at Batchworth during the winter when the Lido was closed to boating.

David Nations OBE "father of British Waterskiing" was one of the founders of Rickmansworth Water ski Club.  He was also the instigator of the British Water Ski Federation.

In 1967 David & Elaine Nations welcomed Lord and Lady Wakefiled to Rickmansworth Water SKi Club for the 4th Winter Water Ski Championships which was attended by some 4,000 spectators.   Overall winner was double gold medalist and world champion Jeannette Stewart-Wood. (Press coverage).

Rickmansworth hosted the Water Ski Championships again in 1968. It was competition time again when Rickmansworth hosted Wheelers Winter Tournament on 16 March 1969.

Our thanks go to Mike Allington for his contributions to our archive.

Today

The tradition of waterskiing at Batchworth Lake has continued to this very day.

Rickmansworth Water Ski Club is a non profit making organisation and is run entirely by the members for the members. Day to day administration is delegated to a Committee. However, all members are expected to muck in and help out where possible and once or twice a year, members may be asked to attend a work party to complete a specific project. All this helps to keep our running costs down to a minimum.

Safety

All our boat drivers are experienced members and are qualified to the standards required by British Water Ski (the sport's governing body).

We also comply with British Water Ski's policy on Child Protection and, as part of that program, all our drivers and coaches are checked in the appropriate manner. For further information on our Child Protection policy, visit the British Water Ski site.