Indefatigable, enthusiastic, and totally devoted to the cause of promoting water skiing, particularly in cold water countries such as his own Great Britain, David Nations was an indispensable element in the development of the sport for thirty-five years.

 

The lone British skier in the first World Championships in 1949, David competed for another ten years, winning British titles and setting records, before turning his full attention to training and organization. He was a founder of the British Water Ski Federation as well as federations in Ireland, Israel and the Caribbean. He trained skiers from all over Europe at his home course in Ruislip and travelled to teach others in such remote areas as Russia and China.

 

Although he was an international judge and briefly a member of the World Technical Committee, his enthusiasm and expertise was perhaps less appreciated by the water skiing establishment than by the competitors whom he loved and supported. His award of the Order of the British Empire in 1975 was proof, in his mind, that water skiing had arrived as a serious sport and that he had helped to get it there.

 

I am pleased to announce the induction into the International Hall of Fame of one of water skiing's most enthusiastic and effective proponents: David Nations.