Adventures in Water Skiing: Part 1, Hot Dogging

Tony Klarich, well known pioneer and innovator, recounts his journey to notoriety as the world’s premier hot dog water skier. From the Long Beach Marine Stadium to the Parker Strip of the Colorado River and beyond, Klarich achieved water skiing fame with the help of his uncle Mike Murphy and the promotions of Herb O’Brien. Includes scores of classic photos and video links.

Someone asked me why anyone would be interested in reading a book about me. After getting over some hurt feelings, and thinking hard about it for a couple of days, I came up with an answer that satisfied them---and me too! My “glory days” in water skiing corresponded with the explosion of watersports in the 1980s and 1990s, including the creation and rise of hot dogging, kneeboarding, wakeboarding, and hydrofoiling. I had a front row seat to the exciting development of each new sport as a pioneer and top competitor. I’ve already written hundreds of articles, and have a collection of thousands of photos and videos, so I was in a perfect position to document these sports! This book is autobiographical, especially Part 1: Hot Dogging. I sparingly used key childhood events off the water to help explain why I ended up being a skier who was always motivated to seek out the next challenge, do things never done in water skiing, and share my success to the world through performances. You will find that my personal story is also the story of these sports, how they developed, and how they relate to each other in the bigger picture (my life in kneeboarding, wakeboarding, and hydrofoiling is already in the works). The longer format of an e-book allowed me to dig deeper into the history than ever before. We are far enough away from the rise of these sports to get some perspective, but not so far to have lost touch with the innovative personalities directly responsible for creating these new ways to ride. The recent media developments have also allowed me to present Adventures in Water Skiing in a whole new way. In additions to the scores of photos, there are also dozens of links to even more related materials including magazine articles, timely websites, and classic videos. On a final note, it has been very important to me that this body of work can stand as a respected historical record for water skiing. I have worked extremely hard to get the facts straight, and tell each part of the story with as much research and insight as possible. I hope that future generations who read these words can find a source of credibility, insight, and of course, entertainment.

Tony Klarich has been a water skiing innovator for over 25 years. He has invented about 100 tricks on a slalom ski, sit down hydrofoil, kneeboard, and wakeboard. In competition Klarich has garnered 10 national and world titles. “The guy who can ski on anything” took to the water for his 40th birthday, completing 40 miles on 41 different devices while performing 275 different tricks. Guinness World Records declined to recognize the one-day feat saying it was, “a little too specialized for a body of reference as general as ours.” Undaunted, he plans to break his own record on his 50th birthday with 50 different items in one day, with one of the items being the Guinness book itself! As a 17-year member of the Screen Actors Guild he has appeared in numerous videos, TV commercials, and movies. He has also written over 300 feature and instructional articles for magazines worldwide. Klarich is the nephew of Mike Murphy (co-inventor of the kneeboard and sit down hydrofoil), and is the grandson of Mary Murphy (who skied to Catalina and back every year since turning 80). He is married with one son. PRODUCER / DIRECTOR • Producer: Flight Worlds (1996-2003) hydrofoiling world championships • Director: Hyperlite Wakeboards Amateur Tour 1996-97. Organized over 200 events, created “Tournament in a Box” template for grassroots wakeboard tournaments • Video Director/Videographer/Script: Hyperlite Boarding School 1 & 2 / Hyperlite Twin Tail Ride Guide, 1998 Flight Worlds, Flight Worlds 2000 WRITER / PUBLISHER • More than 300 articles published worldwide. Mostly water skiing instructional and feature stories in Water Ski Magazine, Wakeboarding Magazine, Trailer Boats, Flight World & numerous international publications. • Publisher: FLIGHT WORLD HYDROFOILING (1997-2001) • Author: Hot Dog Water Skiing TV & VIDEO Nabisco Better Cheddar, Stanley Tools, Michelob Dry, Juicyfruit Gum, Ford Trucks, Selsun Blue, TV Host of “On the Water” & Many More!