Talented Swiss waterskier Alice Baumann training on Lake Zurich, August 1962.
Talented Swiss waterskier Alice Baumann training on Lake Zurich, August 1962. © Eric Bachmann

A balancing act on water

Alice Baumann was one of the world’s most successful waterskiers in the 1960s. Time for a look at some exhilarating photos from the pioneering age of water skiing.

Alexander Rechsteiner

Alexander Rechsteiner

Alexander Rechsteiner works at the PR department of the Swiss national museum and holds an M A in modern English literature and political science.

These photos, taken in the summer of 1962 on Lake Zurich by photographer Eric Bachmann, are truly spectacular. They show waterskier Alice Baumann training for the upcoming European Championships. Whether speeding around a curve, jumping in the air or balancing on one leg, it is clear that we are witnessing an elite athlete at work. Baumann was already a multiple Swiss waterskiing champion by that point. Although she failed to secure a podium place at the European Championships later that year, she went on to become European champion and two-time bronze medal winner at the 1963 World Championships. In 1964, she was the first ever non-American to win the All Star Open in San Diego. That was a major feat as waterskiing was and still is dominated by skiers from the United States.
Talented Swiss waterskier Alice Baumann training on Lake Zurich, August 1962.
Talented Swiss waterskier Alice Baumann training on Lake Zurich, August 1962. © Eric Bachmann
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Talented Swiss waterskier Alice Baumann training on Lake Zurich, August 1962.
Talented Swiss waterskier Alice Baumann training on Lake Zurich, August 1962. © Eric Bachmann
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Talented Swiss waterskier Alice Baumann training on Lake Zurich, August 1962.
Talented Swiss waterskier Alice Baumann training on Lake Zurich, August 1962. © Eric Bachmann
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Waterskiers Alice Baumann and Peter Schwaibold during a training session on Lake Zurich, August 1962.
Waterskiers Alice Baumann and Peter Schwaibold during a training session on Lake Zurich, August 1962. © Eric Bachmann
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Waterskiers Alice Baumann and Peter Schwaibold during a training session on Lake Zurich, August 1962.
Waterskiers Alice Baumann and Peter Schwaibold during a training session on Lake Zurich, August 1962. © Eric Bachmann
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Alice Baumann was a member of the waterskiing club in Cham, which was founded in 1947 and is one of the oldest and most successful waterskiing clubs in Switzerland. In a report by the club in Cham which accompanies Eric Bachmann’s photos, Baumann is described as “the brightest star of all our competitors”. Alice Baumann was not the only Swiss waterskier who achieved international fame, however. Genevan Marina Doria won four World Championship titles between 1955 and 1975. She later married Italian prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy and became Princess of Naples. For magazines and tourism adverts at the time, athletes such as Marina Doria and Alice Baumann were the perfect embodiment of nymph-like sportswomen gliding effortlessly over the water. Waterskiing was thus not only a popular amateur sport in the late 1950s and 1960s, but also offered women the opportunity to compete at a high level.
Alice Baumann demonstrating the ‘backward swan’, a move where the rope is hooked onto the foot and the water skier is pulled along backwards on one leg, 1962.
Alice Baumann demonstrating the ‘backward swan’, a move where the rope is hooked onto the foot and the water skier is pulled along backwards on one leg, 1962. © Eric Bachmann
A female waterskier used in advertising in a Texaco advertisement from 1948.
A female waterskier used in advertising in a Texaco advertisement from 1948. Pinterest
The sport originated just over a century ago in the United States. American Ralph Samuelson is considered the father of waterskiing. In 1922, he successfully skied across the waters of Lake Pepin in Lake City, Minnesota on water skis he had made himself. After some initial falls and failed attempts, Samuelson improved his technique and even gave shows for audiences, in which he performed jumps and glided across the surface of the water at 130 km/h (80mph), pulled along by a hydroplane. He never had his invention patented and was forced to give up the sport following an injury, but his home is still considered the ‘birthplace of waterskiing’.  Switzerland also played a part in the international development of the sport as the World Water Ski Union was set up in Geneva in 1946 with Swiss André Coutau as president.
Ralph Samuelson, the inventor of waterskiing, poses in front of a hydroplane with which he was pulled over the water, 1925.
Ralph Samuelson, the inventor of waterskiing, poses in front of a hydroplane with which he was pulled over the water, 1925. Minnesota Historical Society
Waterski formation in the 1950s.
Waterski formation in the 1950s. Wikimedia / Fortepan
Let’s return to Lake Zurich. In the heyday of waterskiing in the 1960s and 1970s, more and more waterskiing clubs cropped up, hotels offered the sport to guests as a leisure activity, and waterskiing acrobats were a familiar sight on Swiss lakes, including on Lake Zurich. Nowadays, traditional waterskis are less common. Those who have access to a motor boat can take their pick from waterskiing, wakeboarding or wakesurfing. Probably one of the main reasons behind the disappearance of waterskiing is the diverse range of recreational activities on the water that do not require a motor boat, such as  kitesurfing, stand-up paddle boarding, rafting, rowing, or the latest trend: foil surfing where you glide above the water on a surfboard with a hydrofoil mounted underneath.
The photos of Alice Baumann were taken by Swiss photographer Eric Bachmann (1940–2019). He realised numerous reports in Switzerland and internationally and photographed countless 20th century figures such as Muhammad Ali, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Bob Marley, Astrid Lindgren and many more. His archive is kept in Kaiserstuhl and part of it is accessible online at ericbachmann.ch.

Published on: 26.07.2023

Modified on: 17.08.2023

URL: https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2023/07/a-balancing-act-on-water/

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