Pool for practicing and enjoying water-skiing

A pool for simulating water-skiing includes a pool body, a pumping plant which pumps water into the pool body as a stream just under the surface of the water in the pool body, a track supported above the periphery of the pool body, an automatic traveling member engaged with the track and capable of automatically traveling along the track, and a tow rope having one end attached to the traveling member. To practice standing up on water skis at the beginning of water-skiing, the traveling member is made to move along the track thereby pulling the skier from a remote position, for example, to a position in the stream of water injected into the pool. If kept at this position the skier can practice skiing with little difficulty. To simulate slaloming, the automatic traveling member can be controlled to travel back and forth along the track so that the skier's position relative to the stream of injected water is varied.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a pool for practicing and enjoying 
water-skiing. 
A prior art pool for practicing water-skiing is disclosed in Japanese 
Patent Publication No. 49-38540. 
This prior art pool includes a device for making a fast stream beneath 
stationary water-skis so that water-skiing in which a skier skis on still 
water or gently flowing water as pulled by a motor boat at a high speed 
can be simulated. 
The device comprises a tank and a pumping plant. The pumping plant draws 
out liquid from a part of the tank and delivers the liquid through holes 
to form an upward stream flowing against the liquid surface and also 
delivers the liquid to nozzles to form a horizontal stream flowing along 
the liquid surface. In an actual practice, when a skier grasps one end of 
a rope of which the other end is fixed to a part of the tank and keeps his 
or her skis on the flowing liquid, the skier is maintained stationary on 
the surface of the flowing liquid, which looks as if the skier is actually 
water-skiing. 
However, in the above device, the skier cannot practice standing up to 
begin water-skiing because one end of the rope is fixed to the tank and 
the skier is kept in nearly one position. Further, the skier cannot enjoy 
slaloming. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of the present invention is to provide a pool for practicing and 
enjoying water-skiing in which an end of a tow rope is connected to an 
automatic traveling member the movement of which is controllable so that 
the skier can practice slaloming and standing up on his or her skis. 
In order to achieve the above object, a pool for practicing and enjoying 
water-skiing according to the present invention comprises a pool body and 
a pumping plant. Water is sucked from the pool body or supplied from other 
water sources and is injected out horizontally along the water surface to 
form a stream beneath the water surface. The water is injected out as a 
stream having a predetermined width and a predetermined speed. A track 
extends above the periphery of the pool body at a predetermined height and 
is engaged with an automatic traveling member. The automatic traveling 
member is provided with a tow rope the free end of which is formed as a 
handle. The movement and speed of the automatic traveling member is 
controllable. 
During use the automatic traveling member travels to a position above a 
water injecting port so that a skier can practice standing up prior to 
water-skiing. Further, when the automatic traveling member stops at the 
position above the water injecting port, the skier can enjoy skiing in 
which there is little variety in the skier's position and normal skiing in 
a stationary position. Furthermore, when the automatic traveling member 
travels leftward and rightward, the skier can enjoy slaloming in which the 
towing direction against the stream varies.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described 
referring to the accompanying drawings. 
A pool for practicing and enjoying water-skiing according to the present 
invention comprises a pool body 1, a pumping plant 2, a track 3 and an 
automatic traveling member 4. 
The pumping plant 2 is connected to the pool body 1 via a pipe line so that 
water is sucked from the pool 1 and is delivered to an injection port 5 
from which the water is injected out horizontally as a stream having a 
predetermined width. The pumping plant 2 can preferably control the speed 
at which the water is injected by changing the speed gradually or with 
some steps under a previously established program. The injection port 5 is 
in the form of a rectangular nozzle having a parallel slit or a parallel 
nozzle defining injection holes. 
A track 3 is a monorail having an I-shaped cross section and extending 
above periphery of the pool body 1. The track 3 is supported on posts 6 of 
about 1-1.5 m in length which are spaced along periphery of the pool body 
1 at predetermined intervals. The track 3 may be formed by two rails or by 
a wire rope having a circular cross section. Any substitutes for the track 
3 are acceptable so long as the track can guide the automatic traveling 
member 4 which will be described in the following paragraphs. 
The automatic traveling member 4 includes rolling elements 7 arranged at an 
upper portion and at both sides of the track 3. A driving force of a 
reciprocally rotatable motor 8 is transmitted to the rolling elements 7. 
An end of a tow rope 9 is fixed to the automatic traveling member 4 at a 
side thereof nearest to the pool body 1. Wiring to control the 
reciprocally rotatable motor 8 (not shown in the drawings) is provided 
inside of the tow rope 9 and control buttons 11 are arranged on a handle 
10 at the free end of the tow rope 9. The reciprocally rotatable motor 8 
may be controlled by a previously established program instead of being 
controlled by the skier. 
The following is a preferable way of using the above-described pool for 
practicing and enjoying water-skiing. In the first place, the automatic 
traveling member 4 is placed at either end of the track 3, for example, at 
the upper end in the FIG. 1, which the tow rope 9 is left free in the pool 
body 1. 
A skier wearing a set of skis grasps the handle 10 at the end of the tow 
rope 9. The skier operates a control button 11 which causes the automatic 
traveling member to travel to the right to a position just above the 
injection port 5. Therefore, the skier enters the stream so as to be able 
to practice standing up at the beginning of water-skiing, skiing in which 
there is little variety in the skier's position and normal skiing in a 
stationary position. Further, when the control buttons 11 on the handle 10 
are operated so that the automatic traveling member 4 travels leftward and 
rightward, the skier can enjoy slaloming in which the towing direction 
against the stream varies.