Water Ski Binding Release Characteristics in Forward Lean

To reduce the risk of injury, waterski bindings should secure the foot to the ski when the likelihood of lower leg injury is low (retention) and free the foot when the likelihood of injury is high (release). Unlike snow skiing, there are no standards dictating the release of waterski bindings. Testing was completed to determine release torques in forward lean of three commercially available waterski boot-binding systems. Each binding was mounted to a 66-inch waterski and the boot was fitted on a lower leg surrogate with a torque transducer. A forward-lean bending moment was applied quasi-statically about the transverse axis of the ski until the binding released the boot. For the three boot-binding systems, the range of release torques were 126 to 219, 50 Nm to 141, and 63 to 127 Nm.