By John Gregg Watsonville, CA. (August 28, 2008) — Two years ago Thelma Salmas announced her retirement from tournament water skiing.  That was to be expected after all she was 71 and over a long career had won enough trophies to sink most ships.

Well, after two years away from the sport she is back and guess what?  She still is great.  The 73-year-old water skier from West Palm Beach, Florida can still dazzle judges, and set records on the water.

The former chemist recently came back and won 4 more gold medals in Women’s 8 at the National Championships and now has a staggering total of 87 gold medals in the nationals and another 17 in world competition during a career that goes back to the Johnson Administration. 

Just so you don’t think that Thelma has set all these records on her own, her husband 83-year-old Jim Salmas, has skied on two world teams and has won 22 national titles and 16 national records.  At the Florida Water Ski Championships in July, Jim successfully slalomed around five buoys at 15 feet off while scoring 53 points in tricks in Men’s 10.

According to Thelma, it was a matter of logistics and the ability to traveling long distances that were the only reason she elected to give up tournament skiing two years ago.

“As you get older it is harder to travel.  Especially flying now with three sets of skis,” Thelma Salmas explained.  “One of the requirements to ski in the nationals is that you have to ski in the regionals.  The regionals were in North Georgia and the nationals were in Bakersfield [California].  Because we felt that we couldn’t make the two trips we didn’t make any.”

Part of the reason that the Salmas’ continue to compete at such a high level is based on the fact that if they go out there backdoor they are ready to get in the water.  However, in the beginning they were
both snow skiers. 

“We live on a lake here in Florida.  We ski three days a week and enjoy it thoroughly,” Thelma Salmas confided.  “I am originally from Massachusetts and I met and married Jim and became a snow skier and he taught me to snow ski.  I was a chemist and he was a metallurgical engineer and we moved from Massachusetts out to the Pacific Northwest but it turned out there was just too much snow and we ended up in Utah.  We were both racers as well as working and there was a reservoir there with a water ski club, so we got into the competitive part of water skiing. I skied in my first nationals in 1964.”

Making the transition from snow to water was a pretty easy choice because both Thelma and Jim loved to compete.

“In snow skiing we were weekend racers and we just couldn’t work and race at the level we thought we could be able to do because we couldn’t do it during the week,” Thelma explained.  “Water skiing takes a lot less time if you have the facilities available.  We could both work and water ski and we did that for many years.”

Over the course of her career Thelma has continued to win tournaments at a remarkable pace.  With her recent victory at the nationals, Salmas recorded her 24th overall title and it is the 12th time she has swept all four events.  Thelma is a four-time member of the U.S. Veteran Water Ski Team. She is a three-time recipient of the Correct Craft Ski Nautique award and competed in all three events in 40 national championships. Perhaps most amazing is that she has set 36 national records and currently holds records in Women 6, 7 and 8.  However, winning is not what motivates her on the water. 

“For women we don’t have to beat anybody.  That is a guy thing,” Thelma believes.  “For women it is more the performance, like can you go out and do what you can do and if you can do that and somebody beats you that’s the way things go.  I have tried to perform up to a certain level and I wasn’t suppose to win slalom, the woman who was suppose to beat me had a little bad luck.  So that was a bonus.  I was supposed to win tricks and I was the only jumper.  Jumping is the first thing that the women give up but that’s where my snow skiing carries over.  We still skied 50 days last winter.  Last year we skied in Maine and this year we will ski in California.  So the physical act of snow skiing carries over to water skiing.”

The span of history in which Thelma has competed and won at nationals is somewhat jaw dropping, especially when you consider she captured her first major crown 42 years ago.

“My first national title was in 1966 in Miami and I won jump.  The next year in 67’ in Austin, Texas I won overall and slalom and jump,” Thelma said.  “I swept all four events for the first time in 1982, then again in 92’ 93’ 94.”  I didn’t sweep them all in 1995, or 1996 but then I swept everything from 97’ to 2001.”

At a time when most people are easing up, Thelma and her husband continue to enjoy being on the water and still have fun being able to get out on the lake.

“I can enjoy it whether I am in competition or not.  Just to go out there and get wet on a hot day and the physical act of doing it.  I am a person that needs a lot of physical activity and so does my husband,” Thelma confided.  “It is something we enjoy doing together.  One drives and the other one ski’s, so it is our way of life.  It is far past just being a casual pastime.” 

Some things remain constant in this life and for both Thelma and Jim Salmas that means that they continue to carve rooster tails in the South Florida sunshine.