Used to live on Abu Dhabi island (Middle East) when I was a young 'un. Has a speed boat then, and I was water skiing and knee-boarding when I was 6/7 yrs old and mono-skiing at about 11 years.

Last tried mono-skiing 2 years ago and I've still got it!
Could only manage about 6 minutes though - was properly knackered. Outta practice.

Once tried it in the UK on one of those cable systems. Real hard and it was cold and when I feel off half way round I had to swim/walk for ages to get back to the start.

steve