Wikipedia describes water skiing as being pulled behind a boat, skimming the surface on one ski or two. The water ski emoji here follows it: Speedboat, then Skis, which Unicode’s search words file under snow and not under water.
Read the full guide
Lake, rope and bare feet, by the search words
CLDR is the word list behind emoji search. It files lake under four emoji, Speedboat and three rowers, rope under Knot alone and barefoot under Footprints alone. Tow, wake and slalom lead nowhere, so Knot is the rope in the combo Tow rope and Footprints the bare feet in Barefoot skiing.
Two boards and a clothesline
Wikipedia dates the sport to 1922 on a lake in Minnesota: a pair of boards for skis and a clothesline for a towrope. Its list of equipment is still three things long: water skis, a motorboat and a towline.
Boat first, skis second: read left to right, that is the order on the water.
Questions and answers
Is there a water skiing emoji?
Not by that name. Unicode’s emoji list, version 18.0, names no water ski, water skier, wakeboard or tow rope; the only two with ski in the name are Skier and Skis. 🚤🎿, Speedboat then Skis, is the nearest pair.
Is there a wakeboard emoji?
No emoji has that name either. Wikipedia says wakeboarding was developed from water skiing, snowboarding and surfing, so the combo Wakeboarding is 🚤🏂, Speedboat then Snowboarder. Wakesurfing adds Water wave and Person surfing: 🚤🌊🏄.
Is there a tubing emoji?
Unicode names none. CLDR files tube under Test tube alone. Wikipedia records that the tubes are also known as donuts, so the combo Tubing is 🚤🍩, Speedboat then Doughnut.
All 56 items
Closest emoji 15
👣FootprintsU+1F463. For skiing with no skis. Filed under barefoot. Emoji 0.6.
🧤GlovesU+1F9E4. Skiers often wear them to hold the handle, by Wikipedia. Filed under gloves. Emoji 5.0.
🪢KnotU+1FAA2. The tow rope. Filed under rope and cord. Emoji 13.0.
🛥️Motor boatU+1F6E5 U+FE0F. Wikipedia’s word for what pulls the skier is motorboat. The only emoji filed under motorboat. Emoji 0.7.
🏄Person surfingU+1F3C4. Filed under surf and waves. Emoji 0.6.
🛟Ring buoyU+1F6DF. A slalom course is laid out with buoys, by Wikipedia. The only emoji filed under buoy. Emoji 14.0.
🦺Safety vestU+1F9BA. Stands in for a ski vest, the life jacket made for the sport, by Wikipedia. The only emoji filed under vest. Emoji 12.0.
⛷️SkierU+26F7 U+FE0F. Unicode notes it as ski resort. Filed under ski and snow. Emoji 0.7.
⛷︎Skier, text styleU+26F7. The same character with the text selector, U+FE0E, which asks for a plain symbol.
🎿SkisU+1F3BF. The snow kind: its Unicode character name is Ski and ski boot. Filed under ski, skis, snow and sport. Emoji 0.6.
🏂SnowboarderU+1F3C2. Filed under ski and snowboard. Emoji 0.6.
🚤SpeedboatU+1F6A4. Filed under lake and summer. Emoji 0.6.
💦Sweat dropletsU+1F4A6. The spray behind a skier. The only emoji filed under splashing. Emoji 0.6.
🚤🎿Water skiSpeedboat, then skis.
🌊Water waveU+1F30A. Filed under water, wave and surf. Emoji 0.6.
Show all 56 items (41 more)
Water skiing kinds 7
🚤👣Barefoot skiingSpeedboat, then footprints. Water skiing without the water skis, by Wikipedia.
🚠🎿🌊Cable skiingMountain cableway, then skis, then water wave. An electrically driven cable pulls the skier in place of a boat, by Wikipedia. Mountain cableway is the only emoji filed under both cable and ski.
🚤🎿🎭Show skiingSpeedboat, then skis, then performing arts. Music, costumes, choreography and an announcer, by Wikipedia.
🚤🎿🏁Ski racingSpeedboat, then skis, then chequered flag. One or two skiers a boat, round a set course, by Wikipedia.
🚤〰️🎿SlalomSpeedboat, then wavy dash, then skis. One ski, zigzagging round six turn buoys, by Wikipedia.
🎿🤸🌊Trick skiingSkis, then person cartwheeling, then water wave. Turns, flips and rotations over the wake, by Wikipedia. Person cartwheeling is filed under flip.
🚤🎿⤴️Water ski jumpSpeedboat, then skis, then right arrow curving up. Two long skis over a ramp, for distance, by Wikipedia.
Related tow sports 4
🚤🧎KneeboardingSpeedboat, then person kneeling. Riders kneel on the board, by Wikipedia.
🚤🍩TubingSpeedboat, then doughnut. The tube is tied to a motor boat, by Wikipedia.
🚤🏂WakeboardingSpeedboat, then snowboarder. The rider stands on a board with foot bindings, by Wikipedia.
🚤🌊🏄WakesurfingSpeedboat, then water wave, then person surfing. Surfing the wake of the boat once the rope is dropped, by Wikipedia.
Plain text 8
水上スキーJapanese, by Wiktionary: aquatic, then ski.
滑水Chinese, by Wiktionary. By the Unihan database 滑 is slip or slide and 水 is water.
esquí acuáticoSpanish, by Wiktionary.
\___/------\o/A boat, a tow rope and a skier with both arms up. Plain ASCII.
\___/---\o/---\o/Two skiers behind one boat.
\___/------ ~o~After the fall: a slack rope and a head in the water.
ski nautiqueFrench, by Wiktionary: the sport, and the ski too.
WasserskiGerman, by Wiktionary.
Water ski drawing 1
Water skier behind a boat, drawnFive lines of ASCII: a boat, a tow rope, a skier and the spray behind.
Lake day lines 8
hit it 🚤🎿What the skier calls when ready, by Wikipedia. The driver then accelerates.
lake like glass at ___Fill in the hour. Calmer water is the ideal, by Wikipedia.
let go of the rope. eventuallyFor the fall.
my arms will hear about this tomorrowFor the evening after.
one more pass before dark 🚤🎿For the last run of the day.
spotter duty: watch, wave, laughThe spotter sits facing backwards and watches the skier, by Wikipedia.
two skis today, one by AugustOn one ski it is slalom skiing, by Wikipedia.
up on the first tryFor the photo that proves it.
Lake day combos 13
🪵🪵🪢Boards and a clotheslineWood, twice, then knot.
🌊🎿⬆️Deep-water startWater wave, then skis, then up arrow. The usual start, by Wikipedia: crouched in the water, skis pointing at the sky.
🌅🚤🎿First run of the daySunrise, then speedboat, then skis.
🎿🙌First time upSkis, then raising hands.
🗣️🚤💨Hit itSpeaking head, then speedboat, then dashing away.
🙋🎿My turnPerson raising hand, then skis.
📅🚤🎿Ski lessonCalendar, then speedboat, then skis.
🦺🎿Ski vest onSafety vest, then skis.
🎿💪😅Sore armsSkis, then flexed biceps, then grinning face with sweat.
👀🚤🎿SpotterEyes, then speedboat, then skis.
🚤🪢🎿Tow ropeSpeedboat, then knot, then skis.
🏕️🚤🎿Weekend at the lakeCamping, then speedboat, then skis.
🎿💦🙃WipeoutSkis, then sweat droplets, then upside-down face.
How this list was compiled: Built on 2026-10-09 from sources read that day. The emoji, their names, code points and Emoji version numbers are from the Unicode emoji list, version 18.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/emoji/emoji-test.txt); names are the CLDR short names printed in that file. Search words are from the CLDR English annotations (https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr/blob/main/common/annotations/en.xml and https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr/blob/main/common/annotationsDerived/en.xml). Unicode has no emoji named water ski: no emoji name, no CLDR search word and no character name in UnicodeData.txt, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/UnicodeData.txt), holds water ski, water skiing, waterski, wakeboard, towrope, tow, wake or slalom. The two emoji with ski in the name are Skier and Skis; CLDR’s words for Skis are ski, skis, snow and sport, and its Unicode character name is Ski and ski boot. CLDR files lake under four emoji (three rowers and Speedboat), summer under two (Speedboat is one), motorboat under Motor boat alone, rope under Knot alone, barefoot under Footprints alone, vest under Safety vest alone, buoy under Ring buoy alone, splashing under Sweat droplets alone, donut under Doughnut alone and tube under Test tube alone; Mountain cableway is the only emoji filed under both cable and ski. That Unicode notes the character Skier as ski resort is from NamesList.txt, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/NamesList.txt), and its text style row is in emoji-variation-sequences.txt (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/emoji/emoji-variation-sequences.txt). The meanings of the two Han characters are the kDefinition lines of the Unihan database, version 18.0.0 (https://www.unicode.org/Public/18.0.0/ucd/Unihan.zip). That water skiing is being towed by a boat or by a cable ski installation, skimming the surface on one ski or two; that its equipment is water skis, a motorboat and a towline; that it was first done in 1922, in the United States, with two boards for skis and a clothesline for a towrope on a lake in Minnesota; the call hit it, the deep-water start, the spotter, calmer water, slalom skiing on one ski round six turn buoys, the jump, the tricks, show skiing, ski racing, ski vests and gloves are from Wikipedia, Water skiing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_skiing, CC BY-SA 4.0). Barefoot skiing, cable skiing, wakeboarding, wakesurfing, kneeboarding and tubing are as their Wikipedia articles describe them (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_skiing, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_skiing, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakeboarding, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakesurfing, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneeboarding_(towsport), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubing_(recreation)). The words for water skiing in French, Spanish, German, Japanese and Chinese are from Wiktionary, water skiing (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/water_skiing, CC BY-SA 4.0), with the entries ski nautique, 水上スキー and 滑水. The typed lines, the drawings, the caption lines and the combos are this site’s own work. Licence: own work: the selection, the combo names, the text drawings and the notes are this site's own. Emoji names, code points and search words are Unicode and CLDR data and Unihan data, used under the Unicode License v3 (https://www.unicode.org/license.txt). Facts from Wikipedia and Wiktionary are restated in this site's own words and credited in the source line.