Texas-1960: Water-Skier on a Yellow Tow Rope Filmed From the Towing Boat

Catalog date: estimated · Catalog location: estimated. Review source evidence · Request a source quality check

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

Year1960
Decade1960s
LocationTexas, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD
Collection1960 · Texas, United States
StatusStockfilm Exclusive

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

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From the same film reel

1960 · Texas · Reel f7dfb0a3 contains 13 published Stockfilm-exclusive clips. Watch them in reel order and review the available reel documentation.

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Same year and place1960 · Texas, United StatesExplore footage →Across the archiveFilmed in 1960Explore the year →Across the yearsTexas, United StatesExplore the place →

What is in this clip

summer leisure
water sports
family boating
mid-century recreation
lake life
motion and speed

Shot type: wide
Camera: handheld · pan
Setting: outdoor · large open reservoir with a low, flat, lightly wooded far shore
Time and weather: midday · summer · clear and sunny
Lighting: bright, hard daylight
People: 1 · One water-skier, apparently a shirtless man in dark trunks, seen at a distance; the face is not identifiable.
Objects: water skis · yellow tow rope · round rope float · boat wake · spray
Colors: deep blue · sky blue · white · yellow · dark green
Master dimensions: 3840 × 2160
Audio: Silent
Date confidence: Low
Location confidence: Low

Moments in the footage

Select a time to watch that moment in the preview.

The skier is far off on the left, beyond white wash from the boat.
The yellow tow rope and its round float swing into the lower frame.
The skier leans on the rope and throws spray while crossing the water.
The skier cuts back toward the centre, with the rope running straight down the frame.
The skier holds steady behind the wake, with the flat far shore on the horizon.

Water-Skier on a Yellow Tow Rope Filmed From the Towing Boat — Clip Details

Probably Texas, United States, circa 1960 home movie footage of a lone water-skier crossing a wide, wind-ruffled reservoir. The camera rides in the towing boat and looks back over churning white wash along a yellow tow rope fitted with a round float. The skier swings left, then cuts back toward the centre, throwing spray, under a clear blue sky above a low, flat far shore with scattered trees. It is a single handheld 8mm colour shot of about four seconds.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 800001879

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Commercial Direct license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

Editorial use is the safest path. For commercial use, a clearance review is recommended for the flags below.

People visible: Yes
Minors visible: No
Logos / trademarks: No
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel record not linked for this clip
Date: 1960 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate based on source metadata and visual or technical evidence; no reel-level note is linked.
Location: Texas, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate based on source metadata and visual evidence such as signage, landmarks, or terrain; no reel-level note is linked.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: This clip answers requests for authentic circa 1960 American water-skiing footage shot from the boat, for documentaries, education pieces or nostalgic summer montages.
Period detail: The shot has no dated objects, but the blue-cast colour stock, the simple yellow tow rope with its float and the same reel's 1950s runabouts and sedans may show a late-1950s to early-1960s outing.
Home-movie behavior: A family member in the towing boat keeps the camera on a companion who is skiing, the kind of proud, informal record that shows how ordinary people spent summer weekends on the water.
What appears in frame: A lone skier throwing spray, a yellow tow rope with a round float, churning white wake in the foreground, wind-rippled open water, a flat far shore with scattered trees, and a clear blue sky.
Film character: Handheld 8mm colour with a strong blue cast, fine grain, soft distant focus and darkened corners gives the shot a lived-in, projected home-movie texture.
Edit role: Use it as a short action insert or a summer memory beat between shore-side skiing shots, or as a cutaway inside a montage about lake recreation.
Historical context: Fibreglass runabouts were mass-produced in the United States from the 1950s, and this reel shows that kind of boat being used by a family for water-skiing on a large reservoir.
Research note: The film's copyright is separate from the likeness rights of the distant, unnamed skier, who is not identifiable; the location is a low-confidence estimate, and no clearance is implied.
Research search match: Researchers would search for terms such as vintage water skiing from boat, 8mm water-skier circa 1960, home movie lake skiing Texas, or mid-century summer reservoir footage.
Archive pairing path: Pair it first with the same reel's canopy runabout towing a skier toward camera, two skiers crossing the wake and the family runabout idling, then with other circa 1960 Texas lake footage and water-sports clips.

Still Frames From This Clip

Water-skier on a broad reservoir, probably in Texas, circa 1960, seen from the towing boat along a yellow rope. — A skier skims the open reservoir as the tow rope stretches back to the boat's wake, circa 1960.
License this still · $49

Skier throwing spray on an 8mm home movie, circa 1960, on a flat-shored lake probably in Texas. — Spray rises as the skier leans on the line, filmed from the boat on 8mm colour film.
License this still · $49

View down the tow line from the boat to a skier on a wide reservoir, probably Texas, circa 1960 home movie. — The yellow tow line runs straight from the boat's wash to the skier as he cuts back toward the centre.
License this still · $49

Circa 1960 skier holding course behind a boat on a large, flat-shored lake, probably in Texas, under a clear sky. — The skier holds a steady line behind the boat under a cloudless summer sky.
License this still · $49

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