I think they are real.
I also don't think they're quite as difficult to achieve as some people here are saying they are.
Flying an aircraft on solid ground in this attitude is a skill which every tail-dragger pilot should be able to do without thinking about it, because it's exactly what you do every time you take off, and every time you do a wheel-landing. It is something which my instructors made me do for hour after hour (or so it seemed) before they'd try teaching me wheel landings.
The only question, then, is how is it done on water. And, as the Top Gear program clearly showed, a wheel moving at a fast enough speed over water behaves pretty much as if it's on solid ground.
So surely all (and I use the word "all" with a little trepidation here....) that's required is to do a wheel-landing on water, then apply enough power to maintain a fast taxy speed with the tail in the air???
FFF
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