I'm struggling to see how flying 50miles straight and level at 2000ft for a bacon butty makes me a better pilot.
Flying well is a choice. On that run to the bacon butty you can choose to fly well or not. Flying well means a takeoff that stays on centerline with a smooth lift off, a climb at a constant pitch attitude giving you the correct climb speed, cruise altitude kept plus/minus 50 feet, making all you plog times, planning a descent so that only one power reduction is needed to join the circuit, landing smoothly on centerline and at the intended touch down point, along with a whole host of little things that collectively makes the flight go smoothly and safely.
However you have to be adult enough to take the internalized satisfaction of knowing you have flown as well as you can. I know this can be difficult for people who need the ego boost from a "look at me, I am such a Sky God" stunts like watersking an aircraft.
The fact that this act was successful proves he is a better pilot than I am.
No it means he got away with demonstrating poor pilot decision making
Being capable of flying accurately is surely a good thing?
Want to learn to fly accurately ? Take an aerobatics course. Flying an accurate smooth linked set of aerobatics takes way more skill than watersking.