Last Saturday I found myself attending the celebration of Justin Daniels' graduation from high school. The festivities were held on the water and with the weather being such a beautiful accompaniment to the day, water activities were a must.
I sat enjoying the refreshing breeze, watching as several enjoyed the water on jet-skis, and surrounded by kids darting about, happily jeering as they ran in and out of the water's edge. Besides being completely picturesque, it really was the perfect day to be out on the water — wakeboarding.
Two of my friends offered to take me out on the boat — one driving, the other spotting — as I attempted to warm up this year's season of wakeboarding.
[NOTE: For those of you who don't know what wakeboarding is, it's like snowboarding on water.]
I was prepared to catch many an edge and have what I expected to be some pretty fantastic face-plants. I told my spotter he should video my first run of the season because he was no doubt going to catch some hilariously painful face-plants.
See with wakeboarding, it's almost inevitable that you will catch an edge at some point. Kind of like Russian Roulette really. It's just a matter of time. And being the first run of the season, it was guaranteed.
I jumped in the water in an attempt to quickly acclimate to the freezing temperatures. And although cold, it was a complimentary contrast to the heat of the day's sun.
So there I was. Sitting in the cold water. Holding tightly onto the rope. The rope had just pulled taught and my friends in the boat were looking at me, awaiting my signal to take off. I was close to shore and it was the first run of the season for me. In fact, it was the first run for anyone behind the boat this year. So in a way, I was christening both the boat (since it's engine rebuild) and the season. I also knew people would be watching from shore to see if I would make it out of the water on my first attempt.
I hadn't wakeboarded behind a boat in 3 years. I couldn't remember how the pull worked. Being towed behind a jet-ski is vastly different from that of a boat. Not only can a jet-ski pull you out of the water quicker, but the wake of a jet-ski is quite small — which means you are less likely to catch an edge resulting in a faceplant.
There was no point in sitting in the water any longer. I gave the signal. I heard the low rumble of the boat as the motors began to roar and felt the resistance of the cold water as I slowly began to rise.
I was fortunate enough to lift out on the first try. I'm not going to lie. It felt good.
It took merely seconds to realize that the wake of the boat was far greater than that of the jet-ski. I knew that if I was going to go "over" the wake, I would need to jump it. Not a big deal. That's really the point of wakeboarding after all.
One thing you must know is that when I jump the wake, I hold onto the rope with only one hand. This allows my other hand to be free for stability. I use the opposite hand of the direction I'm jumping. So if I'm jumping the wake to the left, I hold it with my right hand. If I'm jumping to the right, my left.
I started off simple. Small jumps. Nothing fancy.
I landed them. I felt good.
So I did the next logical thing. I made the jumps a little bigger.
I was 60 or so seconds into my run when as I jumped the wake to the right, I landed, but my weight was too far forward. Instead of catching a toe or heel edge, I had caught the front tip — perhaps the worst place to catch an edge.
It happened so quickly I barely had time to think. Next thing I knew I had slammed into the water head first. My body completed a full 360 rotation with the board coming out of the water. After my head had surfaced it took only a second to get my bearings and realize what had happened...
...to be continued.
I sat enjoying the refreshing breeze, watching as several enjoyed the water on jet-skis, and surrounded by kids darting about, happily jeering as they ran in and out of the water's edge. Besides being completely picturesque, it really was the perfect day to be out on the water — wakeboarding.
Two of my friends offered to take me out on the boat — one driving, the other spotting — as I attempted to warm up this year's season of wakeboarding.
[NOTE: For those of you who don't know what wakeboarding is, it's like snowboarding on water.]
I was prepared to catch many an edge and have what I expected to be some pretty fantastic face-plants. I told my spotter he should video my first run of the season because he was no doubt going to catch some hilariously painful face-plants.
See with wakeboarding, it's almost inevitable that you will catch an edge at some point. Kind of like Russian Roulette really. It's just a matter of time. And being the first run of the season, it was guaranteed.
I jumped in the water in an attempt to quickly acclimate to the freezing temperatures. And although cold, it was a complimentary contrast to the heat of the day's sun.
So there I was. Sitting in the cold water. Holding tightly onto the rope. The rope had just pulled taught and my friends in the boat were looking at me, awaiting my signal to take off. I was close to shore and it was the first run of the season for me. In fact, it was the first run for anyone behind the boat this year. So in a way, I was christening both the boat (since it's engine rebuild) and the season. I also knew people would be watching from shore to see if I would make it out of the water on my first attempt.
I hadn't wakeboarded behind a boat in 3 years. I couldn't remember how the pull worked. Being towed behind a jet-ski is vastly different from that of a boat. Not only can a jet-ski pull you out of the water quicker, but the wake of a jet-ski is quite small — which means you are less likely to catch an edge resulting in a faceplant.
There was no point in sitting in the water any longer. I gave the signal. I heard the low rumble of the boat as the motors began to roar and felt the resistance of the cold water as I slowly began to rise.
I was fortunate enough to lift out on the first try. I'm not going to lie. It felt good.
It took merely seconds to realize that the wake of the boat was far greater than that of the jet-ski. I knew that if I was going to go "over" the wake, I would need to jump it. Not a big deal. That's really the point of wakeboarding after all.
One thing you must know is that when I jump the wake, I hold onto the rope with only one hand. This allows my other hand to be free for stability. I use the opposite hand of the direction I'm jumping. So if I'm jumping the wake to the left, I hold it with my right hand. If I'm jumping to the right, my left.
I started off simple. Small jumps. Nothing fancy.
I landed them. I felt good.
So I did the next logical thing. I made the jumps a little bigger.
I was 60 or so seconds into my run when as I jumped the wake to the right, I landed, but my weight was too far forward. Instead of catching a toe or heel edge, I had caught the front tip — perhaps the worst place to catch an edge.
It happened so quickly I barely had time to think. Next thing I knew I had slammed into the water head first. My body completed a full 360 rotation with the board coming out of the water. After my head had surfaced it took only a second to get my bearings and realize what had happened...
...to be continued.
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