Water Skiing

Yesterday I went waterskiing for the first time in about 8 years. My family owned a boat when I was young and we would go skiing, kneeboarding and wakeboarding weekly during the summer. During highschool a close friend of mine got into wakeboarding and we worked as lifeguards at a lake so we went wakeboarding several times a week.

As FA continued to progress I gave up wakeboarding and boating sports. I remember the last time I went wakeboarding, it was a struggle to get up and then I just wobbled like crazy until I went down with a splash.

On Saturday Disabled Sports USA Far West made it possible to experience boating sports again.

I pulled up to the lake at around 9am. This lake is a tiny little puddle made specifically for competition water skiing. It is only like 10 feet deep at the center, just deep enough for the boat. The lake is located at Pleasant Oak Ranch and the owner generously donates the use of the lake several times a year for DSUSA.

I met my instructors and we did a quick diagnosis to see whether I should try stand up skis or not. They asked me to stand on one foot, I could not, so we busted out the sit-ski. To me this thing looked kinda uncomfortable and lame. I soon found out that is actually quite comfortable and it rips! They fit me to a "cage" (the thing that you sit in) and it fit snug around my hips. The cage is bolted to the ski just like wakeboard bindings.

In the water I had an instructor, Brian, help me into the cage and then he helped me stabilize until the boat took off. I had a tough time starting, it took a couple tries and then I got it. I was up, skipping along at about 17mph. The sit-ski that I had was quite stable and the ride was effortless. It all came back to me, like riding a bike. I carved outside the wake then cut back, slowly at first then I started getting comfortable.

I cut out and back hard this time. I caught air on the wake and came down a little sideways. I swerved a bit then went down face first, water up the nose.

I had not realized how much I missed that terrible burning feeling in my nose...WOOHOO! I got up again and repeated the thrill, this time I cut a little harder and got a little higher, awesome...


I am stoked to discover boating sports again and I will definitely be back for more this summer. I am going to try a different ski, a more high performance ski that will allow me to edge a little more and cut harder...stay tuned!