This weekend, I had the chance to try wakeboarding for the second time. Without the dry suit, sitting in 60 degree water would have been a significantly less pleasant experience. It was hailing and snowing here just a week ago, after all.
And I got up for the first time! It turns out wakeboarding is way more fun when you’re actually standing on the board, rather than just being dragged face first behind a boat and having the tow rope repeatedly ripped out of your hands.
After many very frustrating runs, I realized I was holding the tow rope very low to the waterline, so the force from the boat was pulling me straight into the water. And I realized that if I raised my hands higher into the air, the force vector from the rope would pull me upwards as the board now acted as a fulcrum. I expected it meant I would face plant the first few times, but instead I just popped right up into a standing position. Was that all I needed?
Next, I found the front edge of the wakeboard was diving underwater as I stood up. It seemed reasonable to start putting more weight on my rear foot to lever the nose of the board out of the water, and sure enough, I found myself skimming happily over the surface of the water.
I wonder what other people think about when they’re learning to wakeboard. Am I overly analytical or is this just par for the course?
I do remember that when I first took the training wheels of my bicycle I wasn’t able to turn without falling over. But I suddenly remembered there was an article about riding a bike in my most recent issue of Owl Magazine, so I ran into the house, learned that you have to lean into the turn when you’re riding a bike, ran back out, got on my bike and began turning successfully. Score another one for physics.
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Wakeboarding is a great sport. Stick with it.