Taking wakeboard pics is not really my forte, but thank Kelly B. (my girl) because she snapped some.
Enjoy what we have and feel free to email me with your best wakeboard pictures.
I will add the pic of the week to my Water Wednesday blog posts!
Before I talk anymore about cable parks and about my 2011 Cable Park Tour. I should fill you in on what a cable park is.
A simple explanation of a cable park is a body of water where you get pulled by a rope that is connected to a overhead cable. The cable is run by an electric motor which allows multiple people to wakeboard at the same time without the use of a boat. Every rider on the cable can ride until they fall. After they fall the cable will pull the rope around to the next rider, and they will be off and riding in a blink of an eye. Along with getting pulled around the lake by a cable, the lakes are usually littered with obstacles that you can slide, bonk, or hit at your free will. Obstacles come in all variations, and the most common obstacles include sliders and kickers.
If you don’t have a boat and want to learn how to wakeboard, look up a cable park, go there, and ride till your arms fall off. You will never regret it, and everyone can do it. I went to Wake Nation a few days ago, and there was a 60 year old bush whacker out there testing her skills. If she could do it, so can you! The best thing about cable parks: They give us all another way to Board the Midwest All Day Everyday.
Earlier I wrote about ways to get into wakeboarding. Well today I have found another way for you to start your journey into the wakeboard world. Heck this could be the way wakeboarding started; I doubt it, but who can really say? Check out this picture!
What do you think? Is it wakeboarding? Does it really matter? I don’t think so. I have to admit that getting pulled around the lake on a piece of plywood is one of the most memorable rides I have ever had. You should try it! For those of you who love to wakesurf, check out the wake behind this guy. If they had another rope and you had a board, I could see you right behind him trying to ride that mushy wave. This could be as redneck as it gets, but I have give it up to these people. They have just given us all another way to board the Midwest all day, everyday.
Lately I have been trying to figure out how I can fit into the Wakeboard, Snowboard, and Wakesurf industries. With so much going on in each of these industries it is hard to keep up and it is even harder to fit in. Without worrying about fitting in, I keep myself involved in anyway that I can. With this said, I have come up with a new idea and have started a plan that will help spread the word of wakeboarding and cable parks. My new idea is to do a US Wakeboard Cable Park Tour in 2011.
In the picture above I have mapped out 15 different stops that I could hit in 2011. From the time I have started my plan, I have found out that there are 40+ cable parks in the US, and I am sure by the time I put this together there will be a lot more US cable parks to tour. Not to mention the 60 or so that are already up and running across seas!
Like I said, I just started to plan this project, and I still have to figure out many of the details. I would love to get some of your feedback to see what you think about an idea like this. As I continue on this journey, I will keep you posted on everything that I find and plan on doing. Again, your feedback and input would be much appreciated, and I hope to meet a lot of good people along the way.
In the last week we were only able to get out and wakeboard one time. During this time I figured I should start sharing lessons that we have learned while we are on the boat. So from last week, here is what went down.
Lets start with our good friend Mickey. This last week was Mickey’s first time out for the season. What do most people do their first time out on the water? They feel like gold. This was exactly what Mickey was feeling as he was getting comfortable riding. The only thing about feeling golden the first day out is that you try tricks that are over your ability. This leads to injury. Lucky for us and Mickey, he only ended up with a stressed ankle. He was still able to walk and the hurt only lasted the night. Pushing the limits from the git go is always a means of disaster. The lesson, take it slow your first few times out. Really make sure you have the fundamental skills of wakeboarding down packed before you move onto more advanced tricks. Your season will last a lot longer, and your wakeboarding skills will progress twice as fast if you have the fundamentals dialed.
What have you learned that could save people from getting injuries early in the season? Any tip is a good tip, as long as it helps all of us board all day, everyday!
