Wakeboarding for Beginners

I spent the last week learning how to Wakeboard on a small lake in Northern California while checking out some lakefront cabin rentals. Ok, I really didn't want to disclose the name of the lake because it's one of those still untouched places that not many people know about. I'll give you a clue, it's located in Northern California near a small grassy area. Send me a note if you know where I'm talking about. It was different for me because I’m usually used to Smokey Mountain Cabin Rentals because I live in the Tennessee area so this was a real treat.

Ok, back to learning how to wakeboard. I've been waterskiing for most of my life but sure didn't help when it comes to learning how to wakeboard. I thought that because I know how to ski that learning would be easy but I found out that it's not real similiar at all. Here are some of the differences I found.

First off, the wakeboard is not pointing with the direction of the boat. I found this very strange and really difficult to get used to. The board lays perpendicular to the boat and when you say "hit it" the board acts as a plow pushing the water over the board and into your face. It took awhile to learn that you must place your weight on the back foot first and then swing the board around as you surf up on top of the water.

Finally, I got up and it felt really good after drinking 10 gallons of lake water. I was tired but ready to enjoy this new wakeboarding sport. However, I was not completely ready for the experience of standing sideways on the board and I never did get used to having my feet facing across the board. How do you get this board to run straight, was the most difficult thing for me. The board kept on wanting to take a turn. Finally, I let the board turn on by itself and I went over the boat's wake only to find my head hitting the water. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted and I found some good cheap cabin rentals to boot.