August 24th, 2011
52NEW ~ Barefoot Water Skiing and a family connection realized.
It’s funny the things we think of when it comes to Mom and Dad. My parents met and spent some very good times in what’s known as cottage country in Ontario. My sister and I grew up on stories of good times at the lake! Some of those stories we didn’t get to hear till we were older, as they would of been horrified if we did some of the things they did!
It left an impression on me that I didn’t realize untill I lived somewhere that I to could have a “good time at the lake” on a regular bases!
Waterskiing, wakesurfing, life on the dock, are all part of who I am not because of what I have done, but because it has been passed down from Mom and Dad. Sometimes I think it was infused into my DNA. My Mom was actually water skiing while pregnant with me ~ at the time she didn’t know she was!
When I am on the water I feel closer to my parents than when I lived in the same town with them. The stories I grew up on run through my subconscious on a continuous loop it is an undeniable connection with my Mom and Dad and a gift from them to me.
Hopefully this will help you understand why I was motivated to try “Barefoot” Water Skiing. I’m pretty good in the water, I can usually master just about anything or at the very least “fake it till I make it” My husband had already done it once and gotten up, plus I had EXCELLENT coaches who are also personal friends.
Yup. I’ve got this.
Two things.
- You have to wear a special wet suit so you don’t get an unexpected enema.
- Basically it is the equivalent to stepping out of a car going 70 KM/hr and trying to remain standing.
Somewhere in both these points I should of found a warning.
So.. all in all.. that didn’t go so well, but what I don’t have in that recording is the call to my Dad afterwards telling him what I had tried, and my Dad’s story about how he tried barefoot water skiing (boats where different when he tried so it was a different technique) and a moment that I could feel connected to my family who live far too many provinces away.
It’s blurry.. but here is a picture of me on the “Zip Board” as a kid!
I spent a lot of time at the cottage back then, but didn’t water ski, but did use the zip sled. On one occasion I was on the board when your Dad hit the throttle full force. My only way out of the situation was to roll off the board. I skipped across the surface like a flat stone. No special wetsuit, just cutoff jeans, which moved further down my legs with each skip onto the surface of the lake. By the time I stopped I was holding onto the shorts with my ankles. There were several people staring at me from the dock of tbe resort on the lake. Those were great times with yohr Mom and Dad, and I would love to go back in time.
“She’s too sidways…. yeah.. she’s very sideways” LOOOOL! A new way to describe my sister! 😉
That was awesome and looked SO difficult! The Dan and Steve made it look too easy! (Not fair!)
Glad you have fun and hope you try it again – with footage so we can see the results!
…Water-Skiing is great and can be done by just about anyone as long as you have enough balance about yourself. This is a great hobby to have if you wanted to take up a sport at the weekend to get away from it all almost all water-sport parks will cater for water-skiing heck its probably their most popular sport at the park.