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The Future of Waterskiing
jjackkrash
Posts: 566 Crazy Baller
Last week my boy and his cousin (both just starting 6th grade) mastered their deep water start on a slalom ski as well as generally skiing on it and crossing the wake. (My boy has been really solid on two skis for a while and even ran most of the course on them, but he needed a little competition from his cousin to push him to want to get up on one).
Afterward, they told their other cousin about their success (also a 6th grader), who insisted we go out this weekend. Saturday was windy, cold, and drizzly, and they still all wanted to go out anyway. The third boy also mastered his deep water start on a slalom ski as well as generally skiing on it and crossing the wake. Between the three of them, I put almost 4 hours on the boat on a crappy weather day without having to pull one tuber or anything other than a slalom skier.
For the last week or so, I have been fielding every conceivable ski related question you could imagine, including a bunch of questions about tournament and college skiing (including questions about trick and jump) and boat driving. My boy even insists he is getting his boaters card this winter because really wants to start pulling skiers himself (we'll see).
It has been a great week or so. The future of waterskiing (at least in my household) is looking bright.
Afterward, they told their other cousin about their success (also a 6th grader), who insisted we go out this weekend. Saturday was windy, cold, and drizzly, and they still all wanted to go out anyway. The third boy also mastered his deep water start on a slalom ski as well as generally skiing on it and crossing the wake. Between the three of them, I put almost 4 hours on the boat on a crappy weather day without having to pull one tuber or anything other than a slalom skier.
For the last week or so, I have been fielding every conceivable ski related question you could imagine, including a bunch of questions about tournament and college skiing (including questions about trick and jump) and boat driving. My boy even insists he is getting his boaters card this winter because really wants to start pulling skiers himself (we'll see).
It has been a great week or so. The future of waterskiing (at least in my household) is looking bright.
32
Comments
In addition to giving them the chance to be better boat drivers sooner, it also gets them used to being behind the wheel of a moving vehicle and start thinking about how to react in certain situations which will make adapting to a car in a few years that much easier. Also I think it helps teach and reinforce responsibility.
My parents said my little brother who never skied/drove the boat had a much harder time (and is generally a shittier car driver) and they attest it to the fact that I had 4-5years of boat driving experience before I got my license.
Also my dad had me back up the trailer when I was 15 and I would tow it to/from the lake when I had my drivers permit. When I was 16 I had free reign to take it out with my buddy (no adult supervision) to go ski because again I already had several years of successfully operating a boat.
In general its all good life skills and its bonding with the kids. Hard to go wrong...
Driving that boat in a busy lake with lots of channels and markers gave me a good understanding (and respect) of how to operate a boat. If I didn't spend my middle school and high school years on that boat I can almost promise you I wouldn't be the skier and lake lover I am today.