Regular readers will know that we have had great support from adventure sport clubs at Reading University which has given us the opportunity to research and get first-hand experience of the extreme/adventure sports we are promoting.
I was contacted by a rather enthusiastic guy at Reading University called Seb, who shared our passion for accessible extreme sports and is the President of the Wakeboarding Society. He said ‘here, Suz, I think Wakeboarding will be a fantastic sport to promote through iDID, it can be adapted quite well. When the weather heats up a bit, you definitely have to come and try it’.
Now, I am open to trying anything but this slightly worried me as essentially, Wakeboarding is snowboarding but on water. Being pulled along on a cable or boat… whilst standing on a board… racing across the water… with my balance??? Good one Seb!
I apprehensively agreed but as it didn’t look like there was going to be any sun for a long time, I safely stored the idea at the back of my mind…
Cue heat wave
A fantastically energetic young woman called Lauren has recently joined the iDID team; she loves extreme/adventure sports and sickeningly, is good at them all! So it was no shock when she said ‘Suz, we really need to try Wakeboarding’.
I wasn’t getting out of this one!
So Lauren and I teamed up with the Wakeboarding Society to try my first hand at riding wakes (I’ll explain the lingo, you know, because I’m cool! It is aptly called Wakeboarding because your board rides the water waves produced by the boat and the board, known as wakes). I met with Lauren at the University Car Park and we made our way to a wakeboard centre at Thorpe Park. I have to admit, I was still massively confused by the whole process of Wakeboarding; Lauren had explained about cables and boats and bindings etc but it didn’t click – I just didn’t get it. As we from the car par to the centre, it immediately made sense in my head!
Imagine a massive lake that has a cable system running around the outside around 20-30 ft high. Now imagine that this cable line had lots of cables hanging from it, dropping to the surface of the water for people to hang on to and get pulled around the lake. Now add to that image a series of ramps (like you’d see in skateboarding or snowboarding) and there you have a wakeboarding park. As you stand at the edge you see people flying by on their boards one by one, pulling tricks and inevitably, falling off! It got my adrenaline rushing, I was raring to go!
We got our wetsuits, helmet and life jackets and proceeded to get kitted out. Lauren, of course, had to help me with the suit because seriously, that wasn’t happening on my own! We then met my instructor and headed over to a small section of the lake reserved for health and safety and introduction sessions.
I have balance issues and was sat there telling the instructor how there is no way I’d be able to stand up and I’d be falling in on my first go. There I was justifying my impending rubbishness. I felt slightly crushed when he said ‘Suzi, people without balance problems can’t manage a standing board first of all and everyone falls off. You’ll be in the same boat as everyone (so to speak)’.
I was so used to being ‘different’ that it was a shock to start something off as an equal. We went through the health and safety aspects and was told the most important thing when you fall off is not to panic. I’d only be falling off a board into water and I had a life jacket on, why would I panic?!
I kneeled on the board and the instructor tapped my shoulder to let me know when the cable was about to pull…. Wait, wait, wait, TAP! The cable pulled and suddenly I am gliding on water, firmly tightening my stomach muscles to help control my balance. The cable slowed and gravity took over, I was so in the water within about 7 seconds!
Cue panic
After splashing around like a drowning chicken, in water (I later realised) I could actually stand up in, Lauren met me to help me out. So my first experience saw me flying across water and then flying into it but the feeling it gave me was out of this world. YES, I had panicked but once you get up and look at it rationally, you have to laugh at yourself really. I had lasted mere seconds, I didn’t think much to my ability but I was gagging to go again. I met the instructor who then said ‘that was actually great for your first go and don’t worry because some people don’t even last as long as you did!’ Chuffed with myself for even lasting a split second, I wanted another go. I had a few more tries and learnt how to turn the board; I was more than happy to have achieved that as the lesson was drawing to a close when my instructor said ‘do you want to try going backwards?’
Are you out of your crazy mind?! BACKWARDS
My balance is very much reliant on my eyesight and so the thought of doing something without seeing where I am going didn’t really appeal to me. BUT Lauren and the society were there egging me on and I couldn’t let them or iDID down and the worst that could happen was I’d fall in again. Bring it on!
I am so glad I did because (VERY surprisingly) my balance was better when I was going backwards! That was the end of the lesson and I was on such a high, to many, I may not have achieved much but considering my personal boundaries, I felt I’d achieved the world. Not only that but I’d discovered an activity that is fun and ACTIVELY improves my balance… cashback!
I can’t wait for the iDID Wakeboarding event this summer so I can share this experience with other people, keep your eyes peeled for more details.
Thank you to Reading University’s Wakeboarding Society for their on-going support. If you are interested in finding out more about them or the local park they use, please visit:
http://www.rusu.co.uk/sports/6275/
Susanne is 26 and lives with Neurofibromatosis Type 2. This genetic condition causes tumours to grow throughout her central nervous system. She has had major surgery to her brain and spinal cord which has resulted in considerable balance problems and has left her completely deaf.
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