Wakeboarding

“When I attempted to wakeboard for the first time, I was surprised at how badly I failed. My problem was that I could not "pop up" out of the water. My friend Michael Plyler tried to explain to me how to "pop up," which was that you were to let the boat pull you up. While I was plowing my board, snowboard style, I felt like the rope was going to tear my arms off. (I found out later that this feeling of your arms ripping off is normal for two seconds.) The rope handle would slip out of my hands and the boat would speed off.”

“Wakeboarding is all about learning how to balance with your feet while you and your board are being pulled by the cable system. At first, it looks easy, but it’s not. It’s way harder than I expected. It took me a number of tries before I was able to stand up very briefly on my board. And even if I did, it didn’t take long before I plunged back into the water. [...] when you fall off your board in the middle of the water, you’ll have to pick yourself up and carry your board with you as you swim back to the river bank. That itself can drain your energy.”

“I went wakeboarding for the first time five days ago and both forearms are still in pain, like to the point where I don't have full grip strength back and even putting socks on can be painful.”