Look, Mom! I'm wakeboarding!!

For the past several months, I've taken up a sport that I have meant to try since the Republ1c Wakepark in Nuvali opened: wakeboarding! It's even part of by 2013 birthday wish list!

Ironically, my first (and disastrous) bout with the wakeboard was in open water, being pulled by a towboat... NOT in the wakepark. Subsequent trips to Republ1c definitely helped me prepare mentally for my second round with the towboat. Instead of in Caliraya Lake, however, I found myself spending a Sunday 80 km away from home, in the waters of Anilao, Batangas. 

I am thankful to Maricor and to Joann for kindly taking photos and videos of me in and on the water. This was a rare opportunity; normally, I'm the one behind the lens.

As luck would have it, I was an (un)lucky product tester. Matty had devised a way to attach a video camera on the wakeboard rope and it was during my turn in the water when the contraption was tested. The rope mount was so heavy that it made the rope unstable when the towboat started pulling... I never had a chance (as a newbie to the sport) to be successful on my first try that day.

Wakeboard rope mount = EPIC FAIL!! (and I attribute the expression to Joann)

 

In my subsequent attempts, the video camera was mounted safely on its monopod away from the water.  And I successfully stood up on the wakeboard!!

Exhilarating. That's how I'd describe the very first time I successfully got up the board. I was jumping for joy when I got back to dry land! Now that I've gotten over one of the biggest hurdles, I think that I will miss that feeling of excitement. The next time I'll feel it, I expect, is when I start being able to actually carve the water and when I am able to cross over the wake.

Now, however, let me continue to relish the feeling of success.