Get your wake on

After a busy couple of days we were looking forward to spending the day relaxing in the garden. We were out there sunbathing when our next door neighbour Maree spotted us and invited us out with her family. They were heading out to Patterson Lakes with their boat for some wakeboarding- how could we refuse? When we first arrived we watched the kids for a bit, who were impressively good. Johnno is only nine and already smooth with his boarding. Maree kitted us up with life jackets and it was time for us to go out on the boat.

Alex went wakeboarding for the first time ever, being much more used to slalom waterskiing. It was one of the weirdest and unnatural feelings ever and he really struggled to get up until someone said “It’s easy, just stand up!” Finally out of the water, he crossed the wakes a couple of times. His legs started to cramp up too in the unnatural positions and it wasn’t long before he stopped. Probably best to stick to skiing!

Rach has never done any water sports like this before and Ian suggested she try kneeboarding to give her a taste of how it feels to be towed by a boat. She managed to get up on her knees, pull the strap across and release the handle fine and easily followed the boat. It was only once the boat turned that she struggled to cross the wake and fell off a few times. Still had a brilliant time though.

Just before we headed back Ian got the tube out and Alex, Rach and Johnno climbed on. We were thrown around so much that it felt like our brains were colliding with our skulls and we were both screaming. There can only be one winner in tubing though and that was Johnno. Exhausted, aching and hungry we went back to theirs for a huge BBQ, which was delicious. Such a great weekend, now back to the grind tomorrow.

Rex’s Rules of the Road

• Wakeboarding- the board is like a snowboard except a little wider with flattened ends and channels or fins on the underside, let the board pull you up, don’t try and pull yourself up.

• Kneeboarding- when trying to cross the wake, put your weight on one side of the board to turn and try and keep steady over the bumps.

• Tubing- It’s each man for himself on a tube. Even if it’s your partner, don’t worry about elbowing them in the fact, it’s the only way to win.