Catching The Waves Even Beginners Are Soon Caught Up In Wakeboarding Thrills

I never have been accused of being a great athlete on the water.

Aquatic-sports challenged, you might say.

So challenged in fact, when trying to learn to water ski, I found myself drug behind the boat more without skis than with them.

No wonder I was hesitant when it came to learning how to wakeboard.

But Steve Borgman, 27, co-owner of Airtym Wakeboarding Club, assured me that of all the water sports, wakeboarding was the easiest to master.

Similar to water skiing, but using one board with both ankles in ski-like bindings, the rider can use the wake to accomplish a myriad of rolls, flips and other tricks.

According to Borgman, the sport originated in Seattle in the early 1990s and evolved from people surfing behind a boat. The wakeboard was redesigned into a more compact version of a surfboard - designed to work more like a slalom ski. Now, wakeboarding is a professional sport and even has a governing body, the World Wakeboarding Association.

Borgman, a competitive wakeboarder, and his partner Jason Jakober, 28, started Airtym, based at Newman Lake, three years ago and offer private lessons for anybody wanting to learn or improve.

Early one Saturday, I met Borgman on Long Lake at Nine Mile Falls Resort, where Airtym provides lessons every Saturday.

A small group of us, clad in wet suits, embarked on the lake. One by one the rest of the boat’s passengers took their turn, performing tricks as Borgman, and associate Chad Kamins, both instructors, critiqued and offered suggestions on how to improve. And, one by one, each rider showed some improvement.

Then it was my turn.

Borgman helped me squeeze into the tight bindings of my wakeboard. I was wedged so tight into a too-small wet suit that Borgman had to lather liquid soap on the bindings so I could squeeze my size-13s inside. The bindings are extra tight, I was warned, because if your foot should happen to slip out, the board could fly up and hit you in the face.

Borgman gave me a few last-minute instructions on how to get up on the board and I sank into the frigid waters of Long Lake.

I bobbed there in a sitting position as the tow line was thrown to me. Grasping the handle firmly, the slack was taken out of the rope as the boat built speed. I began to be pulled from the water - then there was a large splash as I crashed into the water.

Borgman swung around the boat to offer a little advice, then we repeated the entire process and I was again left spitting out lake water.

For the next 15 minutes this pattern emerged: More patient advice from Borgman and Kamins, re-positioning of the boat and the tow line and then another big splash as I repeatedly hit the lake.

Then a miracle happened.

Borgman’s advice was paying off. With each futile attempt I made, I was coming closer and closer to riding the board. This time when the boat sped up, I followed and, for a brief instance, was actually up and riding on the board. Then my balance returned to normal and I crashed.

“If you own a boat, you should own a wakeboard,” Borgman said later; then offered this advice for those interested in the sport: “Go to the store, buy one, and take a lesson, or you’re not going to get any better.”