And she's UP!! Josie learns to Wakeboard.

Mewling like a kitten, I sat on my backside in the middle of the piste with my feet still strapped into the board that I seemed so despairingly unsuited for. This was about 10 years ago, for 3 consecutive mornings he'd tried in vain to get me down that slope and for three consecutive mornings I walked down it, redundant board hooked under one arm, the look on his face matching my mood, shlepping my way down the same gradient that felt so known and comfortable on skis, but was just so simply unachievable on a snowboard.


So naturally that resigned sense of gloom and failure has surfaced every time the hint of a board sport comes my way. Wakeboarding? Tried that. Filtered the North Shore of TCI through my sinuses before returning it, snot laden to the ocean. Kiteboarding? Strapping the board to my feet and kind of 'bobbing' with the inevitable 'launching faceplant' is about as far as I've got.


So when Sam of Nautique Sports here on Providenciales stated that he could / would have me up on that board I was, naturally, somewhat sceptical …


Making a BIG conscious effort not to manifest the failure that I could feel sneakily creeping up and into my thoughts, I took a big breath, blew it out, and with heels to my butt, knees hugged between my arms I read once more the words on my board 'Hi, my name is William...' (seriously, no idea why) and gave Sam the nod.

He grinned, we where off, a slow start, just as promised, steady, time and momentum enough to do exactly what Sam had instructed.


Connecting mind to body is often a challenge, so let's go back and look at this 'Lauching Faceplant' I referred to earlier. It's a cool move, it happens extremely quickly and is entirely linked to the death grip that us newbies have on the bar and to our failure to connect simple instruction to bodily action. The participant travels a total of 180 degrees, from the fetal, snuggled up 'ready to go' position (as detailed above and so well cued by Sam), through a 'legs akimbo' 4 limbed flailing motion that results in a full frontal, somewhat bewildering (but surprisingly fun) landing.


'Hi Bill' I say, back in position. Making a note to actually DO what Sam has patiently and gently advised, I breath in, I breath out, deny Karma a 2^nd LFF and shout 'GO'!!


And blow me I'm up. I'm actually up. I'm on the board!

I. AM. WAKEBOARDING!!

I'm skimming calm blue waters, running parallel to Water Cay (my absolute favourite stretch of beach on the North Shore), the sun is shining, the water is crystal clear, I've got the wind in my ears, my braids are flapping, my nose is dribbling snotty seawater that I swear is stringing off my face with the wind (there's NO WAY I'm letting go of that bar to wipe it) and I'm smiling.





I smile through the 'oh god oh god oh god' phase.

I nervously giggle as I enter the 'it's going to go wrong ANY second now' phase …




My smile deepens in the 'well that's cool, I'm up and I kind of feel like I'm in control' part, and then I'm GRINNING through the 'GO ME GO ME GO ME GO ME' bit, as I actually relax and realise that I, Josie Smith, am frickin' wakeboarding and I LOVE IT, even with a really snotty face, I LOVE IT !!

 

 Then I fall off, but I don't care, I'm bobbing ('Hi Bill') and whooping and grinning and whooping some more and even though I am clearly at sea level, I feel, on top of the world.

We also have a WEBSITE (www.flukesandflippers.com) as well as a FACEBOOK PAGE set up, and are currently thinking of what silliness can be got up to with the power of the instagram and the little bird twit.