Sunday, December 04, 2005

Disastrously Amazing

Hey Y'all!

I'm back home safe and sound from wakeboarding today and MAN! was it an adventure. First off, my virgin wakeboarding expedition in Australia was an absolute disaster! Everything that could go wrong went wrong. We set off late and didn't hit the waters till about 4 plus. The weather seemed nice though so that was cool....NOT. Storm clouds were rolling in from a distance. The wind started to get really crazy and the water become very choppy. Almost like being out at sea. Not good for wakeboarding.

Steve. This guy was supposed to teach Davina and Sharon how to wakeboard. He teaches them by throwing them out in the water and expects them to miraculously stand up on their own. Bollocks man. Fortunately I remembered how frankie and the guys at pro-air from back home taught newbies so I gave them some instructions and I think they did pretty well on their first time out. Especially with the bad conditions and all. Kudos to you 2 babes!

Now, my turn arrives and I get into the stormy waters. I tell ya, I have never experienced worse conditions while wakeboarding! The water was churning and tossing me around! Getting up on the board actually took effort. Steve. Remember him? Bollocks guy? He drives the boat like a madman and with the choppy, turbulent water, i'm crashing most of the time. I didn't even get to ride out to try for a jump! I also realised that he didn't release the rope enough for the speeds he was driving, so I tell him that. Well the champion throws out some rope and then proceeds to drive the boat over it. You know what happens when an in-board motor boat drives over some wakeboarding rope? The rope get tangled in the propellor under the boat and is usually a major pain in the ass to remove, rendering the boat useless out in the water.

The next hour or so was spent drifing around in the lake and trying to find a solution to get us back to shore. I spent most of it swimming around and trying to push the boat away from the rocks so that the hull doesn't get damaged. Steve. Remember him? Bollocks guy who thinks he knows how to drive a wakeboard boat? He's there pushing the boat off the rocks for a while as well. There we were next to each other in the water, bracing ourselves against the boat (well at least I was) and for some weird reason, as we were stepping on the rocks near the banks and pushing the boat, he kept screaming loudly as if he was in a lot of pain. We were stepping on the same rocks, doing the same things. What are you screaming about you poof? He sounded like there were pirahnas biting his balls off or something. Anyhow, cutting the long story short, this continued until we drifted close enough to the boat launching area (with the help of the girls peddaling frantically from the boat). There, they managed to haul the boat back up and remedied the tangled propellor.

Oh! but not before Adeline decided that she wanted to take a plunge into the water so that she could pee pee. It was hilarious coz after that, she realised that the current was pulling her away and she had no strength to swim back to the boat. So the two of us swam off in the other direction towards the bank and climbed back to shore. It felt like we survived a shipwreck when we were scrambling up the rocky embankment followed by a grassy cliff. I even took a tumble down back into the water. Fortunately, we got out of it safe and sound.

Phew. Thank you God for keeping us safe.

So that was my wakeboarding experience today. I think I'll go back to Singapore and get a proper ride. But, despite it all, I actually had a great time today! It was an adventure! I felt so alive and a fire within me was re-ignited. I can sit back with a cool drink and laugh about this one for a while. To those who were there with me, what a memorable experience it was eh? More than just an adventure, I think the company of great friends who'll have a blast laughing about our disastrously hilarious wakeboard outing makes everything worthwhile.

Steve. Remember him? Bollocks guy who thinks he knows how to drive a wakeboard boat and had pirahnas chomping at his nuts? Well, he redeemed himself coz he didn't charge us anything for today so it was pretty much a free boat ride, while it lasted.

1 comment:

Sharon Chew's blog said...

Agree! A bad trip turns into great memories when u're with the right people! :)