Singapore - Wakeboarding

Working on a New Maneuver
I accompanied Puffin and her cousin wakeboarding on Saturday morning. We hopped in a cab to the north side of the island. The marina appeared to specialize in wakeboarding - there were quite a few folks there with their boards. The two of them wasted a lot of time trying to talk me into giving it a try. Don't be silly - I am a big chicken when it comes to water sports. I got myself a coffee and a paper and sat next to their coach at the front of the boat.

To give you a bit of perspective - here's a map. That's Malaysia at the top, we were headed to a small island between Singapore and Malaysia marked by the rectangle.

A close-up of the rectangle shows the small, elongated island called Pulau Seletar. It's uninhabited as far as I could tell - according to their coach it's a popular wakeboarding area due to the calm waters. It's pretty crowded - many were already there boarding when we arrived.

Coach offered some encouraging words as Pingles strapped on the lifevest and board.

Into the water and all smiles. I was pretty amazed by the buoyancy of the board - it seemed impossible for it to be below the water.

First up: a nice, straightforward run. Pingles is pretty good. She moved around behind the boat from side to side, managing the boat's wake easily. Her cousin took a turn as well.

Then a bit of instruction. Coach was showing them the first move of a 360. It requires the boarder to ski one-handed, then turn and ski backwards.

The hard part of the move is to pass the lead from one hand to the other as you ski backwards. They were both laughing at the coach, thinking she was a bit crazy. That's what coaches do, they push you to places you don't think you can go.

They both tried it many, many times. Some of the crashes were pretty amazing - but they kept trying.