Just come back from a weeks waterski course. As I sad a bove what a blast. Still prefer snow skiing but this comes a pretty close second. You don't give away much to an AB skiier and the feeling once you're up and skiing is just great.

To start off with you have two other skiiers in sit skis next to you and they get you up and running and make sure you don't fall in and let you get your balance and then you just go from there to learning to get yourself up unaided. Did 3 tows every day up to friday and now my arms just don't belong to me any more. It's unbelievably hard work learning but I'll very definately be going back and the great thing is I'll be able to take the family who can take part as well.

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Cool, Was that at Heron lake?

Was over there not long ago, Its fantasdtic, like an Oasis!
Michelle

The very place. it's really wierd, right next to the M25 and heathrow but it seems like miles from civilisation.

Looks like fun!

I have a few queries. Bearing in mind I can only stay in a heated swimming pool for 20 mins before my temp starts to fall, did you wear a dry suit to stay warm?

Compared with snow skiing how easy was it to get the hang of it? (My upper body strength has greatly improved since I went skiing in 1990)
Was the course you went on residential? How much did it cost?

Thanks

As T2 complete have the same temp contrl problems as most quads. I wore a wet suit and the water was pretty warm anyway. I never felt really cold but it was nice and sunny most days so a sit in the sun soon counteracted the effects of the water. Drysuits were offered as an option but given the weather seemed overkill.

It's not disimilar to snow skiing - if your strength and balance are both good you should pick it up fairly easily. The course is run by the Back-up trust and cost £200 for a 5 day residential - can't recommend it too highly although it's incredibly hard work. There's another course in August and you might get a cancelation place if you're lucky otherwise you'll have to wait till next year.

Russ

Excellent, I did my first ski trip with Back-up!

Thank you also for the info I will make further enquiries.....

On my holidays I met a guy named Mike he is a para and has a little boat biz.. Well he took me out skiing for a day and I have to say it was great, drank a lot of water but was really fun. I have to recomed it to everyone.. But it does seem to require some trunk control.

Before my accident I used to wake board, your water ski looks like the next best thing. Do you know where I could buy one?

I'm a C5-C6 complete quad and really enjoyed going back to water skiing with my AB mates. I found the skis really expensive and too boyant to do independent starts, so I designed and built my own ski (which is now up for sale due to turning 50 and my mates not skiing anymore either).

I also designed a quad skiing handle that makes it much easier for a quad to hang onto a handle by hooking elbows around a 'cow horn' bike handle used to create the handle.

Details and photos can be seen at my website http://www.gizbytes.com/waterski.htm with further details of the ski and handle on http://www.gizbytes.com/w-ski.htm

It is a fun sport and my mates had great fun skiing on my sit-ski too.

I had a wet suit made with boyancy built in that had a crutch that velcroed together to give short legs and was really easy to get on. Kept me warm, boyant and was much more comfoortable than a vest.

Colin

i ride my jet ski alot but how do u get back in the boat..i cant do it...i had to swim to the loading ramp

this is my first day to be on the site and ive been lookin over all the pages and thought about commenting on a few but when i came to this one i knew it was the one....i used to knee board, ski, wakeboard before my wreck it was my love...and sheperd center in atlanta offered a ski trip...that taught everyone how to kayak, jet ski, ropes coarse and my favorite water ski...it was my first time to ski as a para, i got up one time and started playing around with it and fell when i went outside the wake but the second i got up i went outside came back to jump the wake and just about landed it...and yall all know three times a charm...i got up, got outside, came back and jumped the wake and landed perfect...i triped everyone out that was watching since it was my first time they really werent expecting that...but if yall have ANY questions on this....i gottcha!! peace[size=1][color=#3333FF]

haha i think i know who you are from ASW. I was there last year. Are you that blond with all the stickers on the back of your chair??