My friend Jamie laughs at me just about every time we are out on the boat because in some facet, I’ll express those words. Much like the different contexts the word “dude” can be used, “I love this sport” can also be used in several different situations. For example: Defiance Set – The wind is horrible. The sun is not out. The air temperature is less than desirable. You’re on a new wake, and a new board. Every possible factor into the equation that we called wakeboarding is off. The regulars don’t even dream of coming out on a day like today. The walley’s think you’re nuts. What do you say? (With an amusement in your own audacity)”I love this sport.”New Trick Set – It happened to me this year a couple of times. One set in particular. I hardly ever ride on Sundays cause I’m at church. I like to go to the early service because if I go to the second service I feel like the day is too short. This particular Sunday the kids were with the Kelly (my wife) and out of town. Jamie says, “Dude, lets ride.” Easy choice. I can get a few sets in and go to the second service. This day was important because we had been pushing progression so much lately that it was almost taking the fun out of riding. So this day we made a point to relax, have chill music on the boat, not stress about how well we rode and have fun. The fact that only one ramp on the lake was open and we pretty much had the lake to ourselves was nice too. I think I’ll remember that day for a long time. The water was really high, and there was debris all over the lake. There were little piles of fire ants floating in the lake and we’d ride over them and imagine it being armageddon for that particular nest of ants. We rode in long strait lines. One line was about 5 miles long, almost the length of Grapevine lake. I remember riding just trying to link tricks as I felt them. No pressure. When I fell, it was fun and relaxing. When I got tired, I’d just try a trick that I didn’t think I could do to fall so I could rest. One of those tricks happened to be a switch roll attempt. That attempt happened to be my first switch roll. I gave the rock fist to Jamie in the boat, and said out loud in a normal voice, “I love this sport.” Walley’d – It’s Saturday morning in the middle of the summer. You got up early thinking you would beat the walley’s out. You drive to the best spot on the water and lo and behold…there’s an I/O pulling a tube in big figure eights right in the line. Understanding this is better than chores or fishing…or tubing for that matter you say, “I love this sport.”Thrown the wall – This is when the walley can’t handle the 3K of ballast you put in the boat and hates driving over your wake competing for the line. He drives to another place on the lake. You victoriously say to those in the boat, “I love this sport!” There are countless scenarios where I have verbalized that. In the middle of thunder storms, getting towed in by a fisherman, having the most epic set in the history of the sport, these are all reasons why we love what we do. Enjoy your off season. Enjoy your love for the sport. Ride on.-Alf
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