wakeboarding - n. - the sport of riding on a short, wide board while being towed behind a power boat (Lexico.com)
Summer is the time for popular socially distant sports, such as golf, tennis, biking, swimming, solo kayaking, waterskiing, and yes, wakeboarding. I don't remember exactly where I was when I first spied a wakeboarder, i.e. a snowboarder on the water sans the snow and independence. Between fifteen and twenty years ago, I attended a most unusual wedding on the banks of the Long Island Sound, the Connecticut side. The actual ceremony welding woman to man was in a traditional Presbyterian church. With the exception of the bride's knee-length, lace dress, unadorned head and the groom's business-Friday sports jacket, Brooks Brothers shirt, tie, and khakis, nothing seemed remotely atypical.
What transpired afterward, however, was different. The reception signified it would be a wedding of a different color, for sure. And the uniqueness began few days beforehand when we were told to remember to take a swimsuit, which we definitely needed as the celebration–pretty much a basic barbecue–was held in the groom's parents' backyard, a grassy knoll that conveniently jutted out into the Sound. As I gazed out at the water, between ribbons of the sun's glare, I recognized the handsome blonde best man with all six of his six-pack abs strained against a tow rope as he was being pulled on a skateboard without wheels through the wake of the assisting motor boat. When I asked why his waterskis had been reduced to one thick, short plank, I was told he was on a wakeboard. Naturally, I had an opportunity to try the sport, but decided against it, being one prone to the exaggerated fear of either losing my bikini to the wind or having my arms pulled out of their sockets by the sheer force of the forward movement. Of course, there was the real possibility of crashing into the side of another boat or rock as well, but that notion came in third place, and therefore, hardly worth mentioning.
Years later, I had a second opportunity to wakeboard, but declined again. After all, a woman has got to know her limitations. At my age, I'll stick to five out of the seven of the aforementioned summer pastimes. Just because I'm over sixty doesn't mean I can't have fun.
It's Thursday. Be careful out there.
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