The feeling was amazing when I first got up slalom waterskiing because I was trying so long to get it and I had bruises to prove my point. This is how it happened. It was August at 6:00 a.m. with my best friend Noah in Lake George, NY. Noah and I went out to our blue and white Sea Ray and started to uncover the cover that covered it and went to gather the skis and gloves and the sunscreen from out of the cabin with crust still on our eyes. Noah, my dad and I boated to Dunhams Bay and turned up the radio and dropped the rope into the lake; Noah jumped into the icy water and screamed with pleasure. For the couple of past years I have been doing two skis but this time my dad told me to do one ski; that’s what he used to do when he was a kid and I was hoping to carve a water wall as high as a house. Noah was going first so he jumped into the lake and went water-skiing. After his arms ached or he fell it was my turn. I jumped into the lake and didn’t show any emotion, because I knew this time I was going to ski with one ski. I put my right foot forward and my left in the slot in the back and my dad revved the boat. I grabbed the rope with both hands and then the rope went tight and my dad went. My water-ski started to go wobbly and then I had it straight and I was up riding the water like a jockey rides their horse. My dad went faster and faster till I was right in the perfect speed. It was so fun and right away I tried to go outside the wake and ride the glass outside the wake and I did! I was a natural. I was so relaxed and the wind was whistling my hair back and everyone on the boat was yelling my name. I am not even close to pro but I am pretty good, and I can make a wall higher than me and I am going try some tricks next season.


Three years from that August day I am now carving in the water with one hand and I am waving at the other boats, and trying to gap the wake all on one ski. I still look back on that day I went from skiing on two skis to one ski. I thought that I was missing so much when I was skiing when I went two footed skiing. Noah’s getting there, but I think he’s never going to make it this season.

E.B.S.
Red, La
March 10, 2009