Every year my husband's family has a reunion weekend at his oldest brother's lake house on Possum Kindgom Lake in Texas. It's always an extremely fun time with activities ranging from card games to sand volleyball to wakeboarding!

A few years ago, we were riding on our boat with friends. Everyone was skiing, wake boarding, or wake surfing. I really enjoyed being on the boat and watching everyone but it occurred to me that I really wanted to learn to wakeboard. We really weren't sure how to make this activity accessible for me but we started some research and it wasn't long before we had an idea. I had water skied before so we went with that same concept for the wake board. We purchased (LiquidAccess.org) the "cage" which is the seat that attaches to the wakeboard to make it accessible to people with disabilities. We had an old wakeboard laying around so we attached the cage to it and took it to the lake.

It was slow going at first and I even doubted that I would ever really be able to do it. It was extremely hard for me to stay balanced in the water so my husband would have to get in with me and hold me steady until the boat pulled me up onto the water. Once I was up it was super bumpy and frankly, I didn't find it that fun bc it kinda hurt! I kept at it and it wasn't long before I was getting into the cage without assistance and then getting up without any help in the water!

Over the next couple years, we learned a couple things that made wake boarding one of my favorite activities! The wakeboard you decide to attach the cage to does matter. You need to purchase the longest/widest wakeboard you can find. This will help with balance and also makes for a much smoother ride. I went from a 138cm wakeboard to a 146cm wakeboard which was also a bit wider. That doesn't really seem like it should make that big of a difference but IT DID! It made it so much easier to get out of the water and also, a much smoother ride.

This video is from our weekend with family at Possum Kingdom. I still have a long way to go, but I am finally able to get up, go across the wake, and even catch some air every now and then! Leave a comment if you have any questions and let me know what you think!