May have to hang it up

[mxfever]

I?m into my third year of riding and learned the hard way a while ago to watch that precious front edge.

Well this past Friday I thought I would try something new. I can do surface 360?s so I thought I would try one in the air. I didn?t want to go all out and clear the wake so I edged in with enough speed to get enough pop to make the rotation. Well I make the rotation but on my landing I didn?t have the front of the board up enough, and we all know what happens in this circumstance.

I was knocked unconscious for what I?m told was 20 ? 30 seconds. I climbed back in the boat and called it a day. Well about 3 hours later I started to feel off. Nauseous, dizzy and really sore all over. Then I started getting sick. My wife came in the bathroom to check on me and said that once I looked at her she knew I was in bad shape. My pupils had diolated so large that the color couldn?t be seen in my eyes. She put me in the truck and took me to the ER.

I was in the ER for 4 hours before they could get me to stabilize and stop getting sick. I was finally diagnosed with a sever concussion and a sever whiplash. They released me later that night but my wife had to check on me and wake me up every 2-1/2 hours.

As much fun as wakeboarding is I now have to wonder?..is it really worth it? Maybe if I were younger and didn?t have twins to worry about providing for it might be different. I will ride again but probably won?t ever try anything aggressive again.

 

[pat8839]

Re: May have to hang it up

Wow that's horrible! I'm sorry to hear that man! I feel ya on the "is it worth it?" game. I want to try new tricks but at the same time I don't want to wind up in the hospital either...but it is way too much fun to give it up!

 

[scrit9mm]

Re: May have to hang it up

perhaps you would want to try a different sport now? I got tired with skiing went to kneeboarding, got tired of that now I am buying a wakeboard. Try wakeskating, it looks fun and with the lack of speed you are unlikley to get injured.

Sorry about the spill, doesn't sound fun at all!

 

[mxfever]

Re: May have to hang it up

perhaps you would want to try a different sport now? I got tired with skiing went to kneeboarding, got tired of that now I am buying a wakeboard. Try wakeskating, it looks fun and with the lack of speed you are unlikley to get injured.

Sorry about the spill, doesn't sound fun at all!

You know that's not a bad idea! You aren't strapped to the board so I wouldn't think the spills wouldn't be as severe. Think I'll look into that. Thanks!

 

[ThreeMileBayWaker]

Re: May have to hang it up

Buy a helmet...

 

[MelodyBay]

Re: May have to hang it up

Sorry to hear that. I hope everything works out.

 

[pat8839]

Re: May have to hang it up

Buy a helmet...

We have a helmet in our boat!

 

[mxfever]

Re: May have to hang it up

Buy a helmet...

We have a helmet in our boat!

See I thought about a helmet. But..... clear the air if you will. Would it really make a difference in this instance? The brain is still going to hit the skull with that hard of an impact. And I was under the assumption that wearing a helmet while wakeboarding was only really necessary if you were grinding rails or something along those lines.

 

[tgell001]

Re: May have to hang it up

Ironically a similar thing happened to me this weekend. Since i've been at it i'm pretty much the only one i know and ride with that hasn't gotten hurt. But, this weekend I went to do a 360 (wake to wake) was concentrating on the handle pass more than the landing and over rotated and caught me heel edge and saw stars. Didn't even ride the second day of my vacation weekend because my neck muscles in the front by my throat were too sore to hold my head up.

My opinion it is it is worth it. I just had this reality that theres a point when youre good enough at a sport when you can have a good time and not to worry so much about progressing because there is a limit when it comes athleticism and ability. Just my 2 cents.

 

[salty87]

Re: May have to hang it up

there's some danger in any watersport. i broke a femur landing a wakeskate w2w very wrong. i had no business trying to land it, didn't really even intend to try but the damn skate stayed under my feet! i thought i'd just splash into the water. and, i was wakeskating because i had hurt by knee the week before.

i still ride although i'll never try that again. i take it easier. there are no trophies to win. just have fun and don't push it too hard when you're not comfortable.

 

[Hansolo99]

Re: May have to hang it up

SORRY to hear that as well. It does happen and a tough lesson to learn. I hope you recover fine and remember you can have fun in the boat even without wakeboarding. I am glad your wife did not hesitate to take you to the ER as it could been very ugly......

 

[pigrge]

Re: May have to hang it up

Man! This must be the year of the injury! A week and a half ago I was out and, mind you, I'm only in my second full year of wakeboarding, so I'm still learning, but I was trying for the infamous beginner trick and wake to wake jump. I had landed two BEAUTIFULLY and was extremely excited about those two. I asked my brother to pull out the video camera to catch it so my friends would believe me. Naturally, as soon as the video camera came out, up came the choppy water. Not wanting to disappoint, I went for it. I hit a nasty wave just prior to my pop off the wake, completely putting me in the wrong position for the entire jump, and landed tow side down on the front of the board and *snap snap* there went my tibia (shin bone) and fibula (support bone for tibia). A short, but painful, ride back to the dock and an even more painful ambulance ride to the E.R. and I found out that my season was over as quickly as it begun. Had to have a rod and a few screws put down the middle of my shin bone to hold it together, and I'm rockin the recliner for the next six months. For me, this is the name of the game. I knew the risk and I was willing to take it. I WILL be back out on the board next year and I WILL grab my wake to wake on video to redeem myself. The one thing I did learn is to trust your instincts. If your gut is telling you, "Don't do it" then......DON'T DO IT! I knew I shouldn't have tried that jump with all that chop, so I can only blame myself! Don't be afraid of things just cause you get injured, learn from your mistakes, pick yourself up and go again! Go big or go home baby! See ya next year!

 

[2000fourwinns]

Re: May have to hang it up

Wow, you guys are really getting me to thinking about this whole thing. I just started wakeboarding this summer. Matter of fact, I just got up on the board two outings ago. Last Monday I was able to ride through the wake both directions and edge pretty hard up beside the boat. I knew of face plants and sore muscles, possibly a concussion, but broke bones being somewhat common? I don't know.

One thing I think would be interesting to know is everyones age. I think that might show who is trying these harder jumps and who is just riding back and forth. I'm 39.

 

[mxfever]

Re: May have to hang it up

Wow, you guys are really getting me to thinking about this whole thing. I just started wakeboarding this summer. Matter of fact, I just got up on the board two outings ago. Last Monday I was able to ride through the wake both directions and edge pretty hard up beside the boat. I knew of face plants and sore muscles, possibly a concussion, but broke bones being somewhat common? I don't know.

One thing I think would be interesting to know is everyones age. I think that might show who is trying these harder jumps and who is just riding back and forth. I'm 39.

Didn't mean to scare anyone away. There is danger in anything that you do. If you haven't already caught the leading edge, you will know when you do. The front of the board will tip under and brings forward motion to a comlete stop. Resulting in at the minimum being sore.

Be cautious of the front endge and I would recommend a boat speed somehwere between 15-18 mph until you get more comfortable. This will soften the blow on the water.

I'm 33 years old. This past weekend was a wake up call. I can watch the big tricks on youtube. I'll stick with what I'm comfortabel with.

 

[Hunters Dad]

Re: May have to hang it up

I was thinking the same thing as 2000fourwinns - age definitely plays a role in what I will try. When you have kids and a family to think about, pulling off a w2w 360 just doesn't seem as important. I am just learning this sport also (and it sometimes seems I am being pitch-forked into it by my 15 year-old son and his buddies!) but we are all having fun learning it. Part of passing the torch is the young lion cubs doing something very daring than looking at me to see if I will try it - like some demented game of old-dog young-dog wakeboard chicken. But that is the difference - youth has fearless courage...as we get older, we weigh the risk, then decide if the odds are in our favor. Breaking a bone or 2 is part of growing up...but no one likes an ambulance ride and a cast at 39 (my age also) - with the ER doctor giving you that look like your an idiot lol. I will wakeboard as hard as I can for as long as I can and I will try to keep up with the young bucks, but I can already see a point coming where they will move on and I will stay behind and just do my thing. Someone said it right - there are no trophies to win and we should all be doing this to have fun. I hope you heal well, and I also hope you don't hang it up - we don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing!

 

[salty87]

Re: May have to hang it up

we don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing!

ain't that the truth.

i broke mine 10 years ago when i was 32.

pigrge...you da man...you'll be back out there again before you know it. well, maybe a little longer than that. go see some concerts, you'll get moved up front if you have crutches 8)
(been there, done that)

 

[ThreeMileBayWaker]

Re: May have to hang it up

Wow... lots of older riders on here. Didn't think that many in their 30's and almost 40's were into extreme sports... I'm only 25 )

Remember.... "Fear is the mind killer", u gotta commit all the way through a trick. If you get scared, your most likely going to fall short and hurt yourself. I've found that out the hard way... :rolls eyes:

 

[mmwest]

Re: May have to hang it up

i'm 48 and the only thing i even come close to trying is getting about 6"out of the water when (crossing wake 2 wake)

 

[craze1cars]

Re: May have to hang it up

I'm 40. Big trick days are over. Still willing to go full wake-to-wake, but only on my strong side, and I'll never try to invert or turn around anymore. The misses are just too much to take anymore. I've clearly stopped progressing and I am on the downswing in this sport, but I'm at peace with that. My injuries over the years have been limited to a busted ear drum, cracked ribs, neck whiplash (almost weekly), and rotator cuff sprains/strains. Never a broken bone or concussion....though I've had a few headaches so maybe mild concussion...

Oddly, in hindsight, most of my injuries occured while doing simple surface tricks. So frankly I've pretty much stopped doing most of those too...I guess you could say I'm pretty dang close to hanging it up myself. My body just can't recover like it did when I was even 10 years younger...and I assure it it's not for lack of exercize and working out...I'm a very fit person who takes care of myself...

So I've found myself switching back to my roots with slalom again...and REALLY liking it better than boarding. I'll even attempt a course here & there when one shows up on our lake, but I don't have the strength to reach the full distance of the buoys anymore so I just hit my "pretend" buoys on the inside...or more often just freestyle in open water. I get far more exercize (Slalom takes MUCH more muscle and endurance than boarding does), crashes/falls are more predictable than the typical front-edge-wakeboard-faceplant-NOW crashes, and it's a good time. Much to my own surprise I'm loving riding the tube more and more...especially "battle-tubing" with young teenagers...and even those spills are a lot easier and softer/more predictable than the dang surprise wakeboard slams. I'll take skipping across the surface of the water like a ragdoll ANYDAY before I'll take another neck-snapping STOP NOW face-plant from a failed wakeboard trick....

And I get great joy in teaching kids how to get up on most anything, and give them tips and pointers on how to progress. I've become more of a coach than anything lately, and I can occasionally demonstrate some simple stuff for them and have fun doing it.

But for my own riding purposes I think the skis and tubes will keep me happy for the next decade or so...and I'll reassess again as my body continues to change.

IMO boarding is not good middle-age-man sport...unless you're satisfied just getting up and riding around on the surface...then I suppose it's OK. I have a few friends like that, but I have a hard time with it. When I'm on a board I always want to push a little farther, a little higher, and try to learn something new...but now my body tells me I shouldn't do that anymore....because learning something new on a wakeboard ALWAYS ends in a few hard falls.

But there are many OTHER things that us "old folks" can do more safely behind a tow boat. Embrace and enjoy them before giving up on watersports as a whole...

It's never any fun to come to grips with your age and mortality...everyone does in due time. Heck life itself is terminal in 100% of diagnosed cases...

 

[mxfever]

Re: May have to hang it up

I'm 40. Big trick days are over. Still willing to go full wake-to-wake, but only on my strong side, and I'll never try to invert or turn around anymore. The misses are just too much to take anymore. I've clearly stopped progressing and I am on the downswing in this sport, but I'm at peace with that. My injuries over the years have been limited to a busted ear drum, cracked ribs, neck whiplash (almost weekly), and rotator cuff sprains/strains. Never a broken bone or concussion....though I've had a few headaches so maybe mild concussion...

Oddly, in hindsight, most of my injuries occured while doing simple surface tricks. So frankly I've pretty much stopped doing most of those too...I guess you could say I'm pretty dang close to hanging it up myself. My body just can't recover like it did when I was even 10 years younger...and I assure it it's not for lack of exercize and working out...I'm a very fit person who takes care of myself...

So I've found myself switching back to my roots with slalom again...and REALLY liking it better than boarding. I'll even attempt a course here & there when one shows up on our lake, but I don't have the strength to reach the full distance of the buoys anymore so I just hit my "pretend" buoys on the inside...or more often just freestyle in open water. I get far more exercize (Slalom takes MUCH more muscle and endurance than boarding does), crashes/falls are more predictable than the typical front-edge-wakeboard-faceplant-NOW crashes, and it's a good time. Much to my own surprise I'm loving riding the tube more and more...especially "battle-tubing" with young teenagers...and even those spills are a lot easier and softer/more predictable than the dang surprise wakeboard slams. I'll take skipping across the surface of the water like a ragdoll ANYDAY before I'll take another neck-snapping STOP NOW face-plant from a failed wakeboard trick....

And I get great joy in teaching kids how to get up on most anything, and give them tips and pointers on how to progress. I've become more of a coach than anything lately, and I can occasionally demonstrate some simple stuff for them and have fun doing it.

But for my own riding purposes I think the skis and tubes will keep me happy for the next decade or so...and I'll reassess again as my body continues to change.

IMO boarding is not good middle-age-man sport...unless you're satisfied just getting up and riding around on the surface...then I suppose it's OK. I have a few friends like that, but I have a hard time with it. When I'm on a board I always want to push a little farther, a little higher, and try to learn something new...but now my body tells me I shouldn't do that anymore....because learning something new on a wakeboard ALWAYS ends in a few hard falls.

But there are many OTHER things that us "old folks" can do more safely behind a tow boat. Embrace and enjoy them before giving up on watersports as a whole...

It's never any fun to come to grips with your age and mortality...everyone does in due time. Heck life itself is terminal in 100% of diagnosed cases...

^^^^^^well said craze1cars! My wife can thrash me any day of the week on a tube and I'll gladly take it. I'll still ride wakeboards, I just think my time of working to become pro are over. I'll just have to teach my kids and maybe they will get sponsored and I can get a free Super Air every year!

I came to the same realization on dirt bikes years ago. I still ride them but my 100 foot double days are over. You youngins go shred. I'll play it safe and provide for my family.