Board timeline

Whats up guys,

I'm not certain if this is the most appropriate forum for this but since my timeline emphasizes wakeboarding the most I'd guess it's okay. I was just wondering what all board sports you guys are into and how it came about. Mine goes like this:

-Got my first 'real' skateboard around 5th grade. No skate parks where I'm from so we built small kickers and waxed curbs/wood to grind and slide on - learned ollies, heel and kickflips, varials and 180's for the most part.

-Got on a wakeboard for the first time a couple of years later about 1997 I guess. It was an EP 5150 with sandle bindings - rode it occasionaly but mostly slalom ski'd a couple of years until I got serious about it and wakeboarded exclusively.

Got to ride a snowboard for the first time when I was a Junior in college. Fell in love with it just like every other board I'd ridden. Now I live in NC and try to get up to Boone and snowboard as much as I can when it's cold enough.

Last October I got to surf for the first time in Costa Rica. I found out why surfers wear rash guards as my stomach was red and raw from paddling out time and again to catch another wave.


Have you guys noticed how easily they all transition? I reassembled my skateboard a few years ago after not riding one for years, and after half an hour I was ollying over trash cans. I never had been able to do that before and like I said it had been years since I stepped foot on a skateboard. Likewise, with snowboarding I picked it up in the matter of a few runs and only fell a few times my first time down when my buddy's "accidentally" took me to the top of the mountain. I can only attribute that to all the years on a wakeboard.

...just curious to see what other people's experience was and how each helped learn another boardsport.

- First skateboard was around 1976 when boards were made of plastic with a tip only at one end with the other end flat. I still remember a demo in the parking lot of a store where a guy (who seemed so old to me) would ride his board up to a shopping cart and let the board roll under the cart while he jumped over it, landing on the board on the other side. I thought that was so cool and I begged my mom for a board for weeks.

- After skiing for 10 years I finally tried snowboarding in 1994. I have strapped on skis only one time since then. Otherwise, its been snowboarding all the way.

- The first time I tried wakeboarding was in 2001. By the end of summer in 2002 I was hooked and have been riding every week (from March-November) ever since.

I haven't really skateboarded since I was about 15. I tried it once about 10 years ago and just about broke my neck. I still love to snowboard, but since getting married and having kids the snowboard trips are few and far in-between. It's freakin' expensive for a family of 4 to go on a ski trip!

Got my first really skateboard at age 8 (Mark Gonzalez) in 83 and skated probably until I was 17 or 18 years old.

Got my first Snowboard at age 10 (Burton Elite)in 85. Have been snowboard ever since, but not as much as I used to. Like the above post, skiing is expensive once you have a family. Plus I'd rather spend it on gas towing people behind boat.

Bought my first boat last summer. Niether my wife or I water ski (no skis on our boat), so I got my first wakeboard last summer at the age of 32.

Also tried wakeskating once last summer, so over the winter I bought my own skate, and yes I'm still 32 (I believe).

(Message edited by Moon on March 13, 2009)