Who do you ride with?

I am new to wakeboarding but love it. The problem is that none of my buddies ride, I am 39 but my kids, 15 and 18 do ride and so do all of their friends, some are really good. So the only crew I have on the boat with me other then my wife (she prefers to just lay out) is teenagers. In one way I don't mind because I get to spend time with my kids but in another way it sometimes feels weird. Any other dads or moms that always have a boat load of kids onboard??

My dad did before he let me pull the boat on my own. Now he just goes out occasionally. I think he feels your pain.

I hope I'll have my kids and their buddies out with me when they are older. That's why I got the boat. You should feel lucky!

I do see the value in having them but I guess I just wished I had some friends my age that loved to ride too....I mean you ever hear the music these kids listen to these day!!

I too let them take the boat when I can't go.

I feel ya. My friends don't ride whatsoever and the only water time I would get was when it was family day at the lake. And even then it was with a bunch of teens. 1 maybe 2 sets over the weekend was about it. I have been lucky enough to meet some peeps here on WW that happen to be around my age and we get out at least once a week. Although I have to admit, we don't always act our age...

Tony

Ask some of your friends to see if they would like to learn? Its never to late to try it out.

I have all kinds of different crews. Have family days with my teen kids and their friends girl friends, have a pretty regular crew of 20-30 somethings that are the 'core' wakeboard crew, and will have days where it is friends and coworkers over and not much serious riding. Just depends on the day, but must say my kids used to ride more but as they have gotten older they are not too fond of getting up at 8A on the WEs to ride and they have discovered that their Mom and I do not look as good in a swimsuit as girls their own age do.

My kids are basically my crew and I think it's great....it's basically why we have our boat. Every so often I will get out with some people as "seasoned" (my kid's word) as myself. It would be fun if that happened more often, but I'll take whatever crew is available. With the kid crew I still get enough respect to call first in the butter....so I've got that going for me.

I think having the kids around is great. Every so often (but not very) I have to call BS on the music and have Dad time with the ipod. The good news is I'm usually driving so I have control of the remote.

My oldest just turned 15, and he's been driving the boat for some time. The big breakthrough this summer is now he is solo on driving the boat for the launch/retrieve or solo on backing the truck. So it's better times for all now that the wife can sleep in a bit more.

I usually ride with my flatmates and other friends, sometimes my brother and his friends come out too. I think it'd be cool to get my Dad out on a board, he comes out sometimes but he just drives.

don't get me wrong, my kids and their friends are cool and are never rude or out of control, I do have fun with them and they give me all the respect. I just know that I am sure there is times when they are thinking man wish dad wasn't here. Oh well, ride with the kids and party with the adults at night!!

old people don't wakeboard

hey edgar are u going out today, thursday june 25th. the river is closed down here

yo= Jo shmoe- suck it pal... I'm 43 and while i'm not even close to pro, I land 3's, rolls, tantrums, 4 different 180s and i have a LOT of fun- and that's what matters. I have a 16 yr old and a 13 yr old and they love surfing and kill it- not much for boarding,but they put up with me so they can ride too.. Edgar- find your crew man- i ride with 2-3 guys in their 20's and we're all cool- no age issues. ..

Edgar, I'm in my 40's and my 15 y.o. son comes out to ride just about every time. We have riders in their 20's, 30's and 40's and we all get along great. My son and I listen to rock (AC/DC, Metallica, Linkin park, Van Halen, etc.) so it's all good.
Boating with the family is what it's all about. Sure beats cutting grass!

"i ride with 2-3 guys in their 20's", thats because old people don't ride and rock sucks

joeshmoe, I may not have a big bag of tricks for wakeboarding, but I also slalom, skyski and barefoot too. Maybe youu should hang with some "older" guys.......you might learn something new.

"rock n roll ain't noise pollution, rock n roll will never die"

My wife and kids are all I ride with, still havent gotten my wife to try it yet, but hte kids love it.

My kids are 11 and 6.

Dave, slalom and barefooting are too hard, i know a couple people that have slalomed their whole life and now drop a ski to get up on the water. I think there is an age where if you don't learn the sport, after a certain age you have lost out on the ability to ever learn that sport in your lifetime. I learned how to surf several years ago, now it is in my muscle memory and i can surf even after a three month layoff. I do not believe i would be able to surf if i started today, sadly, there are people in their 20's who are past their age of doing anything athletic in their lifetime, everyone is different.
Will, if you ever make it down to ohio shoot me an e-mail, i don't have a problem riding with younger riders.


(Message edited by joeshmoe on June 27, 2009)

By jo shmoe (joeshmoe) on Thursday, June 25, 2009 - 9:29 am:

"old people don't wakeboard"

...that's good to know jo, because I'm 57 and I wakeboard, so I guess I'm not old!!

exactly chris, you are only as old as you feel, now we just need to find a retirement home on a lake with a wakeboard boat.

I'd love to retire lakefront, but in my own lakefront home. Hey Chris, maybe you can build one for me and we'll wakeboard together.

Same here, we love taking the kids and their friends out, my problem is that I am a slalom skier and when the boat is loaded I don't get to ski. I feel my DD is fading but the main thing is that the family is together most of the time. I have older friends that I ride with so it evens out the time. Find a good forum and hook up with new people, you'll like it and you'll meet new friends on top of leaning new things from others.

Have you tried the find a third threads?

I wakeboard with people from under age 10 to their early 40's. It's part of what I like about wakeboarding, how it's a sport where we can all relate at any age and all go out and enjoy it!

who evers got the nice boat

My dad and I bought our boat as partners - sometimes we ride with my friends, sometimes with his, sometimes with both. I'm 26 and he's 49 though, so its likely not as big of an age gap.