one armed wakeboarders

I was reading in an earlier thread about a few people that board with one arm due to an or some other cause. I was wondering if you or someone you know has this and you could share your stories and pics of how they ride with out an arm. I have had no left arm since birth and have been boarding for 3 yrs and it would be sweet to talk to others who have the same deal

hey Zach , my gielfriend rides with only here right arm. Was in a motorcycle accident 3 years ago, and we then took up wakeboarding after that point. She learned everyhting she knows with only the use of her right arm. Her left arm is still
there, but she has no nerves or ability to control
the arm or hand. We put her bad arm inside the
lifejacket and we bought her a kitesurfing harness
to help her start out of the hole shot a little easier. Amazing what determination can do.
I did post one pick of her riding in the "whoes over 30 post."
She also owns half the X-star too.. LOL.
O yea. she also wakesurfs, whick she finds to be alot easier.. he he..

is she riding tomorrow kevin?

Nope. She has to work, but she will be riding on sunday at Perris.

Hey Zach, if you ever in the Socal area. hit me up. We would love to see you ride. I am sure
it would give my girl some inspiration to see
someone else in her same situation ride also.
Keep up the riding!

yea, for sure, it'd be nice to ride behind a real boat and i'm guessing she could probably give me a few pointers. Looks like she's got it even harder then I do, mine stops just after the elbow so I atleast have a little stub, it would be sweet to watch her ride. Its kind of wierd learning each trick your own way, I just learned tantrums this past summer and it took forever to stomp it, but i'm always up for a challenge and just enjoying the ride.

Well if you can do tantrums, then maybe you can teach me too.. : ).
She is still in the basic learning stage. Doesn't
have alot of strength in the one arm, so she gets
kinda tired quickly. But I am so glad to see her
out there having a good time. Thats all that matters to me.

There is a fellow around here that one of his arms is shorter as a birth defect, but he was brought up on the lake and he is one of the sickest riders around. His Name is Brandon Sizemore.

hey kevin, i can teach you tantrum, too!

sounds like your girlfriend's got herself a very supportive boyfriend. that's awesome dude!

lookin' forward to riding w/ you tomorrow! (and your girlfriend on sun!

Any pics of Brandon?

Randy Harris is a stud!

Zach, I hope you make it out to the Cali Delta some time so you can come ride with us. I ride with Billy every weekend practically. We would be happy to take you out. Here's a couple of shots of Billy.

Here's a short clip of Billy.

Wake by Christie Fisher.

http://www.wakepics.com/img/13366

(Message edited by jarrod on January 12, 2005)

inspiring...simply inspiring.

THE MOST AMAZING video I have ever seen.
Makes me feel like I should never complain about the small things in life. Just simply awesome!!!

second that!

Big Daddy Billy Killing it as always...

SMILING ear to ear the whole time - thats SAYS it all...

These guys ROCK yo. They give new meaning to "Never Give Up On Yourself"

Billy's a pimp

Not to hijack but, I saw Randy ride that day at Worlds with the cast, and it was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen!

BTW: those are some sweet shots.

that video is sweet, makes want to go ride right now (but its -12 out) how long has billy been riding, and how long has he been riding with one arm?

Good question...Evan???

He's been riding since about 97 or 98....It was about the same time he had his injury. He was mainly waterskiing before the accident, but he did ride a little bit. I date everything by what board he was riding, so I could be off a little (a HL fluid). Anyway, he learned almost everything he's got after the injury and this year we'll definitely be pushing eachother. He's looking to get his tantrum more solid this year, pick up a toeside backroll, get an ole spin and we'll see about the whirly.

BTW... After watching him ride, I don't think I'd every challenge him to an arm wrestling match. He, he.

Man, I have to add to the props, THAT IS JUST AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

WoW! It makes me want to try harder! Thanks for sharing.

Thats a great video. Its good to know that you can still do what you love despite major setbacks.

Wow... truly inspiring!! Much props to those who keep their mind set to do anything!!


I am one to know that you never know what is going to happen the next day. Just have to be strong and keep going....

wow j-rod, where you been hiding that vid?? he's amazing. certainly gives perspective to those days when you're being frustrated by a trick.

btw, has he landed that scarecrow?

(Message edited by deepstructure on January 14, 2005)

Hey Chris:

He has landed the crow but it's a tough one for him. I don't have one on video yet.

His half cab rolls are really close. I have a shot of him riding out but dropping the rope.

I have a bunch of footage of him. Just need to get off my ace and produce another video.

wow - halfcab roll? damn, and i was going to comment that doing switch stuff would be near impossible for him since he'd be crossed up (his half-cab in the vid looked difficult). most impressive.

He can do it, just don't ask me how. I'm still not sure how he charges the wake switch with the rope across his body. Last year he had the crow's pretty solid, but for some reason at the end of the year he started having trouble with them. He'll probably get them back pretty soon.

Thats insane, he rides better then most two armed people, wow, truly amazing.

That guy rips. Awesome and thanks for posting.

What about three-legged people? Carter always claims he has a third leg, but his wife tells me differently.

Well heres my favorite rider,my girl. Yea she only has one arm too. Shes not able to go big, but she loves to wakeboard.

heres one more

Kevin: That's awesome!

I hope she is inspired by Billy's riding too. There are all kinds of possibilities.

Best thread I've seen in a long time.

hey kevin, i was just wondering how long it took your gf to learn to get up on one handed

J-rod, how long does billy usually go before he takes a break and how many sets a day might you guys take?

It took her about 4 or 5 try's one handed to get up her first time.(keep in mind she never wakeboarded even before the accident)-madd props to my girl. For a long time she started with just arm
strength, which made her runs very short cause alot of her energy was wasted just to get started.
Last season we bought her a kite surfing harness
and rigged her handle so now it is almost
effortless for her to start out. Makes it alot
more fun for her.

(Message edited by big x-star on January 15, 2005)

that's sweet kevin!

we riding tomorrow? call me!

Billy's sets aren't any shorter than anyone elses. He rides as long as he wants.

WOW! Gives me some hope! i just had a flash of insipration of tricks i could do with my one good arm after watching that video! thanks for the thread to, its been very uplifting to read all this. any one legged riders out there? ;) ... i will be attempting my first ride since my accident sometime in may. i'll let you know how it goes.

I was contacted a guy in Oregon that had his lower leg amputated after a bad snowboarding accident. He had a Compound fracture of his Tibia and Fibula I believe after he hit a stump. He had to have an artery attached to his lower leg to keep it from "Dying" I guess, but it didn't heal. I guess there is a pro snowboarder with only one leg that contacted him after hearing his story and told him to let it go and he decided to move ahead without the leg feeling like he'd rather be able to do the things he loves with a prosthetic rather than have a useless leg that wouldn't allow him to do any sports. It was an amazing and touching story.

He wakeboards (although I think he he said he prefers to wakeskate because it's easier on his prosthetic leg and equipment). I think he still Snowboards too. And amazingly enough he plays drums in a band and they're really good!

I think he's on this site, but I forget his name. I'm bad with names...so I apologize. We haven't been in contact for a while, but I definitely feel like he's an amazing person with tons of heart! If you're out there Bro...e-mail me!