Stopped Wakeboarding Now Back?

I want to see some stories on this if you have done this? Why did you stop? What did you do with your extra time and money? What brought you back to wakeboard? ETC. Ok. Break.

It feels as though every winter I stop, kinda get out of it, and then my birthday comes around in Febuary and I go ride in Tally or OWC with my friends and get hooks just like that again! With growing up, starting Real Estate, friends moving to different cities, and gas prices... it just seems harder and harder. Hence my thread on building a winch and my prospects of buying a waverunner to hit rails on.

I started after I quit racing Jet Ski's(96 Yamaha Superjet), about 7 years ago. The wife thought that selling my racing ski and buying a boat would be more family oriented, since our first child was due soon. It's a good thing she was right. When I first started, I hit it hard, and since I did not have any friends that were addicted like me, I quit for a while and then would pick it up and stop again due to other responsibilities, family, work, etc. Now both my kids are old enough, we just bought a new boat(see Profile), and I'm fired-up all over again.

I took off almost two years because I blew out my knee. I had a hard time rehabbing it, too so that certainly made it easier not to want to come right back and start riding. I even stopped coming to this website because all it would do is make me upset that I couldn't ride. I'd still watch my friends ride and I'd also go wake surfing when they went. I did a bunch of home improvement stuff while I was out of wakeboarding and took up guitar. I'm back now though, going almost every day... can't get enough.

I started wakeboarding about ten years ago and never really stopped. But about three years ago it stopped being fun. I just kind of got burnt on it. I kept riding but it was more like going through the motions. I started to pick up other hobbies like playing poker and building my gameroom and working a lot. But for some reason I am ready to ride again. I went out and rode really hard this weekend and have decided to push myself. I know when I ride with passion and ride hard I am a really good rider. I am excited to see what I can accomplish this year. It feels good to love the sport again.
It doesn't hurt that my girlfriend is freakin ripping. Later Mike

knee injury, knee reconstruction, Marriage, Kid accounted for four years where I really didn't care about it that much. Rode like once or twice a year from 2001 - 2005 Didn't get the mags or visit the sites at all and began to wonder how I got so stoked on it in the first place?

Rode a few times last August, knee felt great! Got stoked, built a local website for riders (dcwake.com) and it's all I can think about. Rode a ton during our offseason (mostly down in Florida on business) and learned to hit rails at the projects and then at the OWC. It is still very hard to get away from responsibilities, but I manage to get a fair amount of riding in.

It seems that alot of you have been riding for along time. Does the sport growing more make it more or less fun to ride now?

I think less fun. It is cool that there are more people into wakeboarding, but my lake is so over crowded. I either got to ride in the winter time or at six AM in the summer. It also was a lot better when I didn't have to work and could ride during the week. But those days are gone.
Also a lot of people are into wakeboarding to be cool. Which if that is your thing is great but I would just rather be on an empty lake with my girl. Later Mike

i haven't really stopped, per se, but 3x thru april is almost like stopping. this past sunday was just my 3rd time riding this year. normally, i get out every weekend w/ an occassional ride or two during the week (especially in norcal - 4-5x a week). but this year, i've been swamped with work and other personal stuff (planning a wedding, dvd project), that i haven't even had time to think about riding. plus, the weather's been suckin'!

i'm hoping to get out every weekend again. i still love to ride.

i have been riding for about 11 years now. about 5 years ago i got really burnt out. i got all bumed on all the politics that go on in the competition side of the sport, ended up doin other things and partyin all the time. this was all while i was living in so-cal. jus really hangin out with the wrong people. then i moved to nor-cal and met my wife, we had a child and i started riding more again. i pulled the fins off my board and stated workin more on style. then the roam came out and i really started to find the love for the sport again. the roam has really juiced me back up and i find me pushing myself more than ever now. i guess the motivation of having a family, lookin forward to bein on the boat with them, and the fredom of the roam have all done it for me.

Joe, I think the weather has been killin' the mojo for a lot of californians this year. I can't believe I've been behind the boat less than 10 times since November. That some kind of all time sucking record for me.

Hopefully that's all about to change. The weather is looking up.

evan, yeah, the weather forecast is looking great for this weekend. unfortunately, that means everyone and their mothers will be at the lake.

i can't win!!!