Ski Camp – Florida style…
Just down the road from Aunt Shannon and Uncle Andy’s house in southern Florida is Quiet Waters, an urban state park with everything from walking and biking trails up to a cable wake board park. We missed our ski time at the cottage this summer so thought this would be a fun thing to try…
It turned out that our friend Malwina from the Yukon was down visiting family in Miami and she jumped on board with the adventure. We signed up for a 2 hour beginner session that SkiRixen holds every Saturday and Sunday morning before the park opens to the public. They slow the cable speeds down and provide coaching and instruction – it was perfect!
The staff start everyone out on a knee board to get used to the cable system and learn how to manoeuvre on the water. The hardest part is learning to corner and minimize the slack so you don’t have a big slow down and then a big whip. It took us a few goes to get the hang of things and make it all the way around the square course.
The next progression is to water skis to let you get the weighting/unweighting and the cornering. They don’t recommend slalom skiing as it can be tough with the cable jerks and the slower speed during beginner time. It felt really weird to start by completely sitting on your skis but it worked – lots of small adaptations between a boat and the cable system.
The staff at SkiRixen were fabulous – very patient, gave lots of tips and suggestions and they even zip around in a golf cart to pick you up so you spend less time walking back to the start after you crash and more time on the water.
The finale for everyone was wake boarding. While it is supposed to be the hardest thing, we all found it one of the easiest, although that is probably because we spent our time on the knee board and water skis working out the system. Big smiles by everyone and lots of excitement for wake boarding this summer at the cottage!
It was a fabulous morning together as a family. Sunshine, water and learning new things – doesn’t get any better than that!
We definitely recommend Ski Rixen as a family adventure. They currently have a 2for1 beginner special which made this an absolute bargain at $25 each for a 2 hour session.