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Water ski, then work
A couple of mornings a week, I zip across the surface of Lake Austin on a water ski.
It’s a habit I picked up five years ago. When I turned 40, I decided to learn how to run a slalom course. A friend, a former state champion water skier, spent the summer teaching me how to zigzag through the series of buoys on a single ski. You have to be aggressive and fearless, but by the end of that summer, I finally did it.
I liked it so much that my husband and I bought a used Ski Nautique and now take it to Lake Austin most Tuesday and Sunday mornings.
Starting a workday by jumping into the water and whizzing down the river behind a boat is bliss. I’ve had a black swan flap just overhead, I’ve watched blue herons fishing on docks, I’ve seen big fish leap out of the water. Between sets, we stop the boat and soak up the early morning beauty.
We ski for an hour or an hour and a half, put the boat back on the trailer and head to work. I’m at my desk by 8:30 or 9 a.m.
This week, we took out Ryan Whaley, a media relations representative for Breckenridge Ski Resort. He’s used to skiing on snow. Or in a very cold reservoir in Colorado, where he likes to water ski. But he was in Austin to meet with journalists, and we offered to show him how we ski in Austin.
When he jumped in to Lake Austin, a smile spread across his face. “It’s like a hottub!” he hollered.
He’s used to lakes with water temperatures in the low 60s, and Lake Austin’s been really warm lately. Whaley’s good, too. He grew up water skiing, and has competed in his home state of Ohio. Watching him scream across the wake behind the boat was like watching a sharp knife slice through butter. At high speeds, of course.
That’s him in the shot above, cruising beneath the Pennybacker Bridge as the sun comes up. That’s me getting ready for a run, below. And my husband Chris, handling boat duties until it’s his turn in the water.
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By wendy
August 28, 2009 10:04 AM | Link to this
Pamela - I’ve probably seen you skiing by the bridge in the morning. I work at the Plaza on the Lake and I’ve been so jealous of skiers and boaters because I just don’t own a boat! Hopefully someday though… I think it’s a good thing that you don’t DITCH work and ski, but rather get up early for this sort of thing. You rock!
By Pam LeBlanc
August 28, 2009 1:11 PM | Link to this
Hey Wendy. I’ve always wished I worked at that building! Imagine … skiing during lunch hour. Woo hoo!