I'm kneeling on a water-skiing knee board on a sand dune at Silver Lake in Michigan; in my hand is the tow rope from the boat and I'm wondering why I let my sister-in-law and husband talk me into this. The boat is in the water about 20 feet from shore, I'm probably 50 feet from where the sand dune meets the water and I'm on the dune. I had already seen my sister-in-law successfully "ski" on the kneeboard down this dune and make the sand to water transition successfully--she had done this before though. Hubby wasn't quite so lucky; he did well on the short run which was what I was now getting set up to attempt but the longer run where you go over the top of the dune didn't go so well because his sister was too timid with the throttle. Hubby was trying to teach her to be more aggressive with the throttle and I was the guinea pig 
I didn't hear what she said but he said "Go ahead and hit the throttle, she rolls good when she crashes." Naturally he meant to hit it just hard enough to keep the rope tight...well that's what I'm going to believe at least.
The dune is steep enough to allow the kneeboard to start sliding slowly under the rider's weight. The more you weigh the faster you slide and the boat operator has to get the boat moving fast enough to keep the rope tight for the sand/water transition but not so fast that you yank the rider off the board. I wrecked on my first trip because there was too much slack in the rope and sis was afraid goose the throttle even though I yelled for more speed as I approached the water. She traded places with Bruce for the next try and he demonstrated how fast the boat needed to be going to allow a successful run, she couldn't believe how fast we were going. A later check revealed we were only doing 10mph.
I was thrilled to make the successful slide and sand/water transition so we went back for another try. This time I let all the rope out and went over the top of the dune. We were using a 100ft barefoot rope tied to a standard ski rope (75 feet maybe?). I went over the top of the dune and situated myself on the kneeboard. I had found that sitting back about 6 inches from the front of the knee pads allowed me to have enough weight on the back of the board to keep the nose up for the water transition. The lap strap of the kneeboard was in place and I flipped the rope to indicate I was ready, there was no way for anyone in the boat to see me since I was several feet beyond the crest of the dune. The boat pulled slowly at first and I found that going uphill on a kneeboard while being pulled by a boat was a lot harder than sliding downhill while the boat sped up to keep pace. I concentrated on keeping my weight and the pressure from the pulling boat focused in my lower legs to drive the kneeboard up the hill. My head popped up from behind the dune crest and sis, driving again, throttled the boat as I started sliding down the dune face. We had discovered that 10mph was a pretty good speed and the sand is soft enough to cushion premature crashes. What a thrill to slide all that way and then transition relatively uneventfully to the water. Skiing behind the boat on 175 feet of line was a little weird; they signalled the turn and even though she made a wide loop the boat had completed the turn but I had not. The kneeboard slowed threatening to spill me so I turned and directed myself perpendicular to the boat. What a strange sensation, there was just enough pull to keep me on the kneeboard but I was skiing toward the side of the boat for a short time. We were almost back to the starting point before I was finally completely behind the boat.
We each did a few more runs but as the dune started to fill with sunbathers we had to give up our activity for their safety. That was probably the best time I've ever had while water skiing! It sounded insane when I first heard my husband talking about what his sis wanted to show us how to do. It sounded really insane the first time I sat on that board on the dune. It's not so insane once you try it!
If you're ever at Silver Lake in Michigan and you have a ski boat, a couple of ropes and a kneeboard give it a shot! Oh and go on the dune ride at Mac Woods Dune Tours, it was a blast and only $15 per person.
I can't wait until I get a chance to visit that part of Michigan again!
Ber :lilbunny:
I didn't hear what she said but he said "Go ahead and hit the throttle, she rolls good when she crashes." Naturally he meant to hit it just hard enough to keep the rope tight...well that's what I'm going to believe at least. The dune is steep enough to allow the kneeboard to start sliding slowly under the rider's weight. The more you weigh the faster you slide and the boat operator has to get the boat moving fast enough to keep the rope tight for the sand/water transition but not so fast that you yank the rider off the board. I wrecked on my first trip because there was too much slack in the rope and sis was afraid goose the throttle even though I yelled for more speed as I approached the water. She traded places with Bruce for the next try and he demonstrated how fast the boat needed to be going to allow a successful run, she couldn't believe how fast we were going. A later check revealed we were only doing 10mph.
I was thrilled to make the successful slide and sand/water transition so we went back for another try. This time I let all the rope out and went over the top of the dune. We were using a 100ft barefoot rope tied to a standard ski rope (75 feet maybe?). I went over the top of the dune and situated myself on the kneeboard. I had found that sitting back about 6 inches from the front of the knee pads allowed me to have enough weight on the back of the board to keep the nose up for the water transition. The lap strap of the kneeboard was in place and I flipped the rope to indicate I was ready, there was no way for anyone in the boat to see me since I was several feet beyond the crest of the dune. The boat pulled slowly at first and I found that going uphill on a kneeboard while being pulled by a boat was a lot harder than sliding downhill while the boat sped up to keep pace. I concentrated on keeping my weight and the pressure from the pulling boat focused in my lower legs to drive the kneeboard up the hill. My head popped up from behind the dune crest and sis, driving again, throttled the boat as I started sliding down the dune face. We had discovered that 10mph was a pretty good speed and the sand is soft enough to cushion premature crashes. What a thrill to slide all that way and then transition relatively uneventfully to the water. Skiing behind the boat on 175 feet of line was a little weird; they signalled the turn and even though she made a wide loop the boat had completed the turn but I had not. The kneeboard slowed threatening to spill me so I turned and directed myself perpendicular to the boat. What a strange sensation, there was just enough pull to keep me on the kneeboard but I was skiing toward the side of the boat for a short time. We were almost back to the starting point before I was finally completely behind the boat.
We each did a few more runs but as the dune started to fill with sunbathers we had to give up our activity for their safety. That was probably the best time I've ever had while water skiing! It sounded insane when I first heard my husband talking about what his sis wanted to show us how to do. It sounded really insane the first time I sat on that board on the dune. It's not so insane once you try it!
If you're ever at Silver Lake in Michigan and you have a ski boat, a couple of ropes and a kneeboard give it a shot! Oh and go on the dune ride at Mac Woods Dune Tours, it was a blast and only $15 per person.
I can't wait until I get a chance to visit that part of Michigan again!
Ber :lilbunny:
