Water skiing in the English countryside? Yes please!
Who thought water skiing was not just for the open sea and large lakes in the US and Canada? As Greek, living and breathing summer water-sports, I never thought of water skiing in the English country side. Boy, was I missing out?
Be honest. When you think of England, you don’t associate it with water-based sports and activities. You tend to think of the Victorian buildings, the Queen, the culture, the great countryside, and the rain. So it came as a surprise when one of my best friends, Robert, suggested we go out to Kings Lynn for a water-ski weekend getaway.
After questioned him for a while, to test the seriousness of his proposal, we landed on a date in early summer. I packed my camera bag, got some extra gear to make the most of it, and off we went.
Always check with the weather Gods first
But this is England and unpredictable weather is something we all learn to live by. A week before, the forecast showed blue skies and high temperatures - around 25C which in England is high enough to leave work and spend the day at a park. Five days later, the forecast did a 180 and we were up against rain, gusty winds and temperatures as high as 16C.
We decided to give it a go and try our luck in the cold weather anyway.
The one thing I've learned in my almost 6 years in London is to dress in layers and always be prepared for a full 4-season weather on a single day, any day. Off we went to King’s Lynn on a rainy Friday night, in hopes the weather Gods will do us a favour and clear the skies for a a couple of hours of water skiing.
We got up on Saturday morning hoping there might be a chance for an hour of action. We spent the day wondering about the rainy town, drinking cheap beer with locals and eating crisps. We had lots of those. However, with all our bad luck, came a glimpse of hope. Sunday's forecast promised blue skies and somewhat hot weather. There is God after all!
Let's do this thing
I grabbed my cameras, I put on my wet-suit and and started making awesome memories, and a cool video in the process. Skiing in this gorgeous lake is nothing like skiing in the open sea. You have more control of your skis and you’re able to do cool tricks. Well, not me, but other did!
Even the scenery is way more exciting and the water not as cold as you'd think. Rob and I had a blast and can't wait to go back to Premier Water Ski School at Pentney Lakes to film some more.
The one thing I regret is that I wish I captured more of the sadness and the grumpy weather on Saturday, but I was in a bad place, unwilling to take out my camera all that much.
One thing I learned in the process, is to never give up on making memories. No day is the same in England, and if we had called the whole thing off, we would have missed that window of opportunity on Sunday, and probably we wouldn't have found another weekend to work for both of us until late September - an even rainier month.
What would you do? Call it off and stay home, or push through for a window of opportunity? Let me know in the comments below!
Till next time…
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