RIGA
- "Hit it!"
The tips of my skis were
poking out of the water.
Looking between them, I
could see the driver of the
boat nod in recognition and
turn toward the dashboard. I
heard the engine spring to
life and felt the slack on the
rope running from the boat
to my handlebars tighten. As
the skis lifted me out of the
water a wake started to form
into two small moguls of
water to either side of me.
As the boat towed me
away from the docks I quickly
remembered the basics of
the sport. I pulled off to one
side of the wake and unsuccessfully
tried to imitate
some of the graceful turns
that I had watched Ivars
Ildens, manager of Sturis
Water Sports Center, perform
just a few minutes
beforehand.
The small
sprays of water coming from
my skis formed rainbows in
the sunlight. Feeling my confidence
growing, I decided to
cut back across the wake and
try to get some air.
Immediately after I fell I
tried to open my eyes and
realized I was underwater. It
doesn't particularly hurt to
fall on water skis, but it can
be disorienting for a few seconds.
The water was cold,
but the wetsuit I'd been lent
by the company kept me surprisingly
warm. The boat
pulled back around and 's
after making sure I still wore
a big smile after the fall 's
Ildens put the boat back into
gear so I could finish my
ride.
As a sport, water skiing
is just starting to take hold
in Latvia. Sturis is one of
between five and 10 companies
that offer water skiing,
and most of those companies
are for members only.
As a result of this, on a
sunny day the lines at Sturis
can last as long as an hour
for a few minutes on the
water. "Normally I only have
time to go skiing myself in
the morning," Ildens said.
Most of the customers 's
about 80 percent 's are
Latvian, but the company
also gets a lot of people from
the other Baltic states and
Western Europe.
There still aren't many
good water skiers in Latvia;
there is only one person who
is able to compete on the
European level. Nevertheless,
enthusiasts of the sport
have started organizing
water skiing festivals in the
past few years. One of the
regulars at Sturis told me
that these festivals draw
some of the best skiiers in
Europe. "They say that they
like it [the conditions] here
best. Other places have too
many boats and there is not
such good shelter [from the
wind]," he said.
What makes Sturis
unique is that it is the only
place in the Baltic states that
has a hydrofoil. A "foil" is
like a small surfboard with a
seat on the top and a long fin
on the bottom. When the
boat gets to a certain speed,
the meter-long fin causes the
board to rise up out of the
water.
"Riding on the foil feels
like flying.
On skis or a
board if the water is rough
then the ride is rough, but
with this [the foil] it doesn't
matter because there is not
any resistance against the
water," Ildens said. As I
watched him ride the foil, it
was easy to see how it could
feel like flying. Not only did
the ride look smoother, he
was also able to launch himself
high into the air 's at
one point he even did a
back-flip.
I had only been water
skiing a few times before,
and had not tried for many
years. I was worried that I
had forgotten everything but
Ildens assured me it would
be fine. "Even after 15 years
you can still do it, it is not
something you can forget,"
Ildens said. "It's like learning
to ride a bicycle."
Ildens said that for those
who have never water skied
before, getting started is not
very difficult and almost
anyone can get up on skis or
a wakeboard after only a few
minutes of trying. "I can get
anyone up on a board or skis
in 10 minutes. With the foil it
is a little different though,
with that I can make no
guarantees," he said.
A friendly warning to
those looking to strap some
skis on their feet and hit the
water before the summer
dies out: it may be easy to get
up on the skis, but the sport
is not as easy as it looks. Ten
minutes on the water will
leave an inexperienced
skier's arms and legs
exhausted by the effort and
happily sore the next day.
Sturis Water Sports Center
Located on the A10, 4.5 kilometers
from the bridge over the
Lielupe
Prices from 10 lats
for 10 minutes
www.udensklubs.lv
