Alabama is a lovely place to live, but the summers can get balmy, which is why we support trying a water sport this summer to make use of local waterways, stay cool and even gain new skills. A towed water sport — involving a boat – is a good way to make use of local lakes, not to mention the family boat. Whether you know a lot about these sports or you're just sticking your toe in for the first time, water sports are fun, challenging and perfect for social distancing.
Here are a few of our favorites to try locally — just remember your sunscreen and life jacket.
Kneeboarding or Tubing
For beginners, these are two of the easier (but still a lot of fun!) water sports to get started with. With either tubing or kneeboarding, skill is less important, since you aren’t standing up.
“Anything that gets someone comfortable being pulled behind the boat is a great place to start,” noted Bennett Rambo, general manager of Rambo Marine. “That’s the first step in water sports — just getting comfortable behind the boat.”
Waterskiing
The original water sport consists of either using two skis or one ski, and the fewer the skis involved, the more challenging it is. If you’re new to water skiing, try two skis first.
Wakeboarding and Wakesurfing
These sports have gained incredible popularity lately thanks to the variety of tricks and challenges they can offer. Boarding is the easier of the two because the rider is still being pulled by the boat. Wakesurfing, meanwhile, is a good bit tougher, since it involves surfing the wake without being pulled.
What kind of boat do I need?
So what kind of boat do you need for these sports? The good news is that most of these, with the exception of wakesurfing, can be done with nearly any boat, said Bennett. Rambo Marine sells a number of Regal, Cobalt and Malibu boats, with Malibu being a great choice for wakeboarding and wakesurfing. Each boat purchase comes with an orientation session so that new owners can learn how to enrich their boating experience.
“The orientation consists of what a customer needs,” Bennett explained. “We have people who buy a new surf boat and want all four of their kids to learn to surf — then other times, an older couple buys a pontoon boat, and they simply want to learn how to dock it.”
Whatever, you choose, Bennett urges locals to try water sports this summer — there’s no better way to bond with everyone, no matter the age.
“This is a great whole family activity,” he said.