My Blog

It has been 3 weeks since I had any bindings strapped to my feet. It feels kinda weird but I know if I were to be anywhere near water or boat. I would be tempted. My knee is recovering. Hours spent vigorously on Physiotherapy, Gym workout, and no-Alcohol diet is paying off.  I can flex it 70% now. The ligament is still tight and ginger but I can envision my full recovery is within reach.

Think it has been hard being away from water but it is also a good time to do other stuffs. I signed up for powerboat license, attended my sister’s wedding, clean up my apt, haha… I realized I had spent very little time at home until this injury. Spending more time with Sharon is always nice treat.

Right now, there is a new board, the 135 CWB 2006 Absolute Plaz sitting at home.. just yearning me to try it.. I got it as a gift from a friend for my bday.  My passion for wakeboarding has turn me into a board slut.. Looking back.  I have a full series of CWB boards, be it my own purchase or gift.. I had personalized all of them with stickers and I find it really hard to sell them out. I am just happy to let it sit at home like a vase.  I didn’t mind it one bit that it is collecting dust and taking up space in my tiny apt. In Hong Kong, space is such a luxury.. Every board has a history with me;

1)1999 137 Hyperlite Drifter – my first board that I had bought used from a guy who had to retire after too many slams. With 4 1.6” cuda fins, curving on water was fun but for a long time, I had the imprsseion that face-planting was a common occurrence in wakeboarding, NOT!!! When it finally succumbed to cracks after my endless face-plants and slams, I started shopping for another.

2) 2001 138 Bad Ass, Christian Fletcher  (now it is called Drisco from Gator Board) – I broke this one at the screw thread while trying to remove my feet from the binding. The Bad Ass is the first board to have giant 2.8” rockers. Back in 2002.. no one’s really into big rockers yet.. The Bad Ass board led the way.. As I was still relatively new to wakeboarding, the big-rockers hurt more than helped me as I kept losing control and falling on my ass. Maybe that is why it is called BAD ASS.  I also got into the infamous Singapore Boat Accident while I was riding on that board. 17 stitches across my forehead can be quite a memory.

3) 2002 135 Absolute Platz – After getting tired of slamming on the BadAss. I bought my first CWB and I have not look back. It is the best board I have ever ridden. I loved the weight, the flex, and the speed.  I landed my first backroll on it and also won my first medal with it. I still take it out to ride once in awhile. CWB never really close out this model as it is still a very good board even by today’s standard. It is now called the SOL.

4) 2004 134 Absolute Platz – I had a decent bonus from work that yr and thought I reward myself and got this board together with Matthew. It was faster and more aggressive than the previous model because they switched the rocker from continuous to three stage.  However, I broke it after 7mths.. didn’t know what happen.. came down on a backroll and the base cracked.. Game Over. (guess I was quite fat then)

5) 2005 137 Transcend.. – Buywake was pretty cool. I told them about the board I broke and they gifted me this Transcend. It was a very nice gesture as the board was only out less than one month. However, the sole memory of it was I ripped my hamstring on it after using it for 2mths. I was subsequently out injured for 4mths ..Oh well.. still a memory.. I never quite got comfy with the board because I have gotten used to shorter boards. So I revert to the absolute again.

6) 2002 135 Absolute – This one is interesting. This board, I got it used from Buywake.. It was one of the sales manager personal board.. He sold it to me for 100US.. The board though all scratched was still solid (I often joked how it added character to it). Before when I went back to Singapore to work, I left it at ZS so I dun have to carry any board when I come over to visit. It also serve as a secondary board for Matt as he left his board in Tung Chung most of the time then. Now that I am back in HK, I took it back to Singapore and will use it whenever I go home.

7) 2005 135 Absolute Platz. Now this board will now be fondly remembered as the one I blew out my knee on.. 2 yrs and 4 different boards later, I am back to the big-rocker type board and loving it. It is like one full circle. Well, at least now I can control it rather than landing on my ass like the bad ass.  I can only grab the Canadian Bacon on this board.

2006 135 Absolute Platz. Still wrapped up and no stickers yet. I wonder what memory I would have with it.

8 boards.. I never thought when I first strapped on a Jobe T-back binding and my buddy’s  138 JOBE’s Jerry-Nun and rode for the first  time, I never thought 4 yrs later, I would have so many boards. I must be a wakenutt.

I kinda knew the day would come and somehow no matter how much one prepares, you will never be ready for a major injury. I ripped my Medial Lateral Ligament yesterday. I got too excited when my tantrum attempts got closer and closer to sticking. On my last attempt, I came in too fast, and totally missing the wake but in my eagerness, I forced the landing, thus compressing my left ankle awkwardly and to relieve the pressure, I shifted my weight to the right and that was when I felt the ‘pop’ on my right knee.. Right away, I knew I have blown it.. It didn’t really hurt.. I could still ride back to the dock but after 3 hours, my knee swells up and I can barely move an inch.

4 weeks if injury did not extend beyond the MCL was what the doctor told me today. That is 30 days, 4 weekends because of one second of madness.

If it weren’t for the blown knee, this weekend would have been superb. I brought my camera along the sun was merciful. I have enuff light to have really cool shots of Siu Chi, Mikey and VL ripping through the wake. It is really amazing to see the progression of Siu Chi as he tried the indy-blind-180. he had the spin right on but had to drop the handle on landing to the cheers of all the guys on the boat.

Blind 180 is an art form. It requires patience and fearlessness. Add a grab on, it because a style on its own.

The new place is pretty comfortable. However I do miss riding in ZS whenever I got hit by a roller. Due to the size and locality, rollers are inevitable. Just need to learn to ride it. Well, that will be another 4 weeks later at sub 10 degrees condition.

In Wakenutts, the Nutt is greater than the Wake….

This week was a crazy week for me. It is crazy enuff for me to tell my boss on Wednesday that I have had it and took Thursday off to check out the new wakeboard park.

Found out that my neighbor was heading up with his friends and I played tag along, joining them in the morning.

The travel was pretty easy relative to the trip to ZS… It only took an hour to get up to Hou Kai from Wong Kong… There is a saying first impression last..  My first impression of the place is pretty darn good. Better facilities, bigger base to work off, nicer set up.. Then I saw the reservoir and it made me wanna go back to ZS almost instantaneously.

The reservoir is pretty big as you can barely see the buildings on the other side.. Well, pollution has a lot to do with the clarity too… However, It is as open as it is big and thus, any slight wind condition will kick up a lot of ripples. Fortunately, there is one spot, which is still flat. The spot is not very big but I do thank God for that space. Due to certain restrictions, we can’t use the whole reservoir and hence, having three boat zipping in a limited space is not fun at all.

Anyway, I was really looking forward to my ride on Thursday.  I had been thinking of the Tantrums all week.. and am dying to just get it done… Thus after my first round of warm up.. I went straight for it..  On my first attempt, I came down ‘L-Shaped’ again. When the boat came around to pick me up, I looked up wanting to discuss about my attempt.. I realized that there is not a single wakenutt on board. The people on board are all new friends and have not build to the wakenutt level of enthusiasm yet.. That was when I realised, wakeboarding is really not just about wakeboarding. The people in the wakeboarding community plays a bigger role than one would think. The encouragement the pushing of each other , the sharing of riding is as priceless as rare diamonds.. Wakeboarding is never meant to be a solitaire sport. It will never be.  Shortly after realizing that I am on this ride alone, I loss the desire to push for a land and stop trying the tantrum..

Hence the Nutt will always be bigger than the wake.. I missed you wakenutts yesterday!