On a Boat

Saturday I had a rare treat -- a Saturday off! While I have gotten Mondays reliably off from work and have taken some other weekdays off to compensate for weekends on the job, this weekend marked my first occasion since school started on which I have had a Saturday free. Friday afternoon, when I was feeling excited and slightly lost about this concept, I got a text from Percy, inviting me out on the Chickahominy with his family.

Papa Percy is known for being able to get anyone up on skis, so I drove up to the river both excited and apprehensive. I have always wanted to be able to waterski, but am very self-conscious about any sort of activity that displays me... and being dragged behind a boat, while all its occupants watch, certainly does that. When I arrived at the river, I found not only Papa and Mama Percy, but also a friend that I hadn't seen since graduation.

She and Percy took the first turns showing off behind the boat. Then, all of a sudden, I elected as the next run behind the boat. Percy and his father gave me instructions about how to hold myself in the water and how to let the boat pull me. They handed me a life vest that was too large, but which I managed to make fit well enough. I sat on the ski platform, putting the skis on my feet, then slipped into the cold water.

The first go or two, Papa Percy just dragged me a little, so that I could "get used to the force." I had a couple fail attempts where I felt myself rise up out of the water, only to tip back forwards or backwards and tangle myself and my skis back into the water.

I fell enough times, but then, sooner than I expected, came the moment when I managed to counter-tip the tipping and hold my balance and then I was up on top of the water, flying behind the boat. Mama Percy had explained that there was no trick to skiing -- it was all just balance. And I felt that -- I felt the way the water moved under my skis and the minute shifts that kept me balanced on top of it. I have few physical graces, but I do have a good sense of balance, and I loved engaging it, especially on top of the water, where I am home and alive and joyful as I am in very few other places. The motion felt familiar, though I could not place it.

After a few runs, I realized what the familiarity was. In a strange way, waterskiing reminded me of dancing. Dancing with a strong lead. If I didn't concentrate on what I was doing, and didn't look at my feet, and focused my eyes on another point and my body on the music (I was singing as I skied. Percy laughed at me for it.), then it was the most natural motion in the world. Well, skiing was easier than dancing, because my balance is much better than my rhythm.

That is the story of the time I learned how to ski. But that is not the only boat story. Percy's family's boat is fully equipped with waterskis of various shapes and sizes, wake boards, and a wake surf board. Wake surfing is a new sport. You balance on a surf board, being dragged behind the boat. Then, when you find the right part of the wake, you toss the rope back to the boat and the wake carries you at speed with the boat. So you glide along without being dragged.

Percy can wake surf. He can also juggle. As far as I know, he is the only person in the world who would consider doing both. At the same time. He would only make it for brief stints of juggling on the surf board, but between the bright orange of the boat and the traffic cone colors of his juggling clubs, he made a pretty impressive sight. So impressive that at one point, a boater figured out what he was trying to do and kept pace with us as Percy got settled onto his board. The boater watched him juggle and, when he lost control, gave him a massive fist pump and jetted off.