Pain in the neck

By Karen McNew
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: August 25, 2008

Matt and I decided to go wakeboarding this weekend… it’s something that we both enjoy and normally it is a lot of fun… well I got a wild idea in my head that I was going to do a half turn on the board… yet I don’t really know the right way to do it and no one has ever given me any instruction.. I figured you only learn by trying right? wrong… and not a smart way of approaching the hobby.. my stiff neck is proof of that one…

As I was “turning” the board dug under the water and I hit head first… hard… I mean I got my bell rung like never before… I actually heard a high pitch sound when it happened… I know why people should always wear life jackets when wake-boarding or water-skiing… after it happened I was simply hanging lifeless in the water with my hands over my face… the wake-board floating upside down a few feet away… Matt came around with the boat and knew that I had taken a pretty hard fall… he asked if I was okay… I said give me a minute… then I proceeded to explain to him what I was trying to do… and I laugh now repeating his next words… “Honey, you meant to do that?“

Anyway… moral is - water is much harder than many would think… don’t try something just because you think it “might” work if you don’t really know that is the technique for it and keep the heating pad handy if you do…

I will say after a moment of resting I got back up on the board and had a good time for the rest of the day but when the soreness started to set in Saturday night I knew I was going to pay for the fall… and still am..