I have been mourning the loss of Cables WaterSki Park in Perth for several years now. We visited it several times in the first couple of years that we lived in Australia. As we were building our first home in Perth, Cables was going to be almost directly on my way home from work, and I planned to drop in a couple of times a week to improve my wakeboard skills.
But mere weeks before our house was completed Cables closed down, and auctioned off everything. The land had been sold for a new housing development. The last time I was on a water ski cable therefore must have been about four years ago.
Princes Cable Club is just west of London, very close to Heathrow. My brother Martin was keen to get on the water, and hadn’t been on a cable himself since he visited me in Perth. I approached the launch point of lake 2 at Princes with a certain amount of trepidation. Martin was first away, and put the pressure on by getting up and away with no trouble.
I followed on the next cable, and was pleasantly surprised when I got away cleanly, and did a few god circuits around. It seemed to come back quite quickly.
But things changed for me when the smaller lake 2 was closed, and we moved over to lake 1. I was confident by now, but the cable had a much sharper pull at take-off, and I face-planted straight in! After a few frustrating tries I got to grips with the new cable, and was off again.
Great fun!
