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Today we're out here at Lay Lake at Adaptive Aquatics and my husband and I are gonna go water skiing!
I have probably been teaching sit skiing for the last 10 years or so.
I've watched dozens, if not more, injured military spouses get to watch their injured spouse ski for the first time,
but I've never gotten to experience it for myself. So today's the first time that I'm gonna get to take my husband water skiing.
So we hope to go out in a little bit and we'll see how it goes!
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So, if you're not familiar with the sit ski this is the basic ski that they use.
So, it's just like a normal ski but you're gonna obviously be on one instead of two and they're gonna use a wider board just to give it a little bit more balance.
Once they do that they're gonna fit my husband on a ski. So this is called a cage.
And this is what he'll ski in and it's gonna sit right on here and they will actually screw it right on to the ski.
And it'll be really sturdy and secure. His feet will come over the edge and they'll put them right in there.
And so it's just a real low center of gravity so as when an able body is skiing and our center of gravity is a little bit higher
because they're so low, their center of gravity stays really low and it's just a really safe way to ski.
Um, they actually can turn left or right by adjusting their heads. So when we would turn our shoulders or our hips
to change directions, they'll just use their head to change directions. So that's why someone regardless of injury level
can ski independently and, you know, jump a wake or hop or do whatever they want in a ski and have a lot of fun.
So this is the rope they use when they do the sit ski and they're gonna use this ball is actually gonna be what holds the rope
to the ski. So the person doesn't even have to hold it. They're gonna place it right in here.
It locks right in, the boat is gonna pull from this direction. This is gonna rest between the persons legs until they're ready to pull it.
So once the ski gets up and they're up and going they can pull the rope, pop the ball out, and then they're skiing independently on their own.
Takes a lot of force out of the arms. So, if someone has really weak joints in the shoulders or just
um, doesn't have a lot of muscle power there, they are able to do the hardest part which is starting
without having to use their own musculature and get the boat going.
So they don't even have to grab. So a double arm amputee could ski and never have to hold the rope himself and be able to do all the same things.
So it's really an adaptive piece of equipment. They make it able for all abilities to be able to ski and so
they can come out and have a lot of fun.
So these here are what they call outriggers. What they're gonna do, they're basically like training wheels for the ski.
They're gonna place this in between the cage and the sit ski and then it's gonna protect the person from ever falling over.
So if someone doesn't swim or they're just really fearful of getting in the water, once they put these outriggers on
there's just basically no possible way they can flip over. So it's just a real safety measure for a
high level injury or someone that's just a little bit more intimidated.
Um, but they work really well in keeping that balance.
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