Cable Park

Penrith, NSW


Ever been to a cable park? I hadn't before this. I've watched wake boarding competitions before, but all the boarders were pulled by proper tow boats. Instead, this has a tension cable system that forms a track around a man made lake, complete with kickers and other features.

First time up, the guy asks me if I've boarded before. I answered with a solid yup. I went wake boarding once at a camp roughly 8 years ago. I managed to get up my first time, but as soon as I left the wake, I ate it. I can water ski and slalom ski decently well. Add in the years of snowboarding and I felt confident enough.

I started on a rental board that is basically a step in, rather than a boot/binding. Green light, cable taught,  and I was up. I was a little surprised that I got up my first time. Once up though, it felt pretty natural. I was able to do nice big S turns as I traveled around the lake. When you take a turn around the predetermined corner, some slack develops in the cable. The amount of slack depends on the angle of the turn. Needless to say, the last turn was a whole 90 degrees. Wasn't ready for that one. But I did make it 80% around on my first try. (When you fall off, you have to swim to the side and walk all the way back. Luckily I never fell on the far side of the lake.)

After completing a handful of laps, I decided to trade up to the park board. Strapped in, I took off and went right for the first jump. My jump was semi decent, but the landing sucked. I landed to a loud crack in my left leg. Hurt really bad. Just kinda floated there for bit, then slowly made my way back to the shore. I think I hyper extended a ligament in my knee. Walking from then on was extremely painful, but I just payed a bunch of money to go wake boarding. So after 20 minutes, I decided to get back on the board. Boarding with my leg locked in a binding didn't hurt at all, mainly because that leg is forward and does not really have any wait on it as you tend to lean back. I was done with the jumps though.

Overall, great experience. This being a couple days ago, my knee still hurts, and I'm probably going to go see a doctor this week.