Wifey Drove the Boat!

[DefectiveDave]

Got my wife out on the water and we taught her to drive the course yesterday. We had a spotter/driving-instructor and everything went fantastic. She did a great job for her second time driving a boat. In fact I would say 90% of her passes towing me through the course were flawless from my perspective. She needs a little more experience to make sure she reacts to different situations safely, but I'm very excited about the future.

 

I think she had a good time as well and I'm hoping I can keep her excited to be out on the water. She doesn't ski yet (working on that part), but that doesn't mean she can't have a good time. I'm looking for ways to get her engaged so she can keep enjoying herself. Any suggestions from the other ballers on ways to keep family involved that don't ski (yet)? It's not fair for her if she's just my boat driver. Thanks!

[oldjeep]

My driver only wake boards, but as long as she is happy then all is good. Although she is equally happy using the boat as a swim platform.

[Bulldog]

Stop calling her wifey - just a thought.

[PatRe]

Ah, excellent - and do take the very best care of that driver!

[GOODESkier]

Get her and any children skiing. Sacrifice your ski time to make sure they ski and have fun. My wife is running her 28 mph passes and starting to work on 30 mph. Son and daughter are skiing. WAY MORE FUN AND COMMITTED TO THE EXPERIENCE if they are actually skiing. Plus, wife will drive better if she can ski.

[SkiJay]

@DefectiveDave

My wife drives for me a LOT. She has destroyed four ropes sending me under the boat for hours in snake and gator infested waters to untangle her mess, chopped up three buoys, run aground, ricocheted of the dock a bit hard a few times, quit because of the lightest sprinkles of rain, and bitched at me for doing things that spook her while we're out there. I've always kept my cool, smiled, thanked her, complemented her, bragged about her to others, and generally lavished her with appreciation and even gifts.

 

Now, she's one of the best drivers I know and she takes pride in driving well during our daily ski sets. She'll maybe ski herself six times a year total, yet she is my very best ski buddy. My investment in patience and forgiveness in the early days was possibly the best thing I ever did for my skiing and for our quality of life.

 

Do whatever it takes make her look forward to boat time with you. If you can always be joyful and fun when you are skiing (even when you'd rather feed your ski through the prop than smile), she'll probably look forward to being an important part of your skiing.

[Zman]

My wife is my only driver for past 2 seasons and does a great job. As @SkiJay noted patience in the early days pays off. NEVER complain goes without say. And, it does help if she skis some. Mine also only skis about 10 times a season, though I hope a little more this year. She has even watched some ski vids and gives me feedback based on what it is supposed to look like, and can pick up a lot by what she sees in the mirror, or if she feels me loading too soon.

[Jim Neely]

My wife drives for me frequently and never skis but still enjoys being out on the water. Occasionally she asked to have a turn which means swimming or riding around (on public lake). A key ingredient is giving feedback on her driving without seeming overly critical.

[DefectiveDave]

Thanks for all the input guys. Out on the water I gave her as much positive feedback as I could and I've absolutely destroyed my honey-do list over the last two days. Hopefully she notices the correlation. :-)

 

I've just got to keep my cool and always give positive feedback no matter what happens, that sounds like great advice. I think she might enjoy the boat as a swimming platform. My wife is still learning to swim without a vest, but she had a great time swimming with one out on the lake. I can certainly see turning boat/ski time into a picnic on weekends.

 

Learning to swim comes first, but are there any stepping stones to skiing that might be recommended like kneeboarding or tubing, etc.? The main problem getting my wife to ski is that she's a bit risk averse, so she's afraid of being on a ski and falling at 20+ mph. I figure if I can get her behind a boat in a safe and easy manner she'll like it and catch the bug. Likewise, if she face plants first thing trying to get up on a ski I'm afraid she might not try it again.

 

[Spuddy]

I agree with a lot of the comments here, positive feedback, patience etc are all key. One thing that helped my wife learn very quickly was she really had little to no experience with driving a boat at all, I taught her basics, she pulled me in open water then through the course she learned to fully understand what is going on because I explained to her what needs to be done if for example I fall in the middle of the course or outside etc. I have a couple of buddies I ski with they are both great drivers in open water mostly for barefooting but in the course they get too nervous it's like they can't focus on what needs to happen.

[ToddL]

You need this...

http://teespring.com/i-love-my-wife-boat-driver

http://vangogh.teespring.com/shirt_pic/1717665/1663448/2/576/756x9999/front.png

[Andy]

@Toddl, put Ball Of Spray on the and you might win a WakeEye.

[Greg Lukin]

I'm a lucky one - I met my wife out skiing - she was at uni studying away from home and a friend invited her out as she loved skiing!! She drives much better then I give her credit for actually. She was skiing the course a few years ago when I started in the course at 30mph but since then kids came along. I think this summer might be her time to try back at it... winter over here now but heading out this weekend for a blast - I will ask her to drive specifically - it will shock her as I have had arguments in the past about her driving - good post thanks for that!

[gt2003]

@DefectiveDave , my gf loves the water but is VERY cautious which is good sometimes because I tend to be at the other end of the spectrum. I just got my boat last year and while I'd ski she would tube. And I mean tube behind the boat, nothing crazy like I prefer. Before long she was asking to ski. Got her up on 2 and she was quite proficient by the end of last year but no wake crossings on open water (there's that overly cautious thing again, boats freaked her out)! Took her to a slalom lake this year where she had great water and she was crossing the wake in no time at all. Took her to ski school and Alan had her up on slalom on the 3rd try. It's a progression. She'll let you know how fast she wants to go and what she wants to do. Just go with it. I've got 100% buy in now and she is more than willing to be in the boat so we can be at the lake by daybreak to ski clean, smooth water. You are doing your part. She'll come along nicely! Good luck!

[disland]

My wife is an ok driver. We dont have her drive my son as he is more short line than me. I still cant get her to turn the boat around to pick me up so after i ski there is some swimming involved. But I will take it and consider the extra swimming part of the work out

[escmanaze]

You say the phrase "it's not fair to her if she's just my boat driver" and I have to disagree. What's not fair to her is for you to try to turn her into something she isn't. Don't get me wrong, I love encouraging anyone and everyone to ski, but you can't just assume that it is universally appealing to everybody. My wife and I are on our 3rd year now of owning our boat, and she seems to be just as happy as can be with "just being my boat driver." She enjoys driving now that she is decent at it, and she just loves the time with the family on the lake and that's what it's really all about for her. I'll never discourage her from skiing, boarding, surfing, whatever, but there's a certain point when you need to quit trying to convince a cat that she should be acting like a dog.

[DefectiveDave]

@ToddL,

 

I might have to pick one of those up. My wife hasn't driven the boat recently because of a baby or pregnancy or something, I wasn't really paying much attention out on the lake. But this might help motivate her again!

 

@gt2003 and @escmanaze ,

 

I think my wife enjoys spending time one the boat, but she gets bored easily and I must find ways to keep her entertained. Perhaps I can find ways to make her interests progress towards skiing. Going against me I have the fact that she's very risk adverse, but going for me I have the fact that she has a very addictive personality. I would rank skiing somewhere between meth and heroin on the addictiveness scale so I just need to be patient.

[escmanaze]

Ha ha ha!!! Yup, it is certainly one of the more addictive things out there. Yeah, just be patient and try to help her have fun when you go out, in whatever way that happens for her. Good Luck!!!

[gt2003]

Have the kids ask her to tube with them and BE NICE. That's hard for me when I have people on a tube behind the boat, just sayin!