Vision Wakeboard Park

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Krishna
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:31 pm

Vision Wakeboard Park

Post by Krishna »

Those of you who were with me in SPI this April remember that I pretty much got my kite control down, and was working on getting up on the board by the time I had to head home. This weekend I had the opportunity to work on my board skills at the Vision Wakeboard Park in Isanti. This will be short, because I'm not sure what you want to know, but if you ask questions, I will probably answer.

Saturday afternoon I headed up from St. Paul to Isanti. It's about an hour drive, and I didn't know what to expect, so I just went up there to see what it was all about. Took a little bit of searching. My Google Navigate app didn't know "Vision Wakeboard Park", but found the location when I typed in "Bluebird Park". Basically, it's quite small, just one winch line down a channel about the size of 2 swimming pools end-to-end in length. If you follow your GPs to "Bluebird Park", park there, and it's immediately to the NW, just behind the chainlink fence.

Costs are $15 for 2 runs, and $5 for each additional run after that. Each run is about 5 minutes long. For a beginner (like me), they will run the line slower, and you can get about 3-4 2-way runs in. If you can turn, and go faster, you may be able to get more in. Equipment rental costs $10, and you can rent their boards, helmet, and life vest. The boards have boot straps, which is different than the board straps that I'm used to. I found these bindings clunky to get in and out of (as a beginner), so on Sunday I opted to bring my own board. Overall, it's a great deal!

With your rental comes training: On Saturday when I was riding, I got pointers and tips from Kris, the owner, and today (Sunday) when I arrived, their head trainer, Mike, was there helping a 7-year-old girl with her first lesson. SUPER friendly crew! I feel that I made great strides in my board skills, and while I may not be on the water kiteboarding next week with "y'alls", I'm getting there!

It was a great time, and well worth the hour drive from the cities. My advice: If you have your own equipment, don't hesitate to bring it. It's a super friendly group of people, and they clearly like meeting new folks, and sharing stories and advice. I met two other kiters today, and one yesterday. Also, super fun! I have never been wakeboarding behind a boat, but I would think that the time I spent waiting for others (and watching others) to finish their runs, was more valuable than time spent waiting for the boat to come back and get you, if you had to drop the line.

I'll do this again in a heartbeat.

That is all I have to say, I guess. Let me know if you have questions. Hoping I'll see you all soon on the lakes sometime. In the meantime, rest assured I'm having a blast learning board skills!

Krishna

Two more things: (1) Saturday afternoon is their busiest day. Since you kind of have to take turns between runs, they are longer in between on Saturdays. Sunday morning was pretty nice. (2) My arms are toast! My sister said that Magnesium supplement will help to ease the sore muscles. I hope she's right. I have a kettlebells class tomorrow!
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