Abu Dhabi Week makes a splash at Al Forsan International Sports Resort in the wakeboarding cable-tow park
Year-round sunshine and almost unlimited access to calm blue seas make Abu Dhabi the perfect location for a number of watersports and we’re lucky enough to have tried nearly all of them – with the exception of wakeboarding.
Maybe this is because we haven’t found anyone with a powerboat to take us out or because we’re just a little bit nervous of deep water. But when we were invited to go and try out the wakeboarding at Al Forsan International Sports Resort we jumped at the chance.
Although it’s been open for a while now, Al Forsan is something of an undiscovered treasure. People have heard of it; but not many actually know what they have on offer or mistakenly believe that it’s an exclusive members-only club. This is a shame because the huge facility on the outskirts of Khalifa City A really has something for everyone – from paint-balling, shooting and archery to go-karting, horseriding and show jumping. But it’s the watersports that we’re interested in today.
The water park is equipped with two full cable systems and a two-tower system, one of only two venues in the world to boast right-foot-forward and left-foot-forward cables at the same location. With two purpose-built ‘pro’ and ‘beginner’ lakes, the layout is simply stunning – it was recently described by the World Wakeboarding Association as “one of the most amazing cable facilities in the world.
Getting changed into our swimming shorts, we meet the smiling Richard next to the lakes and he fits us out with lifejacket and helmet. Walking over to the beginners’ lake, he explains some important safety guidelines and how the cable-tow system works.
First up he wants us to do a couple of laps of the lake on a kneeboard to get the feel of the cable pull and the speed we’ll be travelling at. Sounds fair enough to us – so we kneel down onto the board on the launch pad, strap ourselves in and grab hold of the provided handle to wait for the cable to catch on the tow system.
Three, two, one and we’re off. With a tight grip on the handle, the first 15 seconds feel a little precarious – we’re wobbling all over the place and nearly come off a couple of times – but after forcing ourselves to relax a little bit we’re soon zipping round the course, bouncing over small swells and carving round corners.
Feeling confident now, we decide to go straight on to the beginners’ stand-up board. This is very similar to a normal wakeboard but is much lighter and floats a lot better. Slipping our feet into the straps, we sit on the bench in the launch area with the board just touching the surface of the water. As our cable comes round, we prepare for take-off … and slam face-first into the water.
After a few instructions to bend our arms, not to pull on the cable and keep our weight on the back foot, we take a seat again and get ready for another go. This time we actually get upright for a few seconds before losing our balance – a little progress at least.
Paddling sheepishly out of the water, we receive some words of encouragement from a laughing Richard and line up for our next attempt. It proves to be third time lucky as we’re pulled from a sitting start out into the middle of the lake and, after a few wobbles, we’re wakeboarding!
After just a couple of laps, we’re getting a feel for the board and even feel confident enough to carve a few S-shapes in the water as we negotiate our way around the lake. We find the key thing is to relax and not to try and pull on the cable – it’s much easier to just let it pull you.
A few more successful launches and circuits of the lake later and our arms and legs are starting to ache a little bit – it’s a lot more strenuous than we thought. However, we’re not leaving until we’ve had at least one go on a proper wakeboard.
Selecting a board from the rack next to the tower, we slip our feet into the bindings, tighten the straps and we’re ready to go. The professional wakeboards are a lot heavier and thinner but should give you more control when you’re out on the water. And so it proves. Despite a couple of failed launch attempts, we’re soon back on the water and the board feels smoother and more manoeuvrable.
We’re pretty impressed with our progress and a double thumbs up from Richard at the side of the lake confirms that we haven’t done too badly. Maybe next time we’ll be ready for some jumps and rails!
What? Wakeboarding
Where? Al Forsan International Sports Resort
Cost: AED 125 for an hour or AED 280 for a full day
We say: Wake’s up! Hold on and enjoy the ride!
Contact: 02 556 8555 or www.alforsan.com
Jon Muller
