Water Sports:)

Today I went down south to Bentota and did a few water sports. We jet skied, water skied and did the tubing. It was the first time I'd ever water skied so my brother and I decided to learn how to do it together. In learning how to do this I undertook a new challenge and developed new skills. It was really quite difficult and there was a lot of technique to it that I actually had no idea about before today. We were taught to bend our knees and keep our arms straight so as not to lose balance. When being pulled out of the water one has to keep the knees bent to the chin and skis straight up, which was really difficult as managing to point the skis up in the water was quite a task.

We tried holding onto the bar of the boat first, then we held onto a short rope and then a long rope, which was the hardest one, taking us both 4 times to get a proper run (without falling) on it. I had a lot of trouble with the long rope, a lot more trouble than my brother and it was really disconcerting. I truly didn't think I could do it. Our instructor gave me one last chance and I finally managed to get a proper run on it, which made me really happy.

Another activity I did this winter break was an Introduction to Diving while I was in the Maldives. This also allowed me to develop a new skill as well as undertake a new challenge. I learnt a lot from my instructor, like about all the different equipment one uses when you go diving as well as some emergency drills underwater. We had to practice taking our regulator out of our mouths and then putting it back in, filling our masks with water and getting it out and using the emergency regulator of another diver.

This was a new challenge as I've never dived before and I went for the course alone. It was a little intimidating because I went with the instructor and another man, both of whom are at least in their late 20's. I'm much smaller built than both of them so I had a little trouble balancing all the diving equipment, especially when we were meant to stay still in the water as the current was very strong. I'm glad I did it though because it counts towards certification and my goal is to get certified before I turn 18 and go to college.