Is it possible to learn the basics of three major watersports in a single day? To find out we took an unsuspecting volunteer down to Action Watersports in Kent. Adrian Porter and the victimised Matt Barker report.

It was a beautiful summer’s day in the Kentish town of Lydd as I pulled up at the lake belonging to Action Watersports. Already there and donned in his wetsuit was the understandably worried Matt Barker. The latest member of CSL’s Production team, Matt spends his free time with his feet firmly on terra firma – he has never once attempted to water ski or wakeboard let alone barefoot ski, though he did assure us could swim, just. Being the sort of folk who believe in throwing people into the deep end, in fact it’s a rather literal belief, we immediately deemed Matt as an excellent test subject for our dastardly, near-villainous idea: to see if someone with no prior experience can learn the basics of water skiing, barefoot skiing and wakeboarding in one day. Well, all companies have rites of passage? Right?

The lake and our coach

Action Watersports is currently in its tenth year of continued operation under husband and wife team, Simon and Dianne Raine. The club is a British Water Ski Federation accredited ski school and an official RYA training centre, able to offer both top watersports tuition across a range of disciplines as well as run the RYA Personal Watercraft course. Jet ski hire and tuition is an important part of their business.

Our coach for the day was Simon, who is an all round watersports guru and a bit of a pro when it comes to barefoot waterskiing. Simon has skied with the British team in the past and is still part of the Senior team, having competed last year in the European Championships. When asked what Simon enjoys about teaching he said “it’s very rewarding to see someone learn something new. It’s great when people improve.”

The rest of the lake’s staff were very friendly and knowledgeable, and all keen to see if this non-watersports person would actually be able to fare at this gargantuan challenge. Well organised, a simple white board shows exactly when riders are due on the launching dock. As the time came to 10:30, Matt’s name was the next one up – it was time to begin the challenge.

To see how Matt fared with this challenge, pick up a copy of the September issue of Sports Boat and RIB magazine. In shops from 22 August.