Lake Life: Water Sports – WDBJ7

MONETA, Va. (WDBJ7)– WDBJ7’s Caitlin Francis is back at Smith Mountain Lake for our first installment of “Lake Life.”

Summer is in full swing! It’s a holiday week, and that means the lake will be busy.

If you’re heading out to have some fun in the sun, might as well have more fun in the water!

“Wake boarding is really simple for everybody. I mean, once you get the right technique down, everyone can do it,” Ken Hayes said. Hayes owns Smith Mountain Wake Company.

Wake boarding might be the most user-friendly, but wake surfing is the most popular up-and-coming sport.

“It’s kind of like a rising tide with the whole wake surfing industry and the change of the boating to accommodate the wake surfing is really increased wake boarding and tubing, and water skiing. So all of those sports have really been on fire for us the last couple of years,” Hayes said.

Blake, Eric, and Ben are all employees at Smith Mountain Wake Company. They helped make sure Caitlin Francis was doing everything safely and correctly, all while having some fun, too.
And these guys do lessons, just like this, all season.

But that’s not the only thing you can try this summer on the water. Take a quick walk down to the other side of Bridgewater Marina to check out some jet skis.

“If you’re going to be renting a wave runner, first thing we do is get a life jacket,” Ryan Waters with Bridgewater Marina said. “The lanyard goes on your wrist, and this is also your key….after you take care of the paper work inside, watch the safety video, get fitted for the lifejacket, then we’d come down and do a quick damage check over the wave runner.”

Once you’re ready to go, just press start

The possibilities are pretty endless. You just have to jump in and give it a shot.

Visit Smith Mountain Wake Company and Bridgewater Marina, both located at Bridgewater Plaza.

You can call Smith Mountain Wake Company at 540-721-9253, or visit their website http://smwake.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=142 .

Call Bridgewater Marina at 540-721-1639, you can also visit any of their location, and their website https://www.bwmarina.com/ .

The “Lake Life” series continues for the entire month of July on Your Hometown Station, WDBJ7.

Join us at 5 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for “Lake Life.”