A Little Piece of Heaven

Wakesports, Exploring, and Bald Eagles in Central California

Text by Justin Stannard

Photography by Andrea Wilson

Since the proverbial closure of the American frontier in 1880 – and the subsequent demise of the American cowboys and brave explorers – it seems as though the only place for all the Teddy Roosevelts, Butch Cassidys and Jim Bridgers is in history books and Hollywood’s cliché, low-budget Westerns. Every worthwhile piece of our unique and breathtaking American geography has either been pillaged by skyscrapers and concrete jungle, or scarred by eight-lane superhighways, right?

Wrong.

Nestled between Canada and Mexico and enclosed on either end by the Pacific and Atlantic oceans waits some of the most untamed, awe-inspiring scenery imaginable. Even from the largest, most ubiquitous urban sprawls, a three-hour drive will often yield a completely rural, separate universe altogether – the kind of realm devoid of pollution, traffic, and prolific fast-food chains. In Central California, hiding in the north end of San Luis Obispo County amid thousands of acres of wine country, Lake Nacimiento offers an 18-mile-long piece of heaven for the recreational explorer and PWC enthusiast. For this travel outing, we wanted to do it all: explore, wakeboard, wakeskate, wakeski, and further test the all-around capability of the new Honda Aquatrax – all in one day. After a bit of convincing, a few of the author’s close friends from the nearby Grover Beach locale agreed to come along to help out. But in all honesty, it really didn’t take any convincing at all to have Corbin Hodges, Grant Waltz, and Nancy Brown join PWI for the day trip on the lake.

Winding down the two-lane road to the lake’s launch ramp on a beautiful Tuesday morning, the scenery was inviting and representative of Central California’s distinctive coastal chaparral. Scrub oak and gently undulating grass fields calmly ushered us closer to the glassy blue water, painting a serene portrait. After filling the two Hondas’ watertight storage bins with snacks, water bottles, sun block and tow-ropes, a quick glance into the cerulean sky reassured us that the day would prove to be sunny and warm. We loaded the wakeboard and wakeskate in the gunwales of one F-15X, while the other would tote the new Body Glove wakeskis and wakeboarding rope.

Not surprisingly, yours truly had left the legally-required safety flag back home in the office: No flag – no wakesports. Just before reluctantly traipsing over to the marina to pay the inflated price for a replacement, Grant and Nancy happened upon a strange contraption abandoned on the beach. It appeared as though they had discovered the Frankenstein of fishing nets. Someone had taken a fishing pole, removed its spool and a few sections from the end, and used about half a roll of electrical tape to fix a bright red net to its end. Although this was not your everyday U.S. Coast Guard-endorsed ski flag, it was brightly-colored, highly-visible, and would do just fine for the day.

After letting the boats warm up while idling up to the 5-mph buoys, we shot off through the open water. Corbin, piloting the bright blue F-15X, was taking advantage of his day off from school at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, letting loose and carving a perfect cascading arc through the morning glass. Wanting to see what these turbocharged 1.5-liter babies could do, we pinned the throttles and headed straight upriver at top speed. Diverting my attention from Grant and Nancy’s giggling and ecstatic howling on the seat behind me, I looked down to see the Honda’s digital speedometer bouncing between 63 and 64 mph – pretty fast for hauling three passengers and a bow full of gear!

Our first stop was a length of picturesque gullies at the north end of the lake, aptly named The Narrows, where the gently rolling grassy landscape gradually gave way to deep gorges and emerald green water. The view while idling on a PWC at the foot of these steep cliffs was nothing short of breathtaking. On either side of the passage, steep sandstone and granite walls accompanied by adjoined pillars of solid rock dwarfed our tiny watercraft and echoed the Hondas’ baritone exhaust notes. Almost as though out of respect, the PWI crew remained reverently silent through much of the trip upriver, our jaws gaping while looking up at the trees and lush vegetation atop the canyon walls.

The water level for this season remained pretty low, so several sandy beaches were available where there would normally be only rocky inclines. We seized the opportunity to beach the Hondas and enjoy some amateur exploration and a box of crackers with a can of Easy Cheese – the lunch of champions. Aside from the infrequent stone-encircled fire pit, the untouched terrain appeared as though never walked on by man, and seemed to encompass the small beach with an atmosphere of adventure.

After suiting back up and stowing the snacks, it was time to head back out of The Narrows and get wet. Upon breaching the lake’s main channel and finding a glassy spot to begin towing, Corbin jumped into the perfect 76-degree water and donned the Body Glove Wakeskis. None of us had tried these peculiar-looking contraptions before, and were excited to see if they’d be a hit or a flop. The wakeskis loosely resemble a mini set of water skis, but with a pair of directional fins on the underside of either end. Lightweight and easily-stored, the wakeskis were designed by Body Glove specifically with personal watercraft users in mind, and ended up being a hit. The only drawback was that the one-size-fits-all bindings were a bit too big for Nancy’s petite feet to safely fit into – she would end up as our spotter by default. The wakeskis’ small size allows for maneuverability and precise control, yet they were pretty easy to get the hang of for the beginner.

On the second attempt out of the hole, Corbin was up and looking like a natural, cutting across the Honda’s wake and showing off for all of us – until he got a bit too confident and wound up with a faceful of water (much to our perverse enjoyment). Fortunately, Nancy had our trusty Frankensteined flag at the ready to warn away any other boats while we circled to give a dazed Corbin another shot.

“Hey, these things are pretty cool, man!” he hollered to us, in the water and smiling. “It’s like the skis I grew up on, but better. They’re totally maneuverable and let you cut back and forth pretty easily. Definitely a lot of fun!”

After trying the wakeskis himself for a few runs, Grant gave the wakeskate a go. Proudly showing off his Converse Chuck Taylor high-top sneakers, he may not have looked the part of a modish wakeskater, but his perseverance and determination to get up on the grip-taped wooden deck was admirable. Since none of the present PWI staff was any good on a wakeskate – and thus had no pertinent advice – it ended up being a bit of trial and error to get poor Grant out of the water consistently. In addition, the timing and careful throttle application I needed to apply off the start had to be honed through the first few attempts. Nonetheless, Grant was able to bring the board to plane on one of his first pulls and negotiated the F-15X’s wake while everyone cheered wildly from the Hondas. After eventually calling it quits on the wakeskate, Grant swam back to the Honda.

“Man, this thing is sketchy,” he observed. “First you have to hold on for dear life when the boat starts moving, then it wants to go all over the place once you get up. But this thing is rad once you get going across the water. I dig!”

Feeling like I had to live up to the UGP wakeskating shoes and boardshorts I so proudly wore, I had to give the wakeskate a shot. The wind was starting to pick up, but the unique topography of the lake’s surrounding hills provided several coves and reliefs that were protected from the mounting afternoon gusts, so we always had a decent spot to ride. Once again, we had to get refamiliarized with the timing and throttle, now that I was in the water and the stable Aquatrax had a different pilot. The first pull resulted in my nose full of water after being dragged behind the Honda right off the bat. On the second pull, however, I was up and running, looking every bit as awkward and squirrely as a drunkard balancing on a tightrope. The wakeskate is definitely more technically demanding than a wakeboard – especially on the starts. However, once a “feel” is developed for the board’s handling, it offers amazing potential for tricks and freedom of movement. With my arms getting tired, and deciding that I’d like to go out with a bang, I cut in on my heel edge as hard as I could to ollie off the wake and attempt a Pop-Shove-it, but only ended up kicking the board about 10 feet away from me and taking another drink of pure, clean Lake Nacimiento refreshment.

It was while I was getting back aboard the Honda that we all experienced one of the most astounding and memorable events of the day. Grant, with his finger aimed skyward, suddenly shouted, “Check it out, guys!” Nancy, Corbin, and myself struggled to find what was so important. But, after my eyes adjusted to the bright sky, I could only see a large bird lazily circling overhead. Big deal, a hawk.

But even from way down here, Grant was easily able to spot the bright white coloring on the tail and head on the graceful creature. It finally dawned on me – this was no ordinary hawk. This was nothing but America’s most legendary and revered mascot: the Bald Eagle. Once on the verge of complete extinction from the continental Unites States, the graceful, adept predator circled and maneuvered over our heads as we all sat there, dumbfounded and speechless. In fact, it was only a little less than a year prior that it was finally stricken from the official list of endangered and threatened wildlife in the United States. And now here they were, living and thriving amid the pastoral hills of Central California. Few things are more powerful or humbling than the sight of such a rarity – such an intertwined story of tragedy and perseverence. We all watched in silence until the bird of prey ultimately found better hunting grounds and, like a ghost, disappeared over the horizon.

After gearing back up and searching out a smoother towing location, it was time to jump back in and log some wakeboarding time. For this trip, I had brought my personal Body Glove Signature Series 139cm wakeboard. Since most of my accrued wakeboarding experience had been on this very board, it was much easier to get a feel for things behind the Honda Aquatrax.

With all due respect to PWC, it’s obvious that a small runabout can’t possibly match the monstrous wake produced by a full-size wakeboard-specific boat. That being said, the Honda provided nothing but outstanding wakeboard-towing performance the entire afternoon. For a small personal watercraft, the F-15X had more than enough power to pull me straight out of the water (it even yanked the rope right from my hands once), and the small amount of additional weight from having Nancy in the spotter’s seat provided modest shape to the craft’s wake.

Although there wasn’t quite enough lip on the wake to perform technical tricks or clear the entire wake, there was more than enough to practice my slides, spins, and lip tricks on the wakeboard. The only complaint came from the pilot, who commented that the Aquatrax had a tendency to “wag the tail” slightly while I was cutting hard outside the wake. This is actually pretty normal for PWCs when towing wakeboarders, and doesn’t discount the fact that the new Honda Aquatrax offers a stable, reliable platform for towing the recreational wakeboarder, wakeskater or wakeskier easily and safely.

After another hour of everyone enjoying the wakeboard, wakeskate and new wakeskis, the wind was building to a point of annoyance on the open water. Deciding to pack it up, we secured the boards and equipment to the gunwales of the two Aquatrax and headed back, sunburned and happy, to the lake’s marina. The wind was producing whitecaps on the lake’s surface by now, and we anticipated that the large cross wakes from a few of the other boats on the water were going to wreak havoc on our small Hondas. But we were wrong.

The craft remained stable and planted, even while catching a little air on the rolling chop and being pushed in every direction by the changing winds. Aside from the spray kicked-up by the powerful gusts of warm air, all onboard were kept remarkably dry and proclaimed at the end of the trip that they felt secure and confident on the Hondas. Both Hondas had done exceptionally well, traversing the lake to its furthest reaches and back again, yet had only gone through half to two-thirds of their 18.5-gallon fuel supply over the entire day. These craft had hauled without complaints all of the PWI crew and our gear through canyon and cove explorations, a fair share of full-throttle horseplay, some amateur watersports and a Bald Eagle sighting.

As the sun set to our backs on the drive out of Lake Nacimiento, we made the mutual promise to make it out here again. Not because of the tow-sports, the fun in the sun, or warm pleasant weather, but because it really is that easy.