SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - On our way to Madeline Lake, I had no idea what kind of shape I would be returning to town in.

"You're definitely going to have to try a back-flip," said Brendan Matthews.

Yellowknifer reporter Herb Mathisen braves the wake. - photo courtesy of Lee Zayonce

I could not tell if he was joking. I am a novice skier at best and have never tried it on water. The only time I've been pulled behind a machine on a lake was an inner tube behind a Ski-Doo on frozen Great Slave Lake.

Matthews and Carl Grabke both certified instructors, had the monumental task of teaching this reporter how to water-ski.

Matthews and Grabke operate Flipside Watersports, a day camp that teaches kids how to do various watersports like water-skiing and wakeboarding.

First, they strapped me onto a kneeboard to get the feel of being tugged behind a boat.

Manoeuvring between the wake, side to side, my confidence started to grow. Inevitably, I fell in, but I felt I was ready for the skis.

Matthews now had to guide me through the most daunting aspect of the sport: standing up.

As the boat pulled away, I would get halfway out, only to barrel into the water. I felt silly each time the boat had to come back for me to start over.

It took a couple tries but I finally got up. I leaned back and fell right back in, dragging my butt across the surface of the water for a good second or two.

Matthews patiently told me, once I stood up, to make sure my weight was over the front of the skis. The boat moving would keep the skis from going under.

He said I should consciously push my butt forward, so I was standing up a little more instead of sitting down.

The advice worked. I got up and turned between the wake for a bit, looking a lot like baby Bambi struggling awkwardly to stay vertical on a sheet of ice.

I looked at the wake and knew I had to get over it. So I slowly leaned toward it, rolled up it, and then fell off the side, and back on my butt. My skis dipping and anchoring in the water, I dragged for a few seconds until common sense took over and I let go of the rope.

Matthews said to pretend I was taking a mogul on the ski hill, and brace for impact off the wake.

The next time, I actually got over the wake with a little gusto, but again got the same result.

"I probably looked like Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite, when he takes the bike over the jump," I said, as the boat came back.

"Yeah, you got some sweet air," Matthews joked.

A couple more runs and I felt much more comfortable on the skis.

After about 20 minutes in the lake, and following a bail off a surfboard, I started to swim back to the boat and when I kicked, my toes bent numbly at the ends of my feet.

I figured that was good enough for me.

I passed the tow rope to Grabke, who strapped on a wakeboard and showed us all the benefits of practice, pulling off an impressive back-flip.

Barely battered, and with my ego still mostly intact, we headed back for town.

I asked Matthews about my performance.

"Entertaining," he said.

He showed me the report cards he gives kids after their week in the camp. He graciously said I would have earned a bronze star in water-skiing and kneeboarding.

After a couple weeks, he said, some kids can do back-flips.

I was immediately thankful no kids were present during my session.

"The kids we get out are really enthusiastic," said Matthews, who has been waterskiing for 10 years and wakeboarding for seven.

Flipside Watersports day camps began on Monday.