Stacey and Tom Birkheim want to share their personal paradise with everyone in Prince George.
The adventure-seeking couple are looking to share their passion for water sports by offering lessons to kids and adults through a new home-based business, Ness Lake Watersports.
"The lake is so beautiful and people have no idea what they're missing out on," said Stacey. "We're just trying to get people to know the sport and have fun with it."
Tom grew up on the lakes in the Salmon Arm area and introduced Stacey, a former basketball player at PGSS in the 1990s, to water-skiing and wake-boarding five years ago. She was instantly hooked.
"It's a rush," said Stacey, adding the serene lake also provides a peaceful calm. "You hear the loons and the water lapping; you just feel like you're in a piece of paradise."
The Birkheims took a rip and ride certification course in Vancouver this spring through Water Ski and Wakeboard Canada to get their venture underway. They plan to offer lessons in water-skiing, slalom skiing, wake-boarding, wake-surfing, wake-skating and barefoot skiing.
"We want to give people who don't normally have the chance to play on the water an opportunity to share with us something we love to do," said Stacey.
The idea to offer lessons to kids was inspired by their own kids reluctance to listen to mom and dad when it came to learning how to water ski.
"Kids don't usually want to listen to their parents, that's what happened with us," said Stacey. "Our kids didn't want to listen so we put them in another ski school and they were up right away."
Tom added, "We want to provide that same experience for other parents and save the headaches and frustrations of trying to teach their kids."
The Birkheims are offering Monday to Thursday camps for kids between seven and 18 years of age from 6-9 p.m., in addition there's a L'il Squirt Jump Start 45-minute lesson for kids between four and eight . Private lessons are also available.
For more information, see their website at www.nesslakewatersports.com.
