I don’t know anybody who likes the winter. There are not that many group activities that you can do in the winter and most winter activities are mainly for adults.
Everybody likes summer. It’s the time to have fun for adults and kids alike. There are thousands of summer actives and games. But there are no better ways to have fun than on the cool water of a swimming pool, pond, lake, river or the ocean.
Water Sports in Summer
In summer people head for the ocean, river or lake. You can play almost all the different types of water sports in the ocean, river and lakes. There are so many different types of water sports:
Types of water sports
- Surfing
- Skimboarding
- Wakesurfing
- Bodyboarding
- Paddleboarding
- Water skiing
- Jet Skiing
- Parasailing
- Sailing
- Windsurfing
- Kitesurfing
- Kayaking
- Rafting
- Canoeing
- Rowing
- Snorkeling
- Scuba diving
- Diving
- Freediving
- Water polo
- Open water swimming
- Swimming and much more.
No matter what water sport you like, always wear a life jacket the meets the standard of that particular sport.
Surfing, Wakesurfing and Skimboarding
Not all the sport are suitable for all the types of water bodies. You cannot surf in the river or the lake. Even if you could, it’s not as much fun as surfing in the ocean where waves are higher.
For water skiing and jet skiing, you would need relatively calmer water surface of the lake or a river. Wakesurfing is like water skiing on a wakesurfing board on the wakes of a boat without being pulled by it.
You would need condition similar to water skiing. But you definitely need the wake produced by boat. On the other hand, you would need waves for surfing, body boarding and skimboarding.
The higher the wave the more is the fun and only ocean can give you such high waves. So, you surf mostly in the ocean.
Paddleboarding and Bodyboarding
Paddleboarding is a calm water activity where the participants propel themselves with rows or arms while lying, kneeling, or standing on a surfboard.
Bodyboarding uses a smaller board, but the participants need to propel themselves using arm or legs towards a wave.
Parasailing
Parasailing is a recreational activity where a person is towed behind a boat and the person is attached to parachute like the canopy. The person can sometimes be anchored to a truck or car. So, it’s not a dedicated water related activity.
Sailing, Windsurfing and Kitesurfing
For sailing, wind-surfing and kitesurfing you would need high wind. For sailing, all you need is a sailing boat and wind. You can sail in the river, lake or the ocean. As long as you have wind and a boat with sail, you can sail anywhere.
For windsurfing and kitesurfing, it’s better to do it in the ocean. All you need is high wind and, of course, high wind usually brings high wave and high waves which adds fun to wind-surfing and kitesurfing.
Wind-surfing is a combination of sailing and surfing. Although wind surfing originated in Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania, the ocean will give you the thrill of speed and all the actions from the wave. Windsurfing is a summer Olympic event.
Kiteboarding is a water sport that is a combination of the aspects of wakeboarding, snowboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, skateboarding and gymnastics.
This is an extreme sport. Powered by wind, it can reach speed up to 50 knots.
Kayaking, Canoeing, Rafting and Rowing
Kayaking and canoeing are very similar to white water activity. There are two basic differences between them, the sitting position and the paddle design.
On a kayak, the double-bladed paddler faces forward and legs are in front of the kayak. While canoe uses a single-bladed paddle and you kneel or sit facing forward.
Rafting is another white water, usually rapid water, activity involving a group of people paddling or going with the current on an inflatable raft navigate a river or other body of water. This is not a sport for the light hearted.
Kayaking, Canoeing, Rafting and Rowing are all part of summer Olympic events.
Snorkeling, Scuba diving, Diving and Freediving
Snorkeling is a recreational activity where you swim on the surface or near the surface of water equipped with a diving mask and a tube called snorkel through which you breathe.
This allows you to have your face down in the water while you breathe through the snorkel. Snorkeling allows you to observe underwater marine life and coral reef for an extended period of time.
Scuba diving is similar to snorkeling except that you go much deeper and for that, you need an oxygen mask, oxygen tank and a diving suit.
To know more about snorkel gear please click here.
Diving is an activity that involves just diving in the water. But diving as a sport needs a lot of skill involving activities in the air while you are falling and how well you can control the water splash when you hit the ware.
It’s an Olympic event. It is usually done in a swimming pool.
Freediving is a very different activity that involves diving to a certain depth in the water and holding your breath as long as possible. All these are done without the help of any apparatus.
Read more: Best Scuba Gear
Open Water Swimming
All you need for open water swimming is open water. It could be a lake, river or the ocean. All you need is the ability to swim as long as you possibly can.
Swimming and Swimming Pools
For many people a lake, river or ocean is not always available. For them, the only water body they have available are the swimming pools.
The swimming pools may be a concert permanent structure or it could be a semi-permanent above ground swimming pool. People play many different water games in these swimming pools – games like water polo, water basketball and many more.
There are lots of games for kids as well.
Summary
While there are lots of ways of having fun in the water, swimming beats all the other activities. All you need is a body of water with some depth and surface area.
It is the best form of physical exercise – swimming does not exert any pressure on the joints of your body. Water being buoyant, helps many to do many exercises that would otherwise be impossible or difficult.
For instance, riding a treadmill (specialized underwater ones) for overweight or older people. There are many other advantages in having an in-ground or above ground swimming pool. And then there are therapy pools that help you get hydrotherapy.