EW Blog
chronicles of the juicy buddha
At Executive Watersports, we have an old pontoon boat affectionately referred to as the “Juicy Buddha.” She sits 27 feet on the waterline, and is outfitted for the sole purpose of serving as our mothership during Wake Camp.
After we pick up the campers on our ski boats from Walsh Landing and Ski Shores, we motor up the lake just north of Emma Long park, where one of our staff members has the Juicy Buddha (JB for short) prepared for a day of fun. She is anchored off the bow about 30 yards from shore, and the stern is tied off to a tree on shore. This ensures she is always pointing into the middle of the lake, regardless of wind direction. The JB has a lily pad tied off to one side, a water cooler, and a JBL partyrocker.
In the bow, the JB has a wakeboard and waterski rack capable of holding about 12 wakeboards and a couple pairs of waterskis. On the starboard side, she is fitted with aluminum bleacher seating. At the stern, there’s an “L” shaped bench, and two openings in the railing for jumping in the water and climbing back on board. The JB has a 115 hp outboard Mercury engine that frequently stalls. The JB has six aluminum poles, mounted equidistant from one another and secured to the railing to ensure they stay pointed straight up. Strung across the poles is a mesh tarp that keeps us protected from the sun. We also outfitted a backpack rack for campers to hang up their belongings. The JB is pretty bare bones, and over the course of the last several summers, she has been a continuous work in progress. (There are some good upgrades coming to the JB in 2025)
Some might consider the Juicy Buddha a sight for sore eyes, but these people have probably never experienced a fun day on the Buddha.
The JB is one of the defining factors that make Executive Watersports such a special place. It is the central hangout spot for the instructors and campers. We swim in the water, catch turtles, play music, eat lunch, and enjoy the lake all day from this boat. When it’s time for a camper to wakeboard or ski, we put on our water sports equipment at the bow of the JB, and slide through the gap in the railing into the lake, where a ski boat is waiting for us. The boat driver throws us the ski ropes, and we’re off.
The story of how we were so fortunate to take possession of the Juicy Buddha is worth noting.
The previous owner of Executive Watersports, Chad Eppes, built a Lake Austin dynasty centered around his pontoon boat. It was a 34 foot long double decker pontoon that was only ever referred to as the “pontoon.” When I took over as owner of Executive Watersports, I could not afford to buy Chad’s pontoon, but my parents were gracious enough to let me run the camp off the dock at our house on Pearce Road.
That first summer, we had two ski boats, and about 8-10 campers each week. It was pretty manageable, and we ran camp out of my parents front yard. The campers would get in the water from the end of the dock, and we spent the rest of our time in the grass. Without getting too much into the details, one of our nextdoor neighbors started taking a disliking towards the camp. We talked through the issues with the neighbor, and stayed on great terms with him during the offseason.
The next summer comes around, and we start running camp off the end of the dock again. The nextdoor neighbor in question now holds a strong disliking towards the camp, and threatens to sue me and my parents. At this point, I’m in a pickle. We already had families signed up for the next several weeks, and the prospect of shutting down for the summer because of a grumpy neighbor was out of the question. I did not want to run camp off of the small ski boats, because the central location aspect of Executive Watersports is what makes it so special.
At this point, my mom connects me with a friend of hers named Deborah Green, who was the owner of the Juicy Buddha. Deborah had purchased the JB on Ebay a handful of years prior, and had used it a handful of times since. It was grimy but showed lots of promise. Although it didn’t get much use, Deborah loved her JB and fortunately liked the idea of Lake Austin’s youth getting to use the boat.
I spent a weekend powerwashing the JB, scrubbing the dirt and mildew off the seats with magic erasers and simple green, and got a couple of 8×10 sports tents at Academy. I secured the sports tents by zip tying the legs to the railing. Just like that, Executive Watersports had a new home base on the water.
We are forever indebted to Deborah for allowing us to use the JB that summer. There are not many people in this world who are willing to hand over their boat to a teenager that they don’t know very well. We also have Deborah to thank for naming our humble pontoon the Juicy Buddha.
After one or two summers, we purchased the JB from Deborah. The trailer had been stolen and the title lost, but I eventually took care of those issues and got the JB moved to my parents driveway for the offseason. The JB still lives on a trailer during the offseason, and during the summer months we have a spot in the water where we keep it.
As Executive Watersports has grown, we have slowly modified the Juicy Buddha to better suit our needs. We ripped out the bulky pontoon upholstery and replaced it with bleacher seating to open up more space and provide seating for more campers. The plastic cabinet and sink were removed for the same purpose. The carpet used to grow mildew and smell bad because it was perpetually wet, so we ripped it out and replaced it with SeaDek.
As for the board rack, bleacher seating, and canopy shade, we have Brian at Eastside Fabricators to thank for that.
The Juicy Buddha, like many things in life, is a constant work in progress. It is nothing special, but it does its job just fine. It floats, its registration is up to date, and it’s not too expensive to insure. The thought of ditching the Juicy Buddha for a brand new, state of the art SolidCraft pontoon has crossed my mind many times, but something keeps me tethered to the Buddha. It is too unique to say goodbye to. There is only one Juicy Buddha on Lake Austin, and it is ours.
The best part about teaching watersports
The joy in teaching kids is the best part about Executive Watersports for me. Kids live in their own world of imagination and creativity, and I love stepping into that when teaching watersports. Every week during the summer, we get a new batch of kids with varying skill levels and ages. It is our job to improve their water sports skills as much as possible, show them how to be safe on the water, and of course, have lots of fun.
Myself and the rest of the instructors at EW experience so much gratification from our summer jobs. Each week, we experience the full range of emotions with our campers, from pure joy to terror. There is always at least one or two campers who are outright distraught at the thought of attempting watersports. These campers are the most difficult to teach, but the most rewarding.
With these campers, there are lots of tears, deep breaths, and conversations about facing their fears. We try anything and everything to get these campers in the water. We bribe them with the promise of icecream. We hold them in our arms while we waterski so they understand what it feels like. We might even offer them $5 if they can get up by themselves. If none of the usual incentives work, it comes time to fight through the tears. We are no strangers to strapping some skis onto a tearful child and hopping into the water with them. As they panic, we calmly rehearse all of the instructions they have already received. Arms straight. Knees bent up to your chest. Cannonball, cannonball, cannonball, stand up!
As the boat accelerates, we keep a steady hand on their life jacket so they keep their balance. When the camper becomes steady and skies across the surface of the water, we release their life jackets while they ski all by themselves. At this point, the fear, anxiety, and stress of waterskiing melt away, and childlike joy takes its place. As an instructor, you get a front row seat to this complete 180 degree switch in emotions. The accomplishment that an instructor feels is almost as much accomplishment the student feels.
We also get students who return to our camp each summer and improve their skills year over year. We have so much appreciation for these students that share a genuine passion for watersports with us. As an instructor, you learn that the students who improve the most each summer are the ones that show up excited to learn, and are not afraid to wipe out.
It is amazing to experience firsthand the determination that some of these young campers exhibit. Every time one of these campers learns a new trick, or does a big jump, it is an equal victory for the camper and instructor. For the kids that truly love the lake, we do our best to teach lake etiquette and safety. We show them how to properly pull in a ski rope and tie a cleat. We show them where the rope swings are along the shores of Lake Austin. It is awesome to watch these kids grow up from a distance. We get to be their mentor, instructor, and friend for a week, and send them off with new skills they are confident about.
From all my summers teaching watersports on Lake Austin, I have started to feel that there is a thin veil that lies between youth and adulthood. Kids are far smarter and more perceptive than adults often give them credit for. At Executive Watersports, we treat our campers like little adults. We tell the campers on Monday morning that as long as they keep their life jackets on and respect the employees, everybody will have a blast. The campers quickly realize that we are not typical summer camp employees, and the more freedom the campers have to be themselves, the more they respect our authority. Things don’t always go perfectly, but our leadership style allows us to truly connect with the campers.
Since our employees are young adults, we constantly step back and forth between the veil of childhood and adulthood every day. Spending your entire summer amongst kids feels like a breath of fresh air from the pressures of growing up.
The pressures of growing up in 2024 are high. Youth sports are highly competitive, and kids are required to spend tons of time practicing, competing, and traveling to sporting events in order to be competitive. Social media is disrupting kids’ social lives and causing so many mental health issues. Growing up just seems like it has become more confusing and difficult.
Fortunately, Lake Austin and EW is a great respite from these things. Our goal is simply to have fun and learn a thing or two in a low pressure environment. Providing this experience to Lake Austins youth is the best part of our jobs.