It wasn’t enough for Brian Grubb to just stare at the ice chunks floating around Wellfleet Harbor. He had to ride them.
On Thursday, the 34-year-old professional wakeskater — an extreme sport likened to skateboarding on water — geared up and used the large pieces of ice floating in Cape Cod bay as makeshift ramps, hitting them at high speeds as he was pulled along by a boat, performing tricks.
“It was super fun,” he said. “It was a bit of a last-minute type of trip, but it was killer, and there was good weather.”
Grubb said he has never seen anything like the five-foot-tall ice wedges that have attracted people from all over the state to Wellfleet’s inner beaches.
Advertisement
While the sight alone was impressive enough for most, as a wakeskater Grubb felt like he had to add a personal touch to the occasion.
Drawing a bit of a crowd along the beach, Grubb said he spent nearly five hours riding around, flying off car-sized ice slabs that launched him into the air.
“A lot of people thought we were crazy,” Grubb said.
With few problems beyond learning to maneuver through a graveyard of frozen water, Grubb called the once-in-a-lifetime experience a success.
“It was a crazy kind of phenomenon, that’s why we had to go out and ride this,” he said. “I’m glad we made it happen.”
Steve Annear can be reached at steve.annear@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @steveannear.