Stand Up Rider Interview: Porter Anderson
Welcome Porter! Excited to hear your story; tell us a little about yourself and your motorsports history!
My name is Porter Anderson I’m 19 years old and I love motorsports! I love riding dirt bikes, cruising on Harleys, and recently riding stand ups. I’ve worked really hard to buy my toys with my own money starting by mowing lawns when I was 12 and buying my first dirt bike at 13. I bought my first street bike at 15 and my first Harley at 16. Motorcycles are definitely my passion.
Motorcycles seem to be a common thread with us stand up riders! So, how did you get in to stand ups?
My uncle introduced me and my brother’s to stand ups probably in 2014. He had an old Kawasaki 650 (I think it was) which my dad bought from him. That’s the ski that I learned to ride on, but sadly for me, it had engine problems that haven’t been fixed. I rode it just enough to get “bit” by the jet skiing bug. Five years later I get the itch to ride, and have the money to buy a ski of my own and I bought one about 2 months ago and built a little trailer to pull it to the lake.
Tell us about the learning process; was it difficult to learn to stand?
For me, at age 14, learning to ride a jet ski (my uncles ski) started with my brother and I kneeling on it and him taking me for a ride. He showed me how to control it and I would ride around on my knees and loved it! The next year I felt more comfortable and slowly started to stand up. From there it was just getting used to the ski and gaining skill from practice. After a couple years without a ski, when I finally got back on mine I had to re-learn a lot of skills and get the feel for it again. I picked it up nicely from my years of riding motorcycles and also doing other water sports.
One of my favorite questions (haha) – what is you favorite part about riding stand ups and what is your favorite ski?
My favorite part about stand ups is the playfulness they have for freestyle riding. I love turning, jumping, drifting, diving, and wheelies! The only skis I’ve ridden are my uncles old Kawasaki 650 and my 2017 Superjet. They act surprisingly similar, but I love the simple reliability of my SJ.
What is your current ride, and what are your future riding goals?
I ride my 2017 Superjet and my goals are to improve! I would love to be able to impress anyone who watches me ride it.
How do you practice or train to reach your goals?
I bought season passes to 2 lakes near me. I’ll go out after work and on the weekends just to ride/practice/have fun! It’s not uncommon for me to ride 3 days in a row. If I didn’t work so many hours, I’d probably ride even more. Before I leave the lake I spend a bit of time pushing my limits on the ski. Riding as hard as I can just before I head home. I feel like this is when my skills really increase is when I push my limits
Since we’re not on the ski all the time, what other things do you like to do?
I love working. I work in a metal shop for about 50hrs/week and I mow lawns for neighbors as well. That supports my other hobbies which I mentioned earlier. Riding motorcycles. I love dirt bikes and I recently did a big engine upgrade on my Harley to make it amazingly fast. I love the freedom of motorcycling and the adrenaline rush I get.
Thank you so much for sharing your story Porter! Final question – what advice do you have for fellow people interested in learning to ride a stand up?
Practice and don’t give up! It’s easy to say it’s too hard or too scary. One of the biggest things I learned is RIDING A JET SKI GETS MORE FUN THE BETTER YOU GET!! Finding that out amazed me. The ski gets more fun the better you are at controlling it. You’ll figure it out, and you have the whole jet ski community cheering you on.