At age 15, Angela Yauchler never could have imagined how much her life would deviate from the plans she made so long ago growing up in Canada. A gymnast, she was introduced to water skiing by her ninth-grade science teacher, who was encouraging students to sign up for the Canadian National Exhibition. She quickly excelled at the sport, despite her fear of heights. But even after coming to Winter Haven to take lessons at the Ski Away Water Ski School on Lake Roy, the then-18-year-old Angela Vanzandwyk always intended to return to her home country and pursue her dreams of becoming a veterinarian.
"My dad says, 'I'll let you take a year off from school, but then you're coming back here to be a veterinarian,' " she recalls.
But then life - and love - got in the way. Her arrival in Florida led to the opportunity to go on ski tours around the world, and it also led to the introduction to her future husband, Geno Yauchler, who had also been taking lessons.
"One year turned into another year and then another year, and I just ended up staying here," the now-34-year-old skier says. "And I would never go back. I just love Florida. We have the best skiers here, and we're like one big happy family."
She's certainly made herself at home in Winter Haven - and water skiing has certainly led to an interesting life that still includes the animals she always wanted to care for. In 1994, Yauchler began a long career at Cypress Gardens, albeit one peppered with uncertainty as the park closed, then reopened, only to close once more. Yauchler loved working at "the Gardens," she says, and was one of the Southern Belles who walked through the state Capitol in Tallahassee in 2004 to convince legislators to save it from being developed into condominiums after it closed the first time.
"It was funny, but we saved it," she laughs.
Seeing it close again was painful, she says, but she's heard that the new park owners - the developers of the future Legoland Florida park - intend to once again have the ski shows that made Cypress Gardens so famous. If they call, she says, she'd be there.
"I would love to, but I haven't heard much about it," she says. "All I've heard is that they will be including the ski show. I'm assuming they'd try to get some of the ones (skiers) who were there."
But until then, Yauchler is continuing on her own path. She and husband Geno, who is featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for his own water-skiing feats, give ski lessons and were recently featured in "The Amazing Race." They also performed skiing stunts for the movie "H2O," and Yauchler has also appeared in infomercials, recently filming a commercial for a nutrition drink. The couple continue to travel the world for ski shows, and they are well known locally for their stunts on the Chain of Lakes.
"We're just thinking of doing many more shows, and just keep doing all kinds of ski lessons," Yauchler says. "We want to make the water-ski world bigger."
But she's not content to stay on the water. Although she gave up her dream of becoming a veterinarian, she's still found her own little corner in that profession by working to be a veterinary technician. She works at Orchid Springs Animal Hospital on Overlook Drive. Working there, she gushed, "is the best job ever." The pampered pets receive such great care, she says, she never wants to work anywhere else.
|
|
In addition to making a splash on local lakes, Angela Yauchler also has made a difference in the lives of others. A frequent blood donor, Yauchler was notified several years ago that she was a 99 percent match with a young girl who had leukemia. Overcoming her fear of needles, Yauchler underwent the painful bone marrow donation to help the girl.
George Aycrigg / News Chief |
|
"I love it," she says. "Absolutely love it."
Good friend Lucky Lowe, a local world-champion water skier, says Yauchler has tremendous dedication.
"She was one of the many ones who came down here years ago and was inspired by Cypress Gardens," he says.
That energy she funnels into her skiing, he says, can be seen in what she does on land.
"She has heart," Lowe says. "That's why she is as good as she is."
Yauchler also made her mark out of the water when she donated bone marrow. While working at Cypress Gardens, she would donate blood regularly during blood drives. She was surprised - and a little apprehensive - when she got the call that she and a young girl with leukemia were a 99 percent match. But her answer was a yes - despite her fear of needles. A week after undergoing the painful procedure, Yauchler's skiing dedication got her back on the water. She keeps in touch with the young woman who received her marrow.
"It was like we were sisters," Yauchler says. "It's been 12 years, and I would do it again in a heartbeat."
