BFC has posted a ton of videos from Worlds now, including Junior and Open Jump Finals and Tricks Finals. You can find them all here. Nice job with the videos BFC! I’d start watching them now, but it’s a bit late. There’s also a short article about their trip here.
Month: February 2009
Another Chetek Video
I’d start off by saying the Chetek Boys (link to their first video) have gone to far with their latest video that shows them watching Chetek Girls video that was done, but I don’t think I can in good concious say that. I can’t say it because they make good videos.
First, the video quality is great. The production quality is great too. They take time editting their videos together and put a good soundtrack on them. Finally, the footing video is outstanding. Now, they aren’t doing tricks like the DV boys, but good solid footing, a couple good comments here and there and they usually have a nice little crash sequence. All elements of a good footing video, at least in my opinion.
In their latest video, 2 of the Chetek Boys take “Keith” out for some barefooting on November 1st. For those that don’t know, Chetek is is northern Wisconsin. On November 1st, it’s cold, and the water is cold even in southern Wisconsin. Toss in the fact that it didn’t look like a bright and sunny day and you have a very brisk footing set. And they have fun doing it.
Enough commentary, here’s the video that they submitted to BFC for the Show Ski Challenge. That makes 3 entries for Chetek by my count.
You can find their video on BFC Show Ski Challenge Page here. It’s titled “Fake It”.
One last thing, stick around to the very end. One of them makes a funny comment after a bad fall.
Spring 2009 Wisconsin WaterSkier
The new issue of the Wisconsin WaterSkier showed up in my mailbox today. Flipping through the Official Publication of the Wisconsin Water Skiing Federation I was pleasently surprised to find several articles by barefooters for barefooters in it. Typically you’re lucky to find one article about barefooting in a water skiing magazine.
The issue is primarily focus on the details of the Wisconsin Water Skiing Expo and Convention (previously called Think Tank) with details on all of the various sessions available. But towards the back of the book there are three good barefooting articles.
The first barefooting article is by Jamie Kunlien. He recently just competed at Worlds in New Zealand and in the summer is a member of the Janesville Rock Aqua Jays (a show ski team in Wisconsin). His article went through many good things to think about when going to a barefooting school, or any type of water skiing instruction, and really any type of instruction in general. He wrote about what you need to do be an Active Learner. There’s a lot there that seems obvious, but it is worth everyone’s time to read it. You can apply it to a lot more than just barefooting.
The second article is by Paul MacDonald, also a world class barefooter. His article is about how to dryland train for barefooting. This is a good article for those of us in the frozen north because even if we do get out on the lake, we’re probably ice fishing right now. He goes through several things to work on when you’re not on the water and how they’ll translate to making you better on the water.
The third and final article is by Dave Small, yet another world class barefooter. His article talks about how to do a tumble turn. It’s a simple trick and his explanation is yet another rephrasing of every other explanation of how to do a tumble turn. It wasn’t anything new, but hearing everyone give a consistent explanation means it must be the right way to explain it.
Finally, for those of you looking for something to do the weekend of February 27th thru March 1st, come to Wisconsin Dells for the Water Skiing Expo. They’ll be several sessions about barefooting with topics about goals, driving, how to practice, stretching, figure-8 competition (by KSO), back deeps, 3-event (by KSO), and about what barefooting can teach you about life.
I know I’ll be attending some of these sessions, as well as many other sesssions about show skiing. This year one of my goals for Think Tank is to do less 12-ounce curls on Friday night. 🙂 I hope to meet some of you there. Ask around for Wedge. There are lots of people that know who I am.
New Years Day Barefooting 2009
The Carolina Show Ski Team organized a little barefooting challenge this past January 1st. The challenge? 46 degrees out of the water and 44 degrees in the water. Believe me, both of those add up to it is very, very cold. It’s no Winter Waterland with snow in the air and ice in the water, but yeah, it’s cold.
After looking at their website, it looks like they actually did try to keep scores with the time they stayed up on the water and how many tricks they did to come up with winners, but I contend the real challenge is just getting in the water. Yes, it’s mind over matter, and you can convince yourself to get in, but matter is something you study in physics, and the physics of a person at 98.6 degrees getting into the 44 degree water means the heat is going to get sucked right out. Then you need to add in the wind chill factor. Your face is wet with very cold water and then you start going at speeds in excess of 40 MPH, which means a 40 MPH windchill. It all adds up to being very cold.
Anyways, they put together a nice little video to commorate the event. So without further ado, here it is…
2009 New Years Day Barefoot Challenge
I’m not sure if this was a team only event, or if they opened it up to all skiers, but hopefully, they’ll spread the word a bit more next year.
Anytime anyone has a barefoot event, please send me the details at wedge [at] talesfromthefoot.com. I’m more than happy to spread the word to my many readers. Just about all of them love to barefoot.
Winter Waterland 2001
Yes, this video almost gets disqualified from this site based on all of the wakeboarding in it (I’m not anti wakeboarding, but this is a barefooting site) but there is enough footing in to warrant it’s inclusion. Plus, there’s some pretty funny stuff in it. The weather was about 1 degrees and everyone’s having fun. Enjoy the video…
Winter Waterland 2001
We may not have the weather to ski year round up north, but that won’t stop us.
Winter Water Skiing Just Looks Cold
Adrienne sent in that there was some winter water skiing and barefooting taking place just yesterday, February 1st and sent a long a link to the pictures, which I’ll share. Why are they doing this you wonder? Well the local news crew was interested…
The backstory is Kare11 did a segment on winter activities- Eric Perkins “perk at play” took a stab at waterskiing in the winter. I’m not sure anything I took part in will make the air 😦 since we tried to build a pyramid and I fell twice (brrr), but it should be a fun segment. I think it airs Tuesday at 10- might be able to find it online. The video should have some good footage. There is a hard core group in MN that regularly foots year round, including a New Years day outing.
– Adrienne
Anyways, here the pictures…
Most people that pull up to the lake and see this, don’t think about going in the water. But as you can see, they are already splashing around in the water while the rest picnic on the shore ice.
Next, before they went skiing, the needed to clear the dock. Usually this involves sweeping off whatever that stuff is that the sea gulls, docks or geese leave behind. But they didn’t need to worry about that nasty stuff. They just had to get rid of some snow, so they bust out the snow blower…
Next, they launched the boat and pulled up to the dock to load the barefooters spotters suckers into the boat. The driver’s face is just going to freeze when the start moving. 40 MPH wind chill is cold. Don’t believe me? Next time it dips down below freezing, just roll down your window while you’re cruising down the highway. It gets pretty cold pretty quick. Next, stick your hand out the window without a glove on as you move. Now it’s really cold. If you’re really brave, dunk your hand in water so it’s soaking yet and then stick it out the window and you’ll get a tiny little taste of what it’s like behind the boat when your cold, wet and moving very fast. On days like this, the drivers just don’t get enough credit.
They finally did do something in the water though. Here’s a good shot of some barefooting.
This is really cold. But its really fun too! Plus you get to brag to all your friends.
Thanks to Adrienne for sending in the picturs. If you want to see the rest of them, here’s the link to the album.
USA Water Ski Post On Barefoot World’s Results
Here’s the USA Water Ski Post…
I’ve copied it below because theirs will disappear eventually.
The U.S. Elite Barefoot Water Ski Team and the U.S. Senior Barefoot Water Ski Team each won overall team gold medals, the U.S. Junior Barefoot Water Ski Team earned the overall team bronze medal, and 15 U.S. athletes combined to earn 37 individual medals in respective events as the Barefoot Water Ski World Championships concluded Sunday at Lake Inspiration and Forest Lakes in Otaki, New Zealand.For the second time, the biennial Elite (Open) Barefoot Water Ski World Championships was held simultaneously with the biennial Junior and Senior Barefoot Water Ski World Championships. The seven-day event featured more than 130 athletes from 13 countries. The Elite Barefoot Worlds took place for the 16th time, while the Junior Barefoot Worlds was held for the eighth time and the Senior Barefoot Worlds commenced for the sixth time.
Athletes participating as members of the U.S. Elite Barefoot Water Ski Team were: Ryan Boyd (Orlando, Fla.), Billy Brzoza (Coventry, R.I.), William Farrell (West Sacramento, Calif.),Elaine Heller (Alma Center, Wis.), Keith St. Onge (Winter Haven, Fla.) and Laura Szwed (White Lake, Mich.). The U.S. Elite Barefoot Water Ski Team won its 12th consecutive world team title. South Africa earned the silver medal and Australia claimed the bronze medal.
The U.S. Elite Team was led by St. Onge, who won gold medals in men’s slalom and overall, the silver medal in jumping, and the bronze medal in tricks. Brzoza earned the silver medal in men’s slalom; Heller earned silver medals in women’s slalom, tricks, jumping and overall; and Szwed earned bronze medals in women’s slalom and tricks.
For complete results of the Elite Worlds, click here.
Athletes competing as members of the U.S. Senior Barefoot Water Ski Team were: Adin Daneker (Olympia, Wash.), Andrea Eggert (Smyrna, Ga.), Mike Salber (Clermont, Fla.), Heather Towers (Venetia, Pa.) and Kevin Towers (Venetia, Pa.). The U.S. Senior Team won the gold medal, followed by Australia and New Zealand.
Salber won gold medals in men’s tricks and overall, and silver medals in slalom and jumping; Kevin Towers won gold medals in men’s slalom and jumping, and silver medals in tricks and overall; Heather Towers won the gold medal in women’s slalom, silver medals in tricks and overall, and the bronze medal in jumping; and Eggert won the gold medal in women’s jumping.
A handful of U.S. independent competitors also earned medals in the Senior Worlds. Teri Jones (Tucker, Ga.) earned the silver medal in women’s jumping and bronze medals in tricks and overall;Tenley Cederstrand (Tacoma, Wash.) earned the bronze medal in women’s slalom; and Jerry Kanawyer (Byron, Calif.) earned bronze medals in men’s slalom and tricks.
For complete results from the Senior Worlds, click here.
Athletes participating as members of the U.S. Junior Barefoot Water Ski Team were: Shannon Heller (Alma Center, Wis.),Jacklyn Kumlien (Janesville, Wis.), Jamie Kumlien (Janesville, Wis.), A.J. Porecca (Willowbrook, Ill.) and Lisa Pressendo (Port St. Lucie, Fla.). The U.S. Junior Team earned the bronze medal. South Africa won the gold medal and Australia earned the silver medal.
Heller earned silver medals in junior women’s slalom, jumping and overall; and Jamie Kumlien earned bronze medals in junior men’s tricks and overall; Porreca earned the bronze medal in junior men’s jumping. John Pressendo (Port St. Lucie, Fla.), competing as a U.S. independent, earned the silver medal in junior men’s slalom.
For complete results from the Junior Worlds, click here.
Mad-City Wedge 