Category: talesfromthefoot.com

All of the old posts from my old website talesfromthefoot.com.

Barefooting or Swivel Skiing?

Posted in talesfromthefoot.com3 Comments

While the Rowboat’s Paddlers and Rykert argue about Venn Diagrams and question where their cooler full of beer is, I’m going to ask you to grab a beer out of your fridge, sit back and watch a video production from BFC. I’m not sure where BFC find these guys but they got some crazy footers named De Villers. I let ya’ll know about the first De Villers’ video, now there is a second one. This one has the first name of Zane and it features some solid footing.

Now if you go look at the forums on BFC, you’ll find quite the discussion about the Super Fly High that the De Villers make use of. Some people think it’s cheating and not real footing while others say it is just the evolution of the sport. I fall someone in between… Learning how to foot and get my long line deep water starts more consistent, I could tell the difference between a normal pylon, a slightly extended pylon and a hylon in how they helped me make my starts. Now the SFH is much higher, almost like a trapeze. I’m off the opinion that yeah, it’s going to make the tricks easier to do. But the tricks these guys are doing are sick and even watching them being done on the SFH is pretty awesome. So I guess I’m of the opinion that the SFH’s make the tricks easier, but if they are going to give us tricks like this, I’m all for them. Now when people start doing these tricks on a normal boom or long line on a hylon, then the people doing them on a SFH can be called wussies. Until then, they have bragging rights on some crazy tricks.

One trick Zane does that stands out is the overhead 360 on the barefeet. I see swivel skiers do this all the time, some even throw 7’s or 10’s. I also see shoe skiers do this trick. But never before have I seen it done on barefeet. Zane does some other stuff in there two, but I’ll just let you watch and be amazed.

Enjoy…

Download

Best Dam Barefoot Race 2008

Posted in talesfromthefoot.comLeave a comment

Best Dam Barefoot Race 2008

Just want to help spread the word the Best Dam Barefoot Race will be taking place on Saturday, May 10th in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Besides it being the Best Dam Race, I think Teri and the Must-Skis throw the Best Dam Party afterwards. For more details, check out the flyer.

If you sign up for the race and this is how you found out about it, be sure to let Teri know you heard about it at TalesFromTheFoot.com… Thanks!

A Good St Patty’s Day Tradition

Posted in talesfromthefoot.comLeave a comment

Found this story while browsing the internet for barefooting stories.  There are a group of friends from Anapolis who were facing a mid-life crisis eight years ago.  They wanted to do something crazy and came up with barefooting.  Then they started doing footing runs on St Patty’s day.  They figure they’re already in body bags (ie dry suits) so if anything does happen, they’re all set to go.

When they are done, then they break out some green beer, a tradition the rest of the country follows.

Soul

Posted in talesfromthefoot.com1 Comment

Finally managed to pick up the barefooting movie Soul this past weekend.  Gotta say, I liked it, I liked it a lot.

First off, the camera work is very slick.  They have lots of good views of the tricks and the cameras look like they are right in the face of the footers.  Next, the footing is phenomenal.  They’ve got Scarpa, Small, MacDonald and Stokes.  Finally, they’ve got some good music backing all of the action on the screen.  I recognized pretty much every song they used and they made good choices.

You can tell that for some of the shots, they really put some thought into both the trick and how they were going to capture it on video.  Then there was one trick that made me back the video up to watch it again.  It made me go WOW!  They do a barefoot whip up.  And they nail it.  There are show ski teams that have trouble doing a whip up with jumpers.  Be sure to watch the first extra on the DVD because that shows them planning the trick.

Even with all of the sick tricks they show, they have shots of tumble turns being done that really let you see what you need to do.  Simply slide the handle at your waist from the center, to one side, to the other and back.

Want your own copy?  Make your way over to Lake Elmo Sports, they’ve got it in stock.

Here’s the trailer…

3 Big Back Circles

Posted in talesfromthefoot.comLeave a comment

Props to Liz Flaherty from the Chain Skimmers and the UW Ski Team.  At state last year (2007) she did a nice little barefoot act.  She starts with a back flier and then ends up doing two more back deeps as she does her 3 BIG back circles… not the tiny little circles another team does… she goes all the way around the show course.

Props to the guys that messed up the first hot pick of the rope… it made the act even better!

BFC put up a video of it…

http://www.eaglewetsuits.com/videos/ShowSkiChallenge/2007_LizFlaherty_State.wmv
Download Liz Flaherty’s 3 Big Back Circls

The Duck Story

Posted in talesfromthefoot.comLeave a comment

Back in the fall of 2006 I was out skiing in Monoan Bay. In the fall there just seems to a few more birds on the water. Don’t know why. So much like with the pigeons from Seinfeld, boats seem to have a deal with the waterfowl. As the boat comes through, they get out of the way of the boats and we just mumble under our breaths at all the crap they leave on our dock.

So I’m footing behind my boat, moving along at 41 MPH or so. There is a flock of ducks on the water that we’re coming up on that I’m keeping my eyes on. They scatter for the boat, but one moves just clear of the boat and directly into my line. Now, much like in NASCAR (at least according to Days of Thunder), this is kinda like a car wreck so I’m thinking “just go straight through.” There are still several ducks scattered about and trying to slalom my way through just isn’t a realistic option. I’m moving at 41 MPH and there is only about 90 feet between me and the boat. Not sure on the exact math, but that doesn’t give me much time to react.

Now I’m moving along directly towards the duck that is just kind of floating there. As I approach closer, it sees me coming directly towards it and starts swimming which is good. Except it starts swimming the same direction I’m going. It isn’t going 41 MPH. So I’m thinking a typical barefoot stance is about shoulder width apart roughly. The duck isn’t going to fit between my feet. At least not easily. I obviously don’t want to hit the duck. A) This is bad for the duck and B) hitting the duck would be bad for me. I could potentially break a foot, ankle, knee, leg, etc and I’m just not ready to call it a season yet.

So I get to thinking, the duck is swimming, it isn’t that big. I’m about 20 feet from it now and I decide to widen my stance so it is about 4 feet wide. I wanted to get wide, but not too low because the duck might remember that it can fly too. The duck starts to swerve just a bit, but not much, just enough where I need to move a little bit to keep it centered and I straddle the duck. To the best of my knowledge, I didn’t touch it. I didn’t feel any feathers on my ankles or legs.

The spotter, 7, who’s watching this, went from a look of “oh shit he’s gonna hit a duck” to laughing his ass off. John, who’s driving also sees this in the mirror and I could tell he’s laughing too. They could both see clear as day that I straddled it.

I resumed my normal stance and just kept on going.

Maybe this duck thought it was a squirrel?

– Stroy from Eric (aka Wedge)

WaterSki Magazine – March 2008 Recap

Posted in talesfromthefoot.comLeave a comment

This month’s WaterSki Magazine has a couple good articles about barefooting.  I’ve noticed a little more in there about barefooting and that’s a nice change.  They still focus a lot on the 3-event skiing, but they are doing better with footing coverage.

The first article is about the Barefoot Central boys… seems they found a nice little lake, rounded up a pilot and did some footing with no boat wakes to worry about.  Just a little plane, a rope and glassy calm water.  They’ve got some good pictures and stories from the footers that took part in it.  I’ll be waiting for the video to make an appearance over on BarefootCentral.com

The second article is about the Dam to Dam barefoot race hosted by the Austin Barefoot Ski Club of Austin, TX.  They celebrated the 20th aniversary at this past year’s race and the race continues to grow each year.

Both stories had some good pictures and was nice to see WaterSki Magazine give some press to those of us who don’t need the skis.

Rain Got You Down?

Posted in talesfromthefoot.comLeave a comment

Ignore the fact that is the heart of winter here in Wisco and there is currently a winter storm warning that is expected to dump 6 to 8 inches of snow tonight.  Pretend it’s summer and there’s been lots of rain… and now back to the story…

Find a culvert that is flooded with water, a car that is fast off the line and some friends willing to watch you potentially injure yourself severely and you have the making of a good barefoot video.

This is Chad from the Must-Skis, a little show ski team from the metropolis of Beaver Dam, WI.  I can attest that he appears completely sane in normal situations, but still opted to try this little stunt out.

If you check out Barefoot Central, you may have seen this show up there, but I posted this first way back in October last year over on my personal blog, but the video is worthy of sharing here.

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-8455661757957891119

Chad Foots by the Road

Chad, if you read this and care to offer some insight in to this stunt, please share and send it my way.  I’m sure there is a good story to share.

Think Tank 2008

Posted in talesfromthefoot.comLeave a comment

Don’t know what Think Tank is?  I’m about to tell you if you don’t.  Think Tank is the world’s largest water skiing convention and expo and it is put on by the Wisconsin Water Skiing Federation and this year it is February 29 thru March 2 at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells.

Why am I telling you about this? Well, it is a great opportunity to meet some of the best barefooters in the world and get some instruction from them.  Here’s where you are probably confused if you’ve heard about Think Tank.  You may be thinking “isn’t that just for show skiers?”  And the answer to that is no with an asterik.  Yes there are a lot of things there geared towards show skiers, but hey, it is in Wisconsin and that sport is pretty popular here (yes, I live in Wisco).  But there is more to it than show skiing stuff.  There are wakeboarding, 3-event and yes, barefooting clinics put on in addition the show skiing clinics.  You just might make some new friends to go skiing with too once the weather warms up.

So if you’re in the area or just want to head to the great white north (because it’s snow covered) for a weekend get away, come by Think Tank.  In addition to the instructional clinics and deals you might find on some new equipment, you’ll be able to spend a weekend at a great resort.  If you’re tired of the freezing weather, you can pretend it’s summer in their indoor water park kept at a toasty 80 degrees.  If you register for Think Tank, you’ll even get a good deal on the room.

They don’t have their schedule posted online yet, but keep an eye on their website for more details.

Links:
WWSF
Think Tank
Chula Vista Resort