All of the old posts from my old website talesfromthefoot.com.
The granddaddy of figure-8 tournaments is a little less than a month away now. I don’t know if it is the oldest figure-8 tournament, but it is definitely one of the biggest. I haven’t seen a new promo video for the tournament, but did run across this old one.
Want more details about Footstock, check out their Facebook page. It seems to have the most up to date details.
One of my regular readers and contributors, SacFooter (229 videos and counting on YouTube), recently had the opportunity to foot with David Small out at Diablo Shores in Brentwood, CA after their regional tournament. David stuck around for a few days to do some clinics and SacFooter attended one of them. His comments about David: “Super Cool, GREAT instructor and a lot of fun to be around.”
And As SacFooter always does, he shot a lot of video and put together this exclusive video for Tales from the Foot of David Small doing some footing. It features all 3 primary barefoot events with a whole lot of tricks, some solid slaloming and some inverted jumps.
Thanks for the video Roy!
Like a whole lot of other water skiing events, this year’s Barefoot Nationals are being webcast. I haven’t had a chance to watch this webcast yet, but wanted to remind everyone that it is out there. You just need to go to the World Barefoot Center website (run by KSO and Small) to view it. Be sure to check it out.
Webcast Link => World Barefoot Center
Back in ‘the day’ all of the barefoot circles you’d see in a ski show were BIG. Lately, they’ve grown a little smaller so they can both keep the action in front of the audience and say they did 5, 6 or 7 circles.
Me, I’m still impressed when teams go big. Even more impressed when they go multiple boats. Here’s a video of the Must-Skis of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin doing both.
Trolling the news feed that is my Facebook feed, this video showed via The Stokeman. It’s not a video of him, but of Randy Filter and it’s old school.
As the title of this post implies, there is a sweet two ski bomb out in this vid, but not just an ordinary one and you need to see it.
Also, a note to the camera man visible in the last shot… I’m pretty sure the skier would have appreciated it if you had ducked at least a little bit. That was a little close for comfort.
This old article by Paul “Stokeman” Stokes just made it’s way across my desk. Here’s the beginning of it:
The front to back (F-B) is known as the trick that separates the men from the boys or takes women to the world level of the sport. Even at the National Championships there are many competitors that perform the back to front but very few outside of the open division perform the front to back. It’s a trick that every barefooter wants right from the start. This trick is also widely thought to be a very difficult trick. I’m here to tell you that this is an easy trick when #1 you’re ready for it, #2 you go about learning it properly, and #3 you have persistence.
If you want to read the rest of the article, follow the link. I think everything is current except for Paul’s contact info at the end of the article.
Here’s some vintage barefoot trick skiing by the one and only Paul Stokes. I know he’s phenomenal footer and person, having skied with him on several occasions (he’s even dabbled in show skiing once or twice).
Hey Everyone, I’ve been doing some site updates around here the last few days. You may have noticed a little different look to the site. Everything is still here, it just looks a little different and may keep changing as I work on the layout I want.
Anywho, one of the changes involves a new banner image across the top of the site. The current image features me on one of my epically bad attempts at a tumble turn from a few years back. Yes, that is suppose to be a tumble turn. Don’t even ask why I’m not on my back, or why it looks like I may be trying to break dance… poorly. As I said, it was epically bad. Makes for a good picture though. I’ve got some others too.
Here are some other great pictures of epically bad tumble attempts…
Finally, I’m glad you’re still reading. Do you have a funny picture related to the sport of barefooting? Or a spectacular wipeout caught on film*. Send it my way with a paragraph describing why it should be plastered across the top of this site and it may just end up there. Send it to wedge[at]talesfromthefoot[dot]com with a subject of TFTF Header. Just keep in mind that the header is typically a very wide picture that isn’t very tall, so I may have to creatively crop it to get it to work up there.
*Film being the digital 1’s and 0’s that capture the images today.
I’m really not sure what to say about this poster for Footstock this year. I will tell you that Footstock takes place on August 21-21 this year up in tiny Crandon, WI. I honestly don’t know if it’s the oldest Figure-8 tournament around, but it is definitely one of the biggest and typically draws some big name footers like KSO, Stokes and Mahnke. Don’t know all those names? Do some research and you’ll realize why they are big names.
One of the truly unique aspects of barefoot figure-8 tournaments is they’ll put a big name footer up against a no-name footer. Both footers feel the pressure. One footer has to live up to the expectation his (or her) name carries and has no desire to faceplant against an unknown footer. The other footer? He (or she) has the opportunity to let the world know who they are by knocking of an elite barefooter.
Want more details? Contact Gary Mueller at garym@bvk.com.
Footapalooza happened this weekend and barefootski dot com has quickly posted the results. Congrats go out to Freddie Deiser. Click on over to barefoot ski dot com for all of the results, including the entire bracket to find out who beat who in the figure-8 tournament.
Update:
Here’s a story from a local newspaper covering the event.
Mad-City Wedge 