Category: talesfromthefoot.com

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

Best Dam Barefoot Race is Saturday, May 15

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Just got off the phone (yes people do call me and let me know about events) and found out that the Best Dam Barefoot Race will be taking place on Saturday, May 15 on Beaver Dam Lake in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. It’ll be a 22 mile relay race for teams of 4 or 5 footers.

Last year the weather didn’t cooperate on Saturday (just a tad bit windy) and on Sunday when the ran the rice, although it was very sunny, the actually temperature was way cold (we’re talking 30’s). Hopefully, the weather cooperates a bit more this year.

More details on registration and cost will be coming soon.

Building a Barefoot Calendar

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Do you have a barefooting event coming up this spring, summer, fall or even winter? Any type of barefoot event (figure-8, 3-event, race, freestyle, clinic, really anything.) If so, shoot me an email at wedge@talesfromthefoot.com and I’ll get it added to the calendar here on Tales from the Foot. Be sure to include some details about when, where and who to contact for more details. I can even add a full post about your event if you send in enough details about it. If you want a page on the site (ie talesfromthefoot.com/youreventnamehere to use as the events official website, I can help with that too (all I ask is you provide some follow up on what happens at the event for a story with some pictures and/or video).

Not planning an event, but looking for one to go? Be sure to look at the calendar here. There’s already lots of events in store for 2010. Based on my scouring of the internet, so far on the calendar we have the Blue Moo Chickfest, Wisconsin Open, Midwest Regionals, Barefoot Nationals, Manitowish Waters Midwest Open, World Barefoot Championships, Footstock, Clean Lakes Barefoot Challenge, Faceplant Fest and Project Snowflake.

Still waiting to here when or if there will be a Best Dam Barefoot Race (I need to make some calls), when the Dam to Dam Race will be (sometime in November), when the big St Louis Figure-8 and Race will be, and any other events that might be occurring somewhere this year.

Through the Eyes of a Footer

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Courtesy of the Freeman Funk Footers and via Barefoot Ski Dot Com comes a video of some barefooters that decided to break the ice… literally. What’s unique about this video is that it is shot from what I must assume to be a helmet-cam. It takes a little while for the footing to start because they need to push the jet ski out into the water over the ice, but for those of you haven’t seen what a barefoot deepwater start looks like first hand, here’s your chance. You’ll also get to here the comments that come up while barefooting in bone chilling water.


Cold Water Footing 1st Person Perspective

I couldn’t find a website for the Freeman Funk Footers, but did find this t-shirt that gives their top 5 excuses for why they didn’t make it…

  1. Forgot to cinch my straps
  2. Had to poop
  3. Bolt in the Clinchers
  4. Boat Driver
  5. Train Wreck

Barefoot Chick Fest is Set for June 19

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In the most recent issue of the Wisconsin Water Skier (a WWSF publication) on the inside cover there is ad announcing the Barefoot Chick Fest that will be taking place at the Blue Moo Lake near Alma Center, WI on Saturday, June 19 this year. The website is listed as www.BarefootChickFest.com but as of this writing, there are no details there. Another site to look for details is www.cowzrus.net. As of this writing, there aren’t any more details other than to save the date.

For those that don’t know, the Blue Moo Lake is run by the Heller family who have several very accomplished barefoot skiers that competed successfully at the 2008 Worlds Barefoot Championships in New Zealand. Needless to say, they know a little something about barefooting.

Varying Degrees of Winter Water Skiing

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First off, some props go out to the Mad-City Ski Team, Skipper Buds and Malibu Boats. Based in Madison, WI, the ski team performed a benefit show on December 19th called Project Snowflake to raise some dollars for he local children’s hospital. They braved 30 degree weather and 36 degree water to raise about $3k for the American Family Children’s Hospital. They had fun for a very good reason. Check out the story on their website for more details. You can also donate to the cause. Details are in the Mad-City story. You ask why this made a barefooting website? Well, they had some barefooting in their show. Picture below.

Next, 30 years ago a town in California decided they needed a way to boost business on New Years. They settled on the Bun Run. It’s naked water skiing on New Year’s Day. Read the story here for more details.

Finally, there are a group of wild and crazy guys up near Montreal, Canada that like to do some water skiing in the winter. It sounds like it’s an annual tradition and they have a lot of fun in the process. Watch the video below…


Winter Water Skiing in Canada

Willie Rips the Port of Sacramento

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Tales from the Foot’s west coast correspondent SacFooter sent us a video that he produced exclusively for Tales from the Foot.

SacFooter has the privilege to ski with Willie Farrell fairly regularly and has posted about his experiences before (link). While those of us in the midwest were suffering through a cold, windy and rainy October, they were blessed with blue skies and calm water in the Sacramento area. On one of those days SacFooter took his camera along and he’s put together a little video for us to…

Watch Willie Farrell rip up the Port of Sacramento as he puts on a clinic on how to barefoot trick and slalom.

Willie Rips the Port of Sacramento

Thanks for the video SacFooter!!!

Barefoot Crashes, Wipeouts, Faceplants and Headers

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Everyone loves to see the really cool tricks and new barefoot moves that are out there. When done correctly, they are pretty awesome. When not done right, they are a completely different type of awesome, as in awesome crashes.

Sacfooter, a friend of the Tales from the Foot website, put together quiet the crash video and forwarded to me. It features Roy (aka SacFooter), Andy, Dave, Willie (Farrell), Zack and Craig. They are all pretty good footers, and this video shows the attempts at some of the really cool moves and tricks that didn’t go quite right, proving that 1) they aren’t easy to do and 2) learning them requires a lot of dedication. Here’s his description of the video from YouTube:

Ouch! That’s what you’ll say after you see this video! This video was compiled by popular demand. You out there in youtube land demanded the crashes, and here they are. OK, so SacFooter has been holding out on you. That’s right, it is not always smooth and easy in barefoot land. Here are the wipeouts, the footage that did not make it into the videos.

Enjoy!

Barefoot Crashes, Wipeouts, Faceplants & Headers

Dam to Dam Barefoot Race is November 7th in Austin, TX

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One of the biggest barefoot races is coming up in a little less than a month. On November 7th, the Austin Barefoot Club will be hosting the Dam to Dam Barefoot Race.  Here are the details from the flyer that was sent out:

Come join us for the 22nd annual Austin Dam to Dam Race

Hosted by the Austin Barefoot Ski Club

Saturday, November 7th

Steiner Ranch Lake Club, Lake Austin

Friday night party at the Oasis on Lake Travis http://www.Oasis-austin.com

20 mile barefoot ski race Saturday morning on Lake Austin

Pro and Open divisions

Barbeque

Beer

T-shirts

Awards for all racers
Mountain Star Lodge, 3573 Hwy. 620, 512-263-2010 http://www.Mountainstarlodge.com
Hampton Inn, 2013 Hwy 620, 512-263-7474 http://www.Austinlakewaysuites.hamptoninn.com
Club members’ couches and floors also available!
E-mail Blake at Blakefoot@aol.com with team information

Or call Blake at 512-748-5031

Or visit our website www.barefootaustin.org
$295 per team payable at the Friday night party

If you need a team to ski with just let us know!

Worlds & Nats

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The main reason for a new post is my google alerts found a nice article on the Heller girls.  They recently competed at the World Games in Taiwan and did very well with Elaine taking the gold and Shannon the bronze. Quite an accomplishment for two sisters.  They also competed at the US Nationals a couple weeks later taking gold and silver.  (article)  One thing that helped a lot is Elaine is now using the inverted jumping style and is currently the only woman using that type of jump. Basically, you fly through the air like superman (or woman) and fly a hell of a lot farther.

I can’t find a source to back this up, but I remember seeing a USA Water Ski post go through my RSS reader about Keith St. Onge winning gold at Worlds and I know he also won gold at Nationals as well as set a pending trick record. (article)

Here’s a link with all of the Nationals results.

Finally… a little teaser. Keep an eye on here for a pretty sweat barefoot video (or two) coming soon. Camera work kinda sucks and the view point isn’t that great, but the trick is more than kick ass and makes up for the poor camera work and bad perspective.