Rain Got You Down?

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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

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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

How to do a Tumble Turn

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So here goes my first instructional post.  First, the disclaimer.  I’m still working on this trick.  I understand how to do it, just having some issues with the execution.

The tumble turn can be broken down into 3 basic parts.  Sitting down, spinning and standing back up.  There is more to it than those 3 simple steps though.  I would say one thing to “master” before you start doing tumble turns is the deep water start.  The last portion of the start (planting your feet and standing up) is pretty much the last step of the tumble turn.  So be good and comfortable doing deep water starts before you start on this.  So now on to the more details on how to do this trick.

First, you need to “sit down”.  That isn’t the best technical description, but it flows of the tounge easily.  Obviously you start out in a typical barefooting position.  I’ll squat down to “softly” drop my but onto the water.  Then I’ll rock back so I’m sliding along on the small of my back, all the while keeping the handle of the rope in by my abs.

Next step, as I call it, is the spin.  This is the meaty part of the trick.  Done right, this part is very easy according to everyone that has worked with me on my tumble turns.  You can spin either direction, which ever direction makes you comfortable.  I’ll describe spinning my feet around to the right (towards the driver’s side of the boat when your feet are pointing the direction you are moving.)  To initiate the spin, all you need to do is move the handle from the middle of your abs to the left side of your abs.  This motion is only moving the handle a few inches and you want to keep the handle at the same level on your abs, right along where your belly button is.  Using a typical wide barefooting handle, the inside edge of the handle may be just past your centerline.

Now your spinning.  A small thing to keep in mind is to keep you leading edge up.  This doesn’t take much to do, basically you just don’t want dig in your shoulder or something.

As you continue to spin and your head makes it way to leading your body on the water you’ll need to move the handle from the left side of your body to your right side, concentrating on keeping the handle near your belly button.  This simple motion keeps your body spining.

Finally, as your head moves throught the leading position and your feet begin to make their way to the “front” you’ll move the handle from the right side of your abs to the center of abs.  This motion stops your spin.

Now were on to the last step, “standing up.” You’re in a pretty typical barefooting positon, just plant your feet and stand back up.

AS you can tell from this description, the main portion of the trick involves moving the handle from the center of your abs, to the left, then to your right of your abs and then back to the center.  It really is that simple.

The issue I have problems with is keeping the handle down near my abs.  Here’s a picture of my typical issue…

Handle is not by my waist

As you can see, the handle got a way from waist and is above my head.  Needless to say, my spin stopped and I just dragged along in this position, exhausting myself.

Not really sure how this happened, but it makes for a good picture.  Almost looks like I’m trying to break dance or something.  This initiated as me trying to a tumble turn, but some how I rolled over on to my side…

break dancing?

Finally, to see a tumble turn in action, you can catch this short video of 7.  He definately has the spinning portion down.

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=3192025958762920061

7 Tumbles

He needs to work on stopping the spinning.

121 Skiers… 1 Boat

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Over in Tasmania on Sunday, they tried to set a world record for number of people water skiing behind one boat. For those unfamiliar with where this is in the world, here’s a map. Sounds like they need to do some work on their physics though, because when they were trying to get the people up on their skis, the booms towing the people broke. I guess the physics get complicated when you have 121 people involved. I’ll give them an “A” for effort. I wish the story had included some pictures… it would be nice to see the setup for this. Video of the attempt would have been great.

Here’s where I’m confused… I wrote a post on October 9, 2007 about a world record attempt on October 7, 2007. A German blog announced they had smashed the world record by towing 33 skiers behind one boat. Of the top of my head, I know this isn’t a record. Here’s why…

First, there is always this great picture. Not sure on the exact number, but it is way more than 33.

Next, there is the world record pyramid from 2006. 48 people behind one boat. Not all on skis. But they got that whole pyramid thing going.

Plus, Mad-City has done 30+ people ballet lines this summer. That German post just seems fishy.

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The Forecast for Today

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Truly, one of the wordiest forecasts I’ve seen on NOAA’s website. Here’s the weather for the rest of today and tomorrow…

Rest Of Today…Becoming windy and turning much colder. A period of rain…snow…sleet…or freezing rain early this afternoon…then snow. Snow may be heavy at times. A chance of thunderstorms. Widespread blowing snow this afternoon. New snow and sleet accumulation 2 to 3 inches. Temperatures falling to around 10 by late in the afternoon. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph increasing to 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 45 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Tonight…Bitterly cold. Much colder. Windy. Mostly cloudy with light snow likely in the evening…then partly cloudy after midnight. Blowing snow through the night. Snow accumulation around 1 inch. Total snow accumulation 3 to 4 inches. Lows around 8 below. West winds 15 to 30 mph with gusts to around 45 mph. Chance of snow 70 percent. Lowest wind chill readings 18 below to 28 below zero after midnight.

Wednesday…Bitterly cold. Much colder. Partly sunny. Areas of blowing snow in the morning. Highs around 10. West winds 5 to 20 mph with gusts to around 35 mph decreasing to 5 to 10 mph late in the afternoon. Lowest wind chill readings 18 below to 28 below zero in the morning.

In summary… 40 degrees this morning and, with wind chill, it’ll be 30 below tomorrow morning. Gotta love the 70 degree temperature swing in 1 day.

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News Flash!!!

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In case you are wondering, in Wisconsin, in the month of January, when there is snow on the groud and ice on the river, the water is very cold.

This past weekend I played the role of an ice cube as I floated in the Rock River amonst the rest of the ice.

I just posted my “official” recap of Winter Waterland 2008 for Tales from the Foot. I’ll be posting a more light hearted one here in a couple days. I’m hoping to get some pictures from a few people first.

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Winter Waterland 2008 Recap

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This past weekend I attended Winter Waterland hosted by the Rock Aqua Jay.  I’d like to congratulate and thank them for an excellent event.  Granted this event was barefoot specific, but it was the only event going on in the state of Wisconsin that would allow people to get some water time in the month of January.

Winter Waterland's Ski SiteGranted there is a fair amount of skiing going on in the state of Wisconsin right now, but most of it it taking place on hills… like Cascade, Devils Head or Tyrol Basin.  Some of the lakes are busy too… lots of ice shanties dot the landscape and snowmobiles cruise around the lakes.  Boats are typically no where to be scene.  But this past weekend, the worlds of boating, waterskiing and snow mobiling colided.

The scene was the Anchor Inn located in the booming metropolis of Newville, WI.  Located at the Highway 59 exit off of Interstate 90… the exit with McDonalds, Culvers and the big apple in the sky (really not sure what that is, but it’s there).  The crowd began to gather in the morning and registration was a bit frantic.  It was a perfect winter day for waterskiing and people wanted in on the event.  Mid 20s, overcast and snow falling with the occassional chuncks of ice floating down the river.

Once registration was complete they launched the boats and started crusing around the river a little bit to get them warmed up.  The only problem is, with the boats creating some waves, I think they broke some more ice free from up river and then ice starting flowing down the river in ernest.  About 45 minutes later, the flow of ice finally started to subside and the first skiiers, already suited up, began to get a little anxious.  People wanted to get on the water.

The first skier of the day was a little girl (didn’t catch her name) and took to the water on her swivel ski to the cheers of the crowd.  Subsequent skiers did the same… more swivelers, slalomers, trick skiers and what not.  Everyone had fun.  Some of the skiers, mainly the little ones and some the ladies were carried from the dock to the hot tub that was waiting to reheat everyone.

The drop skis... in the snow.As the skiing continued, the ice flow down the river continued to get less and less and finally the barefooters were allowed to hit the water.  Many people just did steps offs, while I was one of the first to do a deep water start, fulling taking the brunt of the cold water.  I won’t say my run impressed the world… it was short, through some rough water, ending with some face plants.  But it was fun at a cost of about $2/second for the run.  Still worth it.  As I made my way off the dock I ran into Ben from the Must-Skis.  I looked at him and mentioned that it was Miller Time now and he was nice enough to hand me his can of Miller Lite.  I handed it back to him empty a moment later.

Tommy and Chad from Beaverland really got their money’s worth.  They doubled up their runs… Tommy road along with Chad on his run and Chad road along with Tommy on his run.  So they each got two pulls.  They had some of the more successful barefoot runs of the day, with one of them even managing to throw a tumble turn.

Footing with snow and ice in the backgroundAs the skiing and barefooting wound down, the activity in the bar, the Anchor Inn, picked up.  People piled in , ordered food and drink and even some raffle tickets to help raise money for the Rock Aqua Jays.  The bar was busy, but dealt with the crush of people quickly.  I had some of their cheese curds, which were very good.

I had to leave a little early, really just as the party was getting started, to head to another event, but I’m sure the rest of the party was a good time.  Talking with Joel from the Aqua Jays, he mentioned that about 35 people or so took to the water.  Much props to the Rock Aqua Jays, Anchor Inn, Ski H20 and the rest of the sponsors for hosting a great event.

They did announce that this will become an annual event for the Jays that will take place the weekend before the Superbowl.  Looking forward to it 2009.

The Crazy Bikini Girls from Madison
The Bikini Girls from Madison… Heather, KTB and Anna

1 Month of Netflix…

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…and 26 DVDs worth of movies and TV shows watched. Don’t think I’ll be able to maintain that pace, but I definitely got my money’s worth during my first month.

That was done using the 3-at-a-time plan with a small amount of watch instantly (4 DVDs worth of The Office.)

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