A ways back, Slalom Magaine… I mean WaterSki Magazine went up to Footstock, wrote a nice little article and even created a video that they posted on their website. I know I linked to that video when it came out, but now it has found its way on to YouTube… so here it is.
Tag: figure-8
Calendar Updated for 2011
Take a moment and check out the calendar on the site. Lots of events have been added for 2011. If you have a barefooting event that you want listed, send it to wedge [at] talesfromthefoot [dot] com.
I’m anxiously waiting for the Madison lakes to melt so I can get my boat in the water for that first run of the year. The weather hit near 50 here today, which will work some wonder on that sheet of ice covering Lake Monona.
Alabama River Barefoot Challenge is Oct 2
I just found out about this event courtesy of the USA Water Ski E-Blast Newsletter. The Colonel Biggs Water Ski Show Team will be hosting the Alabama River Barefoot Challenge on Saturday, October 2nd.
The format is a 55 mile barefoot endurance race. Driver meeting is scheduled for 6:30a, boat launch at 6:45a and the race kicks off at 7:30a. Awards are schedule to go from 11a-noon followed by a cookout and then an afternoon of water skiing, barefooting, and what sounds like an impromptu figure-8 tournament.
Check out the team’s website or 2010 Alabama River Barefoot Challenge flyer for more details.
World Barefoot Center Figure-8 Barefoot Championship
Just wanted to pass on a few more details about the upcoming World Barefoot Center Figure-8 Barefoot Championship that’ll be taking place in Winter Haven, Florida on Saturday, October 16 on Lake Silver.
The entry fee is $65 with registration starting at 7am, the skiers meeting at 730am and the tournament starting at 8am. The tournament will pay out $1000 for first place, $500 for second and $200 for third.
Typical figure-8 rules that follow the Footstock rule book with the exception of the ropes being on a standard tower. No duct tape or Ultimate Grip Clinchers or Masterline Pro Lock gloves.
Seeing as how it’s at the WBC, you’ll likely be competing against KSO, David Small and the rest of the staff from there.
A party will follow at 7:30pm at the WBC Headquarters located at 3915 Lake Conine Dr. East in Winter Haven and the flyer indicates FREE BEER!!!
Check out the WBC website for more details and contact info. It’s also the final stop on barefoot ski dot com’s Figure-8 Barefoot Series.
Click on the image below to embiggen the flyer…
Update 9/25/2010: The figure-8 tournament will be held on Lake Silver now. My understanding it’s a private lake so there won’t be any weekend warriors to deal with.
Current Figure-8 Barefoot Series Standings
Well, over at barefootski dot com, they’ve updated the Figure-8 Barefoot Series standings through the third event. To win the series, each competitor much compete in at least 3 of the 4 tournaments. The number each competitor has already attended are in parenthesis behind their name. Since they are only taking points from your 3 best tournaments, if you didn’t do so well at one of them, you can improve that score by going to the final event at the WBC on Saturday, October 16th (I’ll work on tracking down some more details on that event and get them posted here.)
With just one event to go, here are the people in the running for the crown…
| JJ Link (3) | 100 |
| Marc Donahue (3) | 75 |
| Rob Christensen (3) | 55 |
| Chad Mietz (3) | 45 |
| Mike Miller (3) | 40 |
| Paul Stokes (2) | 40 |
| Craig Campbell (3) | 35 |
| Chris McWatters (3) | 25 |
| Greg Wilkinson (2) | 20 |
| Ben Desier (3) | 15 |
Double Elimination – JJ Link versus Mike Netzer
Well, here’s the first video (a Tales from the Foot exclusive) from the 2010 Clean Lakes Festival Barefoot Challenge. After some great action shots to start the video, it features the runs it took to determine the Barefoot Challenge champion.
The final pairing of the challenge featured Mike Netzer facing off against JJ Link. Mike Netzer entered the final pairing with one loss already, having come back through the loser’s bracket and was facing off against JJ Link, who hadn’t lost yet. For those that don’t know, that means for Mike Netzer to win the Barefoot Challenge, he needed to beat JJ Link twice. For JJ Link to win, he just had to beat Mike Netzer once.
Yet somehow, they still needed three runs to determine the winner…
Clean Lakes Festival Barefoot Challenge – 2010 Finals
Please excuse the shaky camera in the video. My video editing program actually did a hell of a job making it less shaky (you should have seen it before I processed the video.) The water was rough, the video camera was hand held and I was holding the video camera in my right hand while holding the still camera (that took all the pictures you’ve seen here) with my left, all the while trying my best to keep them both focused on the barefooters, keeping the video camera as steady as possible and taking a steady stream of still pictures in an effort to capture the moment that someone falls. Did I mention I was in a boat that was going 40.5 MPH that was driving in a TIGHT figure-8 pattern. Given the conditions, I think I did pretty well on both accounts. I hope you’ve enjoyed the pictures and like this first video.
Clean Lakes Festival Barefoot Challenge – The End of the Runs
Here are a few pictures of “the end of the runs” from the Clean Lakes Festival Barefoot Challenge. The pictures are either from right before the fall, right after the fall, and sometimes, when I happened to push the button on the camera at just the right time, during the fall. Regardless of when they were taken, these pictures all turned out pretty cool.
It actually took 3 runs to decide the victor between JJ Link and Mike Netzer. Mike needed to beat JJ twice to win the Clean Lakes Festival Barefoot Challenge. During the first run they both fell at the same time, no one in the boat could tell who won (the driver, the two judges/spotters and me juggling both a video camera and a still camera). Even though they said we couldn’t use it to determine the winner, we looked at the video after we all agreed they’d have to re-run the first run. After watching the replay (granted it was on the roughly 2.5 inch LCD view screen) we still couldn’t tell. (BTW, lots of video coming in a few days, including this footage.)
Here are the photo finishes of their second and third runs…
I did my best to identify the people in the pictures based on who I do know and using the results that I know. If I miss identified someone, please let me know [wedge [at] talesfromthefoot.com].
FacePlant Fest is Sept 11
Hopefully you’ve noticed this on the calendar and it isn’t news to you, but in case you haven’t, the Twin Cities River Rats will be hosting the 2010 FacePlant Fest Figure 8 Barefoot Tournament on Saturday, September 11th in Long Lake, Minnesota.
Registration starts at 830a and the skiers meeting is at 930a.
For more details and the entry form, head on over to www.faceplantfest.com.
JJ Link vs Luke Bruckner Pictures
Here are a couple more action shots from the boat at the Clean Lakes Festival Barefoot Challenge. These two pictures feature JJ Link on the left versus Luke Bruckner on the right as they both hung on for their dear life in what I came to think of as the corner of death (aka the 2nd half of the figure-8).
While I was there for the final runs, I only saw one pair of barefooters make a complete eight and a second pair that almost made an eight. Pretty much everyone else fell in the rollers in the middle or at some point in the corner of death.
JJ went on to take 2nd in the Barefoot Challenge.
Yes, videos will coming soon. I’m working on finishing another video project first, then I’ll start work on the Clean Lakes Festival Barefoot Challenge videos. Watch for them next week.
Let’s Meet Grant Johnson
When 13-year old Grant Johnson arrived at the Clean Lakes Festival Barefoot Challenge, he planned to only compete in the Junior Division. Being the only junior there, he ended up competing in the OPEN division and became THE crowd favorite as he let all the footers know that he was there to win!
My google bots tracked down this video interview Grant, who took sixth place (out of 30 footers) at the Clean Lakes Festival Barefoot Challenge, beating the likes of Mark Donahue, the 2010 Footstock Champion.
Mad-City Wedge 