Judy isn’t the only one though. She inspired Karen Putz, who 26 years ago caught a toe barefooting and went from hard of hearing to being deaf. Karen’s husband heard about Judy on the today show and sent the story to Karen. Inspired by Judy, she decided to take up footing again and flew down to the World Barefoot Center, where Judy volunteers her time, and started barefooting again at the age of 44.

Joann O'Connor & Karen Putz Barefooting Together (Chicago Tribune)

Since then, Judy introduced Karen to Joann, a 61-year old barefooter from Crandon, Wiscosin and the two of them recently spent a few days barefooting together before heading to Footstock to watch the final day of the figure-8 tournament. There, they got to see some of the barefooting legends like Peter Fleck and Keith St Onge, as well as many other senior barefooters sporting the gray hair.

Check out the following links for more about Judy and Karen:

• Malibu Boats Blog
• Chicago Tribune (full story)
• Today Show (video)

Be sure to head over there for all the details and more great pictures like this one…

Chris McWatters does his best Superman impression

Brad Paisley – Water [video]

Did you know that Brad is married to Kimberly Williams-Paisley? Not sure who that is? She was the daughter in the Steve Martin movies Father of the Bride I & II and also on According to Jim (as Jim’s wife’s sister). So when he’s out on his boat, skiing, footing or whatever he does, he has some good company in the boat. And good company is always important. Especially at the end of the day when the sun goes down at it’s beer-thirty.

Mr. & Mrs. Paisley

It’s also nice to see our little sport, and the sport of water skiing in general, in the mass media, and a Brad Paisley video qualifies as that. I think every waters skier around remembers the Alan Jackson video for Chattahoochee since it featured some slalom skiing in it.

Alan Jackson – Chattahoochee [video]

I personally love the neon colors on his life vest and how he is really cutting it up on what appears to be some classic Dick Pop Jr skis in some of the shots.  I also love the old Nautique in the video.

And while we’re on the topic of country music video’s featuring water skiing, I’ll throw one more into the mix. It doesn’t necessarily tie directly to skiing, but it does features such lines as:

It was painted red, it’s stripe was white
It was 18 feet, bow to stern light…

As he reminisces about his childhood boat.

Alan Jackson – Drive [video]

And with that, country music video time is over, for now…

After looking at their website, it looks like they actually did try to keep scores with the time they stayed up on the water and how many tricks they did to come up with winners, but I contend the real challenge is just getting in the water.  Yes, it’s mind over matter, and you can convince yourself to get in, but matter is something you study in physics, and the physics of a person at 98.6 degrees getting into the 44 degree water means the heat is going to get sucked right out.  Then you need to add in the wind chill factor.  Your face is wet with very cold water and then you start going at speeds in excess of 40 MPH, which means a 40 MPH windchill.  It all adds up to being very cold.

Anyways, they put together a nice little video to commorate the event.  So without further ado, here it is…

2009 New Years Day Barefoot Challenge [video]

I’m not sure if this was a team only event, or if they opened it up to all skiers, but hopefully, they’ll spread the word a bit more next year.  

Anytime anyone has a barefoot event, please send me the details at wedge [at] talesfromthefoot.com.  I’m more than happy to spread the word to my many readers.  Just about all of them love to barefoot.

Winter Waterland 2001 [video]

We may not have the weather to ski year round up north, but that won’t stop us.

The backstory is Kare11 did a segment on winter activities- Eric Perkins “perk at play” took a stab at waterskiing in the winter. I’m not sure anything I took part in will make the air  since we tried to build a pyramid and I fell twice (brrr), but it should be a fun segment. I think it airs Tuesday at 10- might be able to find it online. The video should have some good footage. There is a hard core group in MN that regularly foots year round, including a New Years day outing.
  - Adrienne 

Anyways, here the pictures…

Most people that pull up to the lake and see this, don’t think about going in the water.  But as you can see, they are already splashing around in the water while the rest picnic on the shore ice.

Next, before they went skiing, the needed to clear the dock.  Usually this involves sweeping off whatever that stuff is that the sea gulls, docks or geese leave behind.  But they didn’t need to worry about that nasty stuff. They just had to get rid of some snow, so they bust out the snow blower…

Next, they launched the boat and pulled up to the dock to load the barefooters spotters suckers into the boat. The driver’s face is just going to freeze when the start moving.  40 MPH wind chill is cold.  Don’t believe me? Next time it dips down below freezing, just roll down your window while you’re cruising down the highway.  It gets pretty cold pretty quick.  Next, stick your hand out the window without a glove on as you move.  Now it’s really cold.  If you’re really brave, dunk your hand in water so it’s soaking yet and then stick it out the window and you’ll get a tiny little taste of what it’s like behind the boat when your cold, wet and moving very fast.  On days like this, the drivers just don’t get enough credit.

They finally did do something in the water though.  Here’s a good shot of some barefooting.

I recall an article in Prosper magazine a client showed on some whack job skiing backwards on his barefeet.  He lived in the Sacramento area, and possibly had a barefoot ski school.  I did some on-line searches, and swerved into a fellow, Andy McCarville, who skied with Willie on a regular basis.  He said Willie did not teach any more, but Andy opened his boat for me to ski anytime.  That is a cool thing about barefooters, they are always stoked about new footers joining the sport.

I enjoyed skiing with Andy many days during that summer, but no sign of Willie.  He was out there, footin’ as usual, but hadn’t hooked up with us.  Low and behold, early September Willie surfaced.  He was cordial, affable, and fully stoked at “fresh meat” in the boat to provide entertainment.  We hit a spot called Lost Slough, a 2-mile long footer’s paradise, which was glassy, and there were no other boats to found.

We all took turns ripping it up.  Little did I know at the time what this relationship with Andy and Willie would become.  Willie was very comfortable at this spot since it looks like the Cajun Bayou and it appears as if crocs are going to emerge out of the swamp.

Willie at Lost [video]

Willie, Andy and I would go out on many occasions after that.  Willie learned shortly after this outing that he was named to the US Barefoot Team and would go to New Zealand in January.  September in Sacramento is hot, the water is warm, and January seemed a great way off.  I did not know it at the time, but I would become part of Willie’s crew an be part of his road trip to the World’s. 

Over the next several months we skied a lot.  Me, the rookie, learning one foots, toe holds, progressing on the back deep; Andy, always energetic, fine tuning his massive quiver of techniques with emphasis on surface turns.  Willie, now, is another story.  The best I can describe him train is like a samurai warrior.  Honing and sharpening his already deadly sharp sword;  Visualizing his trick run while taking a light jog down to the launch.  Willie is a highly focused, very intense individual, especially while barefooting.  He is constant about proper technique as well as boating and skiing safety.  He knew when to hit the water and when to stay in the boat because “something wasn’t quite right.” 

But don’t let Willie’s intensity take away from his lighter side.  He is a jokester and makes footing a lot of fun. His sense of humor had somehow charmed his way into a local club of 50 members that are outboard fisherman, and only one barefooter, Willie!  He would always mix things up at any given time, like the time he ripped a backwards one foot with a phone book in his hand as a promo for the phone company he worked for. 

Phone Book Promo

Late Fall we made a spectacular trip to his friend Jerry’s private lake, and hit legendary conditions.  Willie tuned his trick runs, Andy hit a few more front to backs, and I nailed my first toe-hold.

Willie at Diablo Shores [video]

Summer gave way to Fall, and Fall finally conceded to Winter.  The water got down to 48 degrees, the weather at times was still beautiful, and the 3 musketeers were still footing, still progressing toward our goals.  As the Winter came into full bloom, out came the drysuits, and the cooler full of hot water, and baby powder all over the place.  Willie’s game became very mental at this point.  His runs were concise, to the point, and very focused.  His technique was sharp, fast, and very physical.  I had never seen him fall, not once.

This whole time I was transforming.  I was becoming a barefooter.  At times watching Willie work his magic, I often thought: “How is this possible?  Months back I was struggling to catch a foot ride off a hydroslide.  Now I am out barefooting with one of the best in the world.”  Exhilarating and humbling at the same time.  The day Willie left for New Zealand I had a very memorable phone call with him.  He thanked me for being part of his team, for helping him get ready, for inspiring him, for driving the boat.  He parting words as he readied himself for a long plane ride were, “I’ll make you proud down there.”  I said, ” I already am proud.”

Proud to know him, proud to be part of his crew, proud to be his friend.  Willie stands alone:

Stand Alone [video]

It looks like this year the weather cooperated… well it cooperated as much weather can on January 1st.  And did I mention there’s  a Speedo?

71 Year Old Barefoots in a Speedo on a Frozen Lake [video]

And for those that haven’t visited the Creaky Rowboat before, you should really stop by.  Even USA Water Ski’s executive director Steve Locke has taken notice.