First Person Footing [video]
The videos’ in HD… feel free to bump up the quality and/or make it full screen…

And in keeping with the Pearl Jam backing music in the videos, here’s a video Ron Scarpa’s Watersports made a while back. Great footing and a great song.

Spring Wind Down – well, kinda [video]

Fun times had by all at RSWS! [video]

The hardest part I have about watching these video made by people at the barefoot schools is looking at the water. First, they are in Florida so there’s Gators in the water. Up here in Wisco, all we have are some real big fish, but nothing that’ll bite an arm or leg off. That bit about the Florida water scares me just a little bit. Probably not enough to keep me out if it, but it’ll definitely be in the back of my mind when I’m in it.

Second, 95% of the water is butter in these videos and the rest is still really, really calm. I see water like that maybe once a year and IF I’m lucky, I’ll be the only boat out there. 50% of the time, the water I foot in, most people won’t. 25% of the time the water would be nice except for the 5 or 6 other boats making waves as the pull their kids tubing. 15% of the time there is good water and only one or two other boats. The other 10% of the time, the water is rough enough where even I won’t try to foot.

The issue is primarily focus on the details of the Wisconsin Water Skiing Expo and Convention (previously called Think Tank) with details on all of the various sessions available.  But towards the back of the book there are three good barefooting articles.

The first barefooting article is by Jamie Kunlien.  He recently just competed at Worlds in New Zealand and in the summer is a member of the Janesville Rock Aqua Jays (a show ski team in Wisconsin).  His article went through many good things to think about when going to a barefooting school, or any type of water skiing instruction, and really any type of instruction in general.  He wrote about what you need to do be an Active Learner. There’s a lot there that seems obvious, but it is worth everyone’s time to read it. You can apply it to a lot more than just barefooting.

The second article is by Paul MacDonald, also a world class barefooter.  His article is about how to dryland train for barefooting. This is a good article for those of us in the frozen north because even if we do get out on the lake, we’re probably ice fishing right now.  He goes through several things to work on when you’re not on the water and how they’ll translate to making you better on the water.

The third and final article is by Dave Small, yet another world class barefooter. His article talks about how to do a tumble turn.  It’s a simple trick and his explanation is yet another rephrasing of every other explanation of how to do a tumble turn.  It wasn’t anything new, but hearing everyone give a consistent explanation means it must be the right way to explain it.

Finally, for those of you looking for something to do the weekend of February 27th thru March 1st, come to Wisconsin Dells for the Water Skiing Expo.  They’ll be several sessions about barefooting with topics about goals, driving, how to practice, stretching, figure-8 competition (by KSO), back deeps, 3-event (by KSO), and about what barefooting can teach you about life.

I know I’ll be attending some of these sessions, as well as many other sesssions about show skiing.  This year one of my goals for Think Tank is to do less 12-ounce curls on Friday night.  :)  I hope to meet some of you there.  Ask around for Wedge.  There are lots of people that know who I am.