New Barefooter on the water!

[dogbert]

We were up on Lake Buchanan this past weekend for a wedding and one of our friends showed up with his Malibu. He's a longtime barefooter who competes nationally, primarily in endurance races. He offered to teach my youngest son Ryan, who's 13.

Anyway, Ryan got up on his second try on Friday. We met up again with them on Saturday and this time Ryan was able to barefoot on just one foot. He almost got a surface 360 before fell and decided to take a break.

My friend is now trying to convince him to join a team for the annual dam to dam race here on Lake Austin.

[da.bell]

Sounds like your son really enjoyed it and he should join a team if you family has the time.

[TeamAllen]

That's incredible! You have to get some pictures of that.

[dogbert]

That's incredible! You have to get some pictures of that.

Ok, I'm a dumb@$$ so let the beatings commence.

I forgot to charge the camera battery fully and we were taking pictures, but I think the combination of the heat (100+ degrees) and lack of charge finally got to us. I have some other close-ups from our friend's wife, who was all excited because in all the years she's barefooted, no one's actually gotten a picture of her.

Rumor has it that there was some cell phone video footage from in the boat, which I'm tracking down.

I'll post the other pics later tonite.

[Jason B]

Ok, I'm a dumb@$$ so let the beatings commence.

I forgot to charge the camera battery fully and we were taking pictures, but I think the combination of the heat (100+ degrees) and lack of charge finally got to us. I have some other close-ups from our friend's wife, who was all excited because in all the years she's barefooted, no one's actually gotten a picture of her.

Rumor has it that there was some cell phone video footage from in the boat, which I'm tracking down.

I'll post the other pics later tonite.

sorry..reminded me of my wife last weekend. My daughter had the state finals for Jr Miss Wisconsin and my wife forgot to charge BOTH batteries before the pageant. Oops!! Needless to say daughter was a bit upset w/ Mom

ok, resume topic...

[Coach]

That is cool. How fast do you go while bare footing? Was he on a boom or did he go behind the boat?

[mtnsmith]

FIC's sons both do lots of skiing competitions and we watched his youngest doing the double endurance thing. When they crossed the boats own wake it looked brutal. More power to your son for taking to barefooting so quick. I think Dom said they usually go about 42 and I remember for that endurance race we saw, they were going like 56, they use hydrodyne boats and when they took off the dock they told the driver to put the throttle all the way down...completely nuts!

[dogbert]

They were teaching my son at about 33. The guy I was with said he can ride with both feet in the water starting at 36 and 1 foot in the water starting at 43.

For endurance racing they have some double-propped I/O that they use because they need to go fast like mtnsmith said. it is completely nuts. I'll have to go down and watch one of these the next time the race is in town.

[lee]

How fast do you go while bare footing?

Divide your weight by 10 and then add 20.

[dogbert]

Divide your weight by 10 and then add 20.

I don't think my Tige can go that fast.

[Fit to be Tige]

That's awesome Dog! My just turned 10 year old son tried at the end of a 75 foot line off a kneeboard, the old fashioned way that I learned, but crashed pretty hard twice and hung it up for the day. Were you usins a boom?

[dogbert]

Yeah, here's my friend's wife barefooting on the Malibu. He did try the rope handle as well, but due to camera issues (some dumb@$$ forgot to charge the battery...oh yeah, that was me ), we have no pics of him.

[TeamAllen]

That's impressive. I might have to dust off the boom.

[Fit to be Tige]

I think we need to find a boom we could pass around to let people try. I would love to give it a go again, but don't really feel like getting beat up too much at the end of the rope while I get my feet under me again.

[dogbert]

The boom they were using was pretty stout. Not sure if you planned on shipping it around, but it is bulky and weighs a ton.

I think my son is hooked, tho...somehow I see a boom in my future.