learning to barefoot

GlassSeeker wrote: (Dave was driving for me on a backdeep for the first time and I forgot to call a speed so after I got up I yelled at them 35,35,35...but they heard 25,25,25! I did a back to front at 25!

Yeah, but arent you the one who does back deeps in your birthday suit allowing you to use the "tripod" stance and hence go slower?


Speaking of Will Farrell, which you occassionally do, Next time you see him, could you ask him something for me. I seem to recall that he lived in New Orleans at one time and came over to do some demo runs at a novice tourney I was at on the San Jacinto River outside of Houston. Ask him if that rings a bell. It was in the early 80s.

haha, Qnr, my money is on you. he's very good but not 5th...maybe "in his division"...the scores are on barefoot.org so are the world rankings(there are some typos in there).

he is a very good footer though in anybodies book.

I wish I could get my hands on that camera!
We could do some stuff with that thing. They only scratched the surface.

It's funny but it's not me. I will not and have not done any naked backdeeps. I am a big believer in the cup.
I wear goggles and a nose clip, do you think I wouldn't have a cup on? thats the first thing I put on.
I think they were Australians in that clip.

I'll ask Willie about San Jacinto River outta Houston early 80's...maybe skiing with him tomorrow.

That is how I first saw Willie. In Oakland 1980, off Doolittle/Coliseum, in the Oakland estuary. It was really windy and rough out in the main ski area so Willie went back in a skinny little drainage canal lined with litter and trash and he ran through some tricks and turns and then front wakes and then ripped a set of back wakes to everyones amazement. I thought it was pretty cool.
He is skiing very strongly and superclean going into The Worlds in New Zealand in Jan. I think he will do very well. Roy and I are lucky to get to ski with him(unless you have to drive for him!haha)
check out the video of him over on the barefootcentral site, he put on a nice display. He's 53...going to the worlds.
Even Siepels impressed.

http://www.barefootcentral.com/willie_ferrell_interview.htm

he mentions marine world in 1980 so I think thats the same time period we saw him across the bay in Oakland

   

75 Tique,

Roy took my place last week and went out and footed and drove for Willie.
I went out with him yesterday and I just drove, gave him some pulls to keep his practice levels up.

It was easy to remember the San Jacinto river question because Willie and I ski with another guy whos last name is Jacinto. Willie definitly remembers being down there on the San Jacinto, he moved to Calif in 85, to help run Siepels old barefoot school in Calif which opened in 84.
I did not know what to ask him to see if he remembered you in particular but he smiled when I brought up the whole thing.

Nice one Roy! Good vid too.

Good clips Roy. Gotta like that one foot back deep that Andy rolled into, boy was that smooth. Admire your stretching the season out the way you did. Something about falling in cold water tho, why does it feel like youve just been attacked by 12,000 razor blades and needles? Youch...been there done that..has kind of lost its luster for this old timer.

Still footing over here guys. Weather has been unreal in California. Water cold, but still doable:

Roy's Still Footin'

Hollywood, thanks for the props. I got in with an active footin' crew, the rest is just practice. Here is a compilation of me learning the one-foot stand up over the last couple weeks:

One Foot Stand Up

Watercraftsales: Thanks for the tip.

Hey Guys, still skiing. Andy, Willie Farrell, and I hit the water last week after a 6 week break due to rain (I know..in CA too. Can you believe that) Anyway the water was up to 56 deg., which is not really cold in my book. Still used the dry suits, but could have used a wetsuit.

Starting to ski the back deep a bit, too now.

Roy Spring Footin'

I went through the entire post and I definetely have to give the footing a try...
I ski since i was 7-8 years old.. started with the pairs, then 1 ski.. and at the age of 17 i got my first wb a conelly razor blade... but never try hard on BF.. tryed eventually on the long line with the feet infront but after 3 or more tries I quitted... I even have a bf suit that my uncle bought in the 90`s.. I still have it fold in the attick.. I think i can use for 3 minutes before i get soffocated...
The thing is that I want to give the bf a serioud try this time... only some inconvienience here.. first water is never glass unless you get to the river by 8 am.. unlike with my family.. getting the wife out of the bed and having the kids ready takes me at least a couple of hours... I can go with frinds bet tha early hours are still a problem....
No boom
I only have the WB rope and handle full lenght is 70 feet? I can tied it to the transom tow ring to gain extra length?
The wb method i the one I'm looking forward but here is the next problem... you know argentine�s have the reputation of taking what it�s not theirs so if i eventually get on my feet i will have lost the board (in hands of by passers boaters out there) so i�m looking for an old boar to do this....
Well sorry for the long post there...
PD there�s the history down here of a guy who got killed on an outboard mastercraft. He was bf on the boom when the cable that goes to the bow cutoff making the guy to hit his head to the hull.. anyone heard of similar accidents?

Seb,

The kneeboard is the easiest way to start IMO, it also eliminates all that water up the nose that can come with a deep start.

Unless doing a deep start you can use almost any rope, if all you have is a 70' rope just start on the outside of the wake curl and stay there, if you have a section or two, run your WB rope off those to add some length.

One other thing is be sure there is no debris in the water where you are going to foot, IIRC you ski on a river, if similar to the rivers here, some can be debris filled particularly after any heavy rainfall.

Quinner you are right about debris on the river... lots of fallen trees, weeds and floating plants... and sometimes even big logs that eventually get hitted buy props
They are hard to the feet I guess....

I tested yesterday the bf suit and I felt like a sausage, i needed someone helping me to get it out... it also has some holes in the neoprene due to the age of it....
It was dry tested but wet I think its going to work better.

Will report back with the experience....and hopelly with some video or pics...

and K.O. did you give it a try yet?

I don�t have a knee board handy so, I was thinking on using a wb (in that case should i take the bindings?) or and old 6.2" surf board?

yeah take off the bindings and use the wakeboard, you can lay your legs on the front to keep it from bouncing, sit in/on the middle to the back 1/3...it will take a little practice just to do this then go up to about 33-36 and bend knees bring feet to the sides of the board put feet in with toes up but not super "heel heavy" and simply stand up, keep shoulders back, let arms out straight as you stand up.

There was this german chick training with Scarpa when I was there. She was using the wakeboard start method. I noticed they had the edges of the board wrapped with duct tape. I'm sure a slam to the ankle is going to hurt, shouldn't break the skin though. Keep the board gently squeezed between your legs/ankles while you are doing the 3-point glide.

I am tempted to put together a video this year of all the basic starts methods I've seen and can do. Might not actually help anyone but could be comforting just to visualize.