learning to barefoot

for the ones wondering if i ever try footing no i've still never tried it always wan't to but spent most my time either slalom or trying to ski the air chair. always wanted to try it if i ever do i'll come back with pics

something to get us to spring

75 Tique wrote: Glad you checked back in. If you go back and read all 43 pages adn 1261 posts you will see that every now and then someone will say hay what happened to KO? Did he ever get his barefooting down. But look what you started, one of the longest threads on the site, with a ton of good info, stories and videos. Don't give up on it and let us know how you make out. I just might have to come down to Aruba to give you some encouragement. Sounds pretty good, as spring is slow in coming up here.

Hey kendrick wassap!! good you checked back..
Back to Larry´s comment..this post got me started in the BF..so I guess I have to thank you for it!!!
I´m really into it...

k.o. wrote: for the ones wondering if i ever try footing no i've still never tried it always wan't to but spent most my time either slalom or trying to ski the air chair. always wanted to try it if i ever do i'll come back with pics

BTW, hows the boat working? last time I remeber tranny or engine gremlins?

kapla, sounds like a sweet outing. Those are the ones you'll remember forever!

All the video from my last video is from the same evening. It does get calmer and as the boat traffic dies. Tim's flopping around was earlier, while I was pulling my buddy slalom behind his 88 SN, you can see us in the background near the beginning. The rest of the stuff was run after run switching skiers into dusk.

No, he's a local friend of mine and has a Sanger, Timmy G/T-Bag. To further complicate the matter, his girlfriend's name is also Melissa. They've been to Green Lake the last few years. He was a strict boarder when I met him and now he foots most often, boarding only a handful of times a year.

kapla wrote: i almost lost the shorts. . . the full moon rising . . .!!! Epic

Kap,

Learning the back deep is about 70% driver. If you are bouncing, you are probably too slow, no spray coming up between your legs (only your driver can tell you that, you can't tell) then its too fast.    Here is a good compilation of Roy's attempts to learn back deep to give you an idea of sequence. Unfortunately, most of his clips start after the transition of taking his feet off the rope, which I think is a key timing issue. There are some tries near the middle where you can see it and where he has problems with bouncing, which surprises me since he had very experienced drivers.

Here is another short clip of Brad and me where you can see the starts from the beginning. You dont have to keep your feet on the rope too long, just to keep you stable through the initial acceleration (up to about 10-15 mph) then have your driver keep the speed there until you have your feet planted and are gliding on feet and chest.

When you get to that point, he accelerates smoothly to footing speed (mid 30s is plenty). This next thing is huge, or at least it was for me. I was originally taught to stand up by pushing down on my chest. I had very little luck, then Brad gave me the tip: don't rely on pushing down on your chest, although that comes into play. Instead, once you are gliding and the water is firm under your feet, all at the same time, bring your legs together, turn your feet down and push your legs down into the water by bending at the waist. The first time trying after those directions I was up. Good luck with it. It's a great feeling of accomplishment when you get it.

LaurelLakeSkier wrote: Actually the bouncing comes from going a bit to fast.

I stand corrected. I knew there were two clues, one for fast, one for slow. Per your mention of it, I now recall that the clue for too slow is "I can't breath" and the clue for too fast being "I'm bouncing". I've been trapped inside for the winter for too long.

GlassSeeker wrote: Everybody bounces at first no matter what speed, the driver can help but everybody bounces.

When I learned (Seipel driving), I didnt bounce. It was only when I returned home and had to train a new driver to pull me that I learned how critical speed is on a backdeep start.

Like you said Larry, too slow = drowning, too fast = bouncing. I find that 10-12 mph seems to be the sweet spot. The spray shoots up like a geyser from between the skier's legs at that speed.

EXCELLENT!!! Another one hooked. Thanks Joe and John!!! Now John (JMurph) you have to post up some videos when the weather does get warmer...

Seb,
If you can get a neckbrace while your learning a the bck deep, it might save you from a pretty nasty injury. I always wear mine when bacerds like wearing the helmet when riding the dirt bike. You may never need it, but it's that one time you didn't that gets ya.

I think that brace might be too stiff and lead to potentially greater injury. That's made to keep an injured neck from wobbling around and I fear high impact of your neck/base of your head into that hard edge could be bad. What got me through my first summer was one of those orange emergency life vests.

It was made up of a bunch of 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick layers of foam sandwiched into the chest and neck. I took all the chest ones out, and stuffed as many of those as I could (cutting them down) into the neck portion. Looks a little goofy, but I was killing my neck and not ready to make the $100 investment until I was sure I was going to stick it out, and, it did the trick. (I sprayed it black to make it a little more subtle... and tuck the chest portion into your BF suit.) I started a thread about neck braces before I bought mine and the overall consensus was the BFC ones were the best, so that's what I got. Ridiculous expensive, They should be 19.95, but they really are invaluable for saving your neck.

Seb;

Here is a link to a thread on barefoot central, where they discuss neck braces:

Advice on Neck Braces

I think the one they settle on is the one you mention above.

Steve

I would not go cheap when it comes to the neck or head PPE.