Buckethead Barefoot Race 2011

This is N3 Boatworks newest tow. They are the Wolfpack.

tullfooter wrote:

When you get a chance, can you email me the high resolution version of this picture? Would make a great addition to the CCF 2012 Calendar.

Thanks,
Keith

Keith
I emailed what the person had. He apologized for not having a better camera/lens. Trust me, it would be an honor to have my boat in the CCFan calendar.
For those who have never footed behind a BFN, check out the lack of prop wash at Doug's feet. Some of the racers had to foot outside their wakes. Not cool when going through waves.

Too bad this photo is so dark. The race started around 7:15am. 13 teams took off at 40+mph with footer in tow. It's on of the craziest things to see.

tullfooter wrote: For those who have never footed behind a BFN, check out the lack of prop wash at Doug's feet. Some of the racers had to foot outside their wakes. Not cool when going through waves.

amazing! I was looking that!
and wondered if you could do the race on extreme footers!

Great pics Steve. Keep 'em coming.
Next year you need to bring your boat, with a Skylon and pulley system.

Being the lead off man was a great experience for me. I have to practice my rough water footing a lot more for next year.

Didn't you guys foot 2 at a time last year? I seem to remember a video posted where there were 2 skiers at a time. Curious too, do most teams pull wide open the whole time or just a hotter than normal barefoot speed? Either way, I'll bet that's hell on the motor. Are most of the footers good enough that it just becomes a "who has the fastest boat?" How much does the footer's ability to handle rough water/endurance have to do with it? How long does the average footer ski before switching footers? What are the rules? Sorry for the 20 questions. Looks like alot of fun

Swatkinz wrote: Didn't you guys foot 2 at a time last year? I seem to remember a video posted where there were 2 skiers at a time. Curious too, do most teams pull wide open the whole time or just a hotter than normal barefoot speed? Either way, I'll bet that's hell on the motor. Are most of the footers good enough that it just becomes a "who has the fastest boat?" How much does the footer's ability to handle rough water/endurance have to do with it? How long does the average footer ski before switching footers? What are the rules? Sorry for the 20 questions. Looks like alot of fun

There is/was a race here in Michigan, The Lockwood, that was only 19 miles long. So to make it more difficult, the teams had to start the race with two footers behind the boat. That video was of my son and a buddy of ours. We have since lost the video when Youtube nixed it. My son can't find the original. If you remember, my son "high-fived" one of the footers from the boat next to us.
At the Buckethead, there were only a couple of teams that will run more than low 40'smph. Some of the stronger teams will run upwards of 55mph. These guys will foot behind Ski Pro I/O's. You can find videos of some of these races. Relatively speaking, the Buckethead is sort of like a boat race with barefooters. Waves are not as big a factor on the river. I footed in my first race in Atlanta, where we footed, or tried to foot, through white cap waves. The Lockwood was known for having horrible waves. The last couple of Lockwood races were dominated by Barefoot Nautiques because of how they knock down the rough water.
When it comes to how far a footer foots, one guy ran the entire 19 mile first leg of the Buckethead last weekend. Some guys don't make some of their deep ups. I would say in the Buckethead, the "average" footers run is somewhere around 2 miles. I've never been to the Austin Dam to Dam race, but I know the average runs there are muck longer. We went through our 4-man rotation 5 times (1.9 mile average). The winning team had only one guy that had to foot twice. I was told he went the first 19 miles, and the last 6.

gotta agree Keith...just love the graphics and color on Tull's BFN.

so one guy ran the whole first leg...musta been Barefoot Eddie from Lake Norman. We met him a few years ago at Reid's. Guy was unbelievable.


john

Steve, Are you going to post some of your video from the race? We'd all like to see it.    

86BFN wrote: Steve, Are you going to post some of your video from the race? We'd all like to see it.

If you're referring to me, we have no video. We had no room for the video camera, the cooler full of beer took it's place.
But trust me, we will video next year.

38.

I skied with Mark at the last blairfoot tournament - very nice guy. Think he won Footstock last year or the prior year