learning to barefoot

skutsch wrote: Lock those elbows at your sides, it is amazing how much that helps stop the flapping around back there. The other thing you might think about is just slowing everything down. get on top of the water, and establish a STABLE butt glide, at 20-25 mph, when your stable then roll on to your cheek and lean away as Roy describes (Elbows locked at the side). As you roll over the wake, settle and get stable. Then give the line a flip as a signal for the speed, then transition to 3 point and then stand.

All great advice on Cheekin. Also as mentioned just get to one side or the other of the prop wash and stand there or best option get behind a BFN and stand anywhere behind the boat.

In this pic u can see I am leaning a decent amount to get across the wake on a straight pull

started flirting with the switch blade..looks like i need to turn away my hips in order to be able to pass the show leg to the reverse...

version 2

Nice looking suit kapla, I like the second one with yellow letters on the back.

I like the 2nd ghost rider too,
I like the spike better...I have skulls but I think everybody is kind of burned out on the skulls.

on a side note..i have mastered the boat jump! and I have it on video...
I´m keeping it though if I commit to do the bfc vid for round 2...

So I've been catching up on my reading... I'm up to about page 15 now in this thread. I did cheat and I skipped to the end a few times for comparison. I was looking around for some tips and input on the interwebz, and realized that there isn't much "barefoot action" out there on forums... until the search led me right back here!

I picked up a '95 SN late last year, and promptly blew my ACL out throwing an invert I've done hundreds of times before on a wakeboard. After an allograft (cadaver) ligament, and several months of PT - I am back in business. However I decided I may not ever "strap myself in" again... meaning no wakeboarding... only wakeskate.

That being said, I grew up barefooting, and still did it on the boom some here and there. I had not done any deepwaters in years - literally 15 or more. But I had wanted to get back into it eventually, and the surgery was my impetus.

So I grabbed a boom about a month ago, and was looking for a suit. I was riding in boardshorts here and there, but know how important the suit was, so didn't do too much riding. Got the suit last week, so now I'm good. Went out this weekend and on Monday and did some pigtail deepwaters, tumble turns, etc... and boy was I rusty. Still having a great time - but waaaay out of practice.
   
So I'm reading and soaking up info. Loved watching the night and day progression of you guys, huge improvements. I'm hoping to apply some of the same techniques and tricks to improve my riding. My long term goal is doing some backward footing. I was thinking I'd shoot right back to attempting toe-holds (where I was trying to get when I last was serious) but realized my one foot was WAY less stable than back then... so time to get my fundamentals back.

Anyway - just wanted to say hello and introduce myself to this group.

tampa eh? that's my old stomping grounds. lots of good lakes out that way.

Fair point about the speed. I'm hoping that the falls won't stress the ACL like the wakeboard did. But agree, I'm taking it easy getting back in. I've paid the price in the past and know it's rough!

I'm on one foot with good form no problem on the boom... it's the pigtail where I need to work.

Here are two pics... first is still in the boardshorts - doh!



This one is ***************ty form (I know) posing for the camera:



Boom was pretty high in the second one - first day with the suit and was using the pigtail most of the day.

Head over to Winter Haven. backfoot100 and jbear will have you rockin in no time.

Let those arms out... Welcome to the thread, keep footin

So, never one to deprive my newly acquainted internet friends of good fodder on a Sunday evening, here's a quick (and the only) video from the day. This was about the sixth or seventh run. I was pretty beat and the water was heading to crap, and the sun was in my eyes...

Anyway: https://vimeo.com/68011054

First time I have done tumble turns (from standing) on the pigtail since - well probably 18 years old. Out of all the runs, the last one here was the only really sloppy one. Never missed one today.

So my take-aways:

I need to spend some time working on the glide... primarily when getting started. While these were never terms or things "we" did when I was learning, from watching others' videos, it is apparent I need to do that. What is the best speed for glide practicing?

I need to work on making sure I am rolling my hips over when going from trailing to leading. Easy adjustment.

Other feedback? Go ahead, insert the laugh track.

A quick pic:

Andy. I've got two projects this summer. Long line back deep which I am not too worried about, I think that will just come with time, and, back to front. Since I can't do much bacerds at this point, I want to start bacerds then switch to forward to complete my run. I know some shoe skis would help, but I don't have any. Sometimes I wear my sons old size 15 boarding shoes for a little extra surface area. So, question to you...any tips for b2f? At this point, I don't even care if it's clean, I'd be content with getting around far enough to flop down on my butt and stand up.

GlassSeeker wrote: I don't think you need the knee brace anymore either.

All good points and will be put to use.

Why the thought on the knee brace?

Fair. Yes, it's actually very stable.

It may not be clear, but the elastic ace bandage is over the top of a CTI brand ACL brace. The ace just keeps the straps from coming undone in the water. Regardless, the brace is supposed to protect the ligament in the event of the tib/fib rotating forward (the motion that stresses the ACL). If nothing else it gives me some confidence.

I think it does give you confidence but I'd rather you be cautious.
LOL

on the tumbles --- I have seen people blow knees out by setting feet in early before they are around all the way...and reaching with the wrong foot on the wrong hip, which stops their rotation but they want so bad to get that foot out there on the water and twang! the knee goes sideways.

Don't do that.