Barefoot Waterskiing

[Barefoot Bob]

Well Woodco, I feel alot better chatting here. There are accually 4 different tumble turns. You have the tumble 360 and then the reverse 360. Then the 180 and reverse. Once you have mastered them, you can start doing them and return to the standing position on one foot instead of two(more points in compatition;)

Just wondering what your age is and where you are from?

[bulldogdaddy]

you forgot the one tumble turn,when your toes dig in and you just start tumblin,don't think it gets any points but the spectators sure love it!j/k,you sound like a pretty damn good skier!:D

[bulldogdaddy]

are you near lk. minnatonka?

[woodco]

This is much better !!!!! ;)

I'm 32 now ..... Grew up on the Delaware river thus where the
boating and skiing addiction started.

Haven't been skiing much but still get out on the kneeboard ....
I was gonna ask ya about the air chair thing .Looks like alot
of fun......

[Barefoot Bob]

You are right I did forget about that tumble turn, I think I would call that a tuck and roll....LOL If your not doing them your not trying hard enough:)

I live about 80 miles south of Minatonka and the Twin Cities. I have skiied the lake though.

[Barefoot Bob]

Ya, I think this is a much better place to talk about skiing. Looks like I have 10 years on ya. Not going to let that stop me from doing everything I did before.
Knee boarding is also a great time. Have you ever or do you know how do do any barrol rolls or flips. I can roll both ways but never mastered the front flip. Always opened up to soon and landed flat on my back. If thats your boat in the pic I bet you have one hell of a sweet wake for it.
The Air Chair is awsome, I always wanted one and could never justify spending that much for a ski toy. MAN, am I glad I did, what a total blast. That is all I did al year and all you need to pull it is a jet ski. You need no wake at all. I was out as soon as there was no ice blocking the boat landing and in 3 months landed my frst back flip:D I didnt tell you how many atempts I made though:rolleyes: ...LOL

[Barefoot Bob]

I guess the coolest thing about the Air Chair is how easy it is to ride. I have taught people that have never been on ski's before. And when it is 90 degrees out you usually have this wind from hell. Well with the Chair its no big deal, you just ride above the waves. If anyone is interested in one I can ship one to you for $850.00
I will also have my chair for sale shipped for $725.00

[woodco]

Yep I was able to do almost everyone invented !!!! But since my
back problems 2 years ago I have to watch what I do .... My
buddy I was tellin ya about is a master on the kneeboard !!!
He even invented some new tricks on his own......

Actually he can do a double barrel roll !!!! :eek:

I have to find out the name of his website !!!! I know they have some cool pics and videos on there ..... :cool:

[woodco]

www.Extremeboarders.com

Here's a pic of Rob !!!!!

[woodco]

Now thats gettin some Air !!!!! :eek:

[Barefoot Bob]

Is your buddy Rob? Or is that you catching the nice air. Sounds like you are quite the kneeboarder. ;)

[woodco]

Rob is the one that got me into the skiing !!!! That second pic
I found on the site. Maybe a couple years ago I would get my
pic taken like that ..... :D

I feel better doin crazy things in boats now ...... :eek:

[Barefoot Bob]

1 and a half years ago I was spring training for the up coming motto cross sesion. Came up short on a triple and broke my leg just above my CTI2 leg brace. Guess I must have hit pretty hard. Really put a damper on my boating and skiing last year being on crutches for over 3 months. Kinda hurts yet on the knee board also. But the Air Chair works all right, I just tell people its like a wheel chair on the water. They tell me im NUTS!!!!!!....LOL

Here is a before and after surgery pic......Cool HUH :eek: :D

[Barefoot Bob]

Nice steal plate

[Pete]

hey that plate looks about the same as the one i got on my transom! :D

Pete

[Barefoot Bob]

Ya, but I bet they charged me more for mine...LOL

Here are some air chair pics from this summer

[Barefoot Bob]

skidders are a blast:D

[Pete]

LOL, i bet they charged ya an arm and a leg.;)
how long was the surgery? i had a pin put in my toe. A rock fell on it, crushed it and i almost lost the bone in the lake! they had to put it right back on, so not being able to waterski all summer i had lots of time to work on my boat.

Pete

[Barefoot Bob]

one arm skidder

[Barefoot Bob]

I didnt feel a thing, till 2 hours later after X-Ray. Lost 2 pints of blood and the surgery took 7 hours, so they say. Was released from the hospital 4 days later. $17,500.00.

Had to have an ACL done on my right knee 5 year earlyer.

Sucks getting old:(

[Pete]

im only 16 and already have a bumb knee. I tore my miniscus about 6 weeks ago, playing a volleyball tournament in calgary. Am now done phyisio and have started to play again. Its still a bit tender with all the jumping.

Pete

[Barefoot Bob]

When I was in therapy for my knee surgery, there were 6 of us total. I ripped my ACL completely off in a downhill ski accident. The rest of the people where all there with torn ACL's playing volley ball. Looks like a dangerous sport for knee injury's from what I have seen.

I should talk smart though. Water skiing for me has caused 2 broken ear drums, broken ribs, severe whiplash to my neck, a Walleye bone they left in my foot after I hit it backwards barefooting. And dam near braking my arm this year when I crashed on a back flip, on the Air Chair and my arm went right through the handle. Luckly It was just smashed muscles and nerves. Hell that hurt worse than the broken leg.

[Pete]

ouch, that walleye bone sounds like it could have hurt! Most injuries i see in volleyball are my friends wit ACL problems, ankle and shoulder problems. My miniscus was all thats happened to me so far. Luckey when i have been playing with a winning team very sucessful at provincials and nationals.

Pete

[Barefoot Bob]

Accualy I just felt a burning sensation when I was footing backward, and just figured it was do to the very smooth water. So I move back to the wake and the burning didnt go away. When I got in the boat my wife who was driving the boat for me said there was something I hit back in the water. All I had at the moment was a small poke in the bottom of my foot. We saw the Walleye I hit, seems it met my 4 blade prop first and was sliced in half like it was hit with a razer blade. I didnt worry about it till 3 days later when my ankle started turning red. Seems It was getting infected. Well they took X-Rays and the bone was so small they couldnt see it so we left it.

[bulldogdaddy]

a walleye!man at least you could have had dinner,j/k,your leg looks like my arm,fell of a roof 30ft,plate,8screws,and 2 rods.but still went skiing though.as for the kneeboard flip,could never get tit mastered,always tried a back flip and came down with the faceplant,i must love punishment!:D

[woodco]

Sounds like you guys been thru the mud too !!!!! And all we
where doin is havin a little fun ..... :rolleyes:

One of my buddies had a bad wipe on a kneeboard ...... We only
had a mile stretch of river to ski on so we had to do loops.Well
he gots the bright idea on one of the turnarounds to pull and
cut all he could !!!!! Well he couldn't hold it and Zoom up on the
beach and thru the woods he went !!!! :eek:

The board faired the crash better than him ....... :(

[Barefoot Bob]

Wow, I can see that happening on a knee board with to much speed. That would be scary or should I say woods. It wood be hard to cut though trees.

Bulldogdaddy.....man, I was trying that back flip on a knee board also. Found out later its one of the hardest tricks. Dam nose always catches the water and big back breaker:eek:

[bulldogdaddy]

the reason i asked about lake minatonka was a guy moved from there in the late 70's to winter have,name richard labelle,was a real nice guy,had the lake minatonka ski school

[Barefoot Bob]

I never even new they had a ski school there. Its more an up scale living area. Alot of no wake zones, high taxes etc. So is this guy still skiing strong??

[Bruster]

Got any bare foot pics? I wish I was 75 lbs lighter and still had good knees, I 'd do it again. I used to foot all of the time 30 years ago until I broke my sternum. Pretty much took the wind out of my sails. We didn't have any of the barefoot suits, just a ski vest. It was pretty impressive at that time to see someone barefoot, and my girlfriends loved it.
I have a good friend of mine who caught a bluegill a couple of years back. They had to cut his foot deep and wide to get the bones out. He was off work for 6 months, and was back on the water the next summer.

[Barefoot Bob]

Ya I can say that I am sure glad that Walleye didnt get the best of me.

And who said you need a wetsuit...LOL:eek:

[Barefoot Bob]

One more for ya

[woodco]

Very Nice !!!! At least I never hit a fish !!!! Definately sounds
like a bad experience .

I never was much for glassy water ..... Oh the burn !!!! :mad:

[Barefoot Bob]

Lost the handle going for a back flip

[Ilovespeed]

Hey
thats awesome watching someone barefoot!!! i can do everything but ...waterski..slalom ...wakeboard ...kneeboard.. now this coming season my goal is to barefoot..shoe size 14 i think i should ahve enough foot in the water lol
That last pic of the back flip is awesome on one of those boards...expensive puppys but really cool..
Tyler

[Barefoot Bob]

The Chair is the greatest, I can land a back flip 90% of the time now. Just dont have any nice close shots to post. Maybe tomorrow or Friday. We are having a warm front move in. 50 degree's, Yippy!!!! I cant wait. Going to have to take of work early.

Those feet bight be to big..LOL I have size 9:D

[Barefoot Bob]

Little hand skiing anyone????:D

[woodco]

Bob that looks interesting !!!! Never tried the hand style ....
Whats the basics on that ?????

Man I can't wait till spring :(

[woodco]

Is that from today ??????

If so that is so Kewlll ;)

Also yur nuts :D That water musta been cold on the feet :eek:

[Barefoot Bob]

I found the pic in an album and re took it with my digital. I just had to try it one day after seeing one of the pro's do it. Its real hard on the lower back. And you loose your upper body strength real fast.

I really never found out where you are from. But the lakes here are starting to ice over. We will see if I can get out one more time.

[woodco]

Fingerlakes Region in NY ... If ya look at Techno's avatar and go to the far right of L. Ontario and straight down about a 1/4 inch
you'll see my lake which is the one on the right of the 2 longest .

[woodco]

;)

[Barefoot Bob]

Looks like a real nice place to live. Gotta be getting real cold there also.

[woodco]

It has been colder than normal but today was 65 or so . No wind
perfect day to hang a bow but unfortunately I just didn't have the
time.

The weekend is lookin cold !!!! highs in the low 30's :(

We probably won't see ice till end of December .... water temp
is still in the mid to upper 50's :)

[Barefoot Bob]

So have you had the new Ally out yet? That would be a fun boat.

[woodco]

It's Hybernating ........ :(

[bulldogdaddy]

a die hard skier would get a fishnet out and get the chunks of ice out of the water and at least make one pass,lol.i like the hand skiing!just goes to show you with some spped on the water anything will plane!

[Barefoot Bob]

I am going out one more time whatever it takes. I will shoot a video just to prove it...LOL
Think I'll take the chair out with the dry suit and do a back flip for ya:D
Do a little ice chopping on the shore line:D :D

[woodco]

Ya gotta do it in a " Snowstorm " !!!!!! :D

If I had a drysuit I would match ya ;)

Bob ..... If ya do get out make sure ya get some video for us ;)

[Barefoot Bob]

We have been skiing when it started to snow, and have that on video. I have always wanted to do it in a snow storm. But the lake is 7 miles away, and I dont want to pull the trailer on salted roads. Dont want it to rust:(
Well I just got back from checking the lake with the truck. There is ice from the landing and out about 100 feet. Nothing a little dinamite wont cure...LOL:D
There is a south breese and its suppose to hit 38 degree's today. So, either today or tomorrow I will go out, try my new prop, and shoot a little video for you guys.

[175checkmate]

I got cold just thinking about that

[Barefoot Bob]

Hope your boat project is going well. So, I see in your post you are accually thinking about flipping the boat, and adding a pad. Hell, as long as you are into it you might as well. Looks like there calling mine a V-Pad...LOL

[175checkmate]

Just finnished my 4 days of work, now its time for 4 days of play, raining today, looks better for tommarro. Flipping the boat will be the last thing. As it is not truly needed I will save it for last.
Going to finish getting all the rotten wood out and sand the rest of the old floor out. Then it will be time for the fun of inproving the set-up and putting in some support.

[bulldogdaddy]

yep been raining here all day,supposed to rain tomorrow too!

[woodco]

But the lake is dropping and not all the ramps are excessable .....

Supposed to snow today :(

[Barefoot Bob]

Going to watch boat racing right now on TNN. Then go out to my gym and work out. Then its off to the lake to break some ice for you guys. Talk to you all and I will post some pics when I get back.:D

[bulldogdaddy]

maybe you should wear some of divers booties so you don't cut your foot on the ice.will be looking for the pics:D

[bulldogdaddy]

see your online,are you back already?

[Barefoot Bob]

Just hooked the boat up and getting ready to go. Man, Its really windy here. About a 25MPH wind and 34degrees. I should have went yesterday. Oh well, I am heading out, just hope there is a nice spot somewhere on the lake. Its probably about a 5 above wind chill. BRRRRRRRR

[bulldogdaddy]

thats a true diehard skiier:D

[Barefoot Bob]

I had my wife hold the air chair on shore while I did a couple of fly by's with the boat. My son ran the camera on shore and the video's are posted under "shot video today in Minnesota"
Once I picked them up on shore my wife said "NO WAY" She was not going to drive the boat while I skied behind. It was pretty crappy out there though. No sun and real cold. I guess I was pretty frozen already also, so I cant blame her wanting to go home. I sure am glad I got the thing slowed way down before hitting some ice on the water. There were a few pretty big junks I ran into. If the ice doesnt form to quick, I will get out there yet this year and ski for ya. Just need a little better day:)

[bulldogdaddy]

in the post tow vehicles,is that your house in the background?

[Barefoot Bob]

The garage to the right now matches the house. Its our weight lifting gym. We have it completly full of all free weights and lifting equipment. Including wall to wall sound system.

[Barefoot Bob]

Guess the house isnt to bad either. Had an oak curved staircase custom built and shipped from across the contry.
Also a 130 Gallon salt water reef tank built into the wall behind the bar:D

[175checkmate]

MAN what a house. Looks great. Wife drooling all over the keyboard.

[Barefoot Bob]

We really like the way it has turned out. Dont really like the tax's to much though...LOL

[Barefoot Bob]

Well I said I was going to do it and today was the day. I can honastly say I will never barefoot again when the water temp is 34 degee's. I dont have much hair on top anymore and I was wearing a scuba hood. But on take off, all of the water gushed into the hood and gave me one hell of a brain freeze. I have never had so much pain. The whole run felt like my head was going to explode. And as soon as the run was over I ripped the hood off of my head and waited for the boat to return. Man!!! was that cold on the head.:eek:

[Barefoot Bob]

I move a little fast when its warmer out:D

[Boz]

That picture is something! I can't view the video until I get home; no video card at work. My girlfriend and I attended a barefoot clinic in winnipeg here during July. We had this whole retention pond to our selves as we were the only two people to show up! We had Drew Ross, Canadian champ and 5th ranked worldly, as our instructor for 2.5 hours. It was off a boom on the side of the Nauitque. It was F%$^% cool!!!!! In between runs, there were a couple of guys qualifying for nationals there that made their runs while we "rested".
Couldn't have had a more patient teacher. I was a little sore the next day. Took a bad spill on my "last run" of the night. These runs seem to be the ones where you end up getting hurt. Very cool barefoot shots BB:cool:

[woodco]

I finally met someone crazier than me !!!!!! :D

That video sent chills right thru me !!!!!!!:eek:

I woulda started off the kneeboard instead of deepwater ....
Much warmer ..... :cool:

[Boz]

would have waited until next july:cool:

[bulldogdaddy]

a true hardcore skiier!couldn't help but just laughing thinking how cold it was!now was your wife driving,and does she know how to make the fast turnaround instead of circling the lake!:D

[Barefoot Bob]

I just figured a Kneeboard start would be cheating. I figured you would give me crap about wearing The latex bootes. But there was no way I was going to frost bite my feet. In fact this shot is right before my crash. I had to much pride to tell you I caught a toe on my second run. It was after I already let go of the handle though.

[Barefoot Bob]

She was driving, my son was taking the pics. She does bring the boat back real fast but forgot which side the swim planform was on...LOL I think she did that on purpose though, just to see me suffer:(

[Randy Deary]

Hey, I built as Lindal house on the water as well! yours looks great, but I barefoot behind an 02 SANGER DX-II Barefooter with the 6.2 stroker motor, it has a heater which helps on those not so warm outings! Aren't dry suits great?
P.S. it's not REALLy cold till there are ice cubes along the shore!

[bulldogdaddy]

was the arms in that pic spread open ready for a faceplant!hate it when the water goes in your eyesockets

[woodco]

Cheater !!!!!!!!! :D

Really I don't blame ya for wearin them ..... Probably wouldn't
be able to go more than a 100 ft without them .......

[Barefoot Bob]

I got most of my house plans from a Lindal Book. Love the Barefoot Sangers, that was my choice boat at the tournaments. They were outboard powered though.OH YA, there was ice floating on shore. I am just glad it stayed there.:D

Boz......I dont remember? Do they have there own nationals in Canada? I always qualified for the US nationals, but at the time couldnt afford the cost of going down south. Be no problem now after winning the lottery. Just kidding...LOL;)

[Barefoot Bob]

My arms were out because I let go and wanted to lay back on the water. Guess it didnt happen that way...LOL I guess I wasnt thinking very straight. I had the worst dam ice cream headach I have ever had in my life.

WOODCO...You will have to come on over and go with me :D

[woodco]

I'll drive ..... :D

Brrrrrrr !!!!!!! I'm still shiverin !!!!!!!

[Barefoot Bob]

I ment for you to hang on the handle and say HIT IT!!!!

OH YA!! I told you I was wearing booties? I ment to say, latex socks. They work real nice right over sweat socks, and tuck in right under the latex seal in the dry suit. They really do keep the frost bite off of the feet but its still cold...LOL:D

[sho305]

That takes the cake Bob! Cold!!!!

Today it hit over 50 here. Felt like a heat wave! Had to take some hot laps around the house with the lawn mower and chop a couple more leaves up. My boats are all wrapped up for winter, about three weeks ago. Worked on this project truck of mine, what a bummer.

[Barefoot Bob]

The weather was nice here also. I just had to take part of the day off and jump in. I still have to pull the motor off of my boat this year. And haul it 175 miles back to the place that rebuilt my transom. The transom (gel coat) started to blister after I had it in the water for a week on vacation. So I am taking it back so they can fix it. They did a great job on the boat otherwise.

[sho305]

Blister? No good. Try to post it here if you can find out what happened. I checked my transom real good and it looked ok when I put it to sleep for the season. Only ran it 4 weekends though. I keep searching for an alternative to gelcoat....difficult. I used VC Performance Epoxy coating, and was happy with it on my transom/splashwell/pad areas. Maybe I'll start a thread about it in glass section.

Looks like that drysuit is quite slippery! Thanks for the video. How did you do a deep water takeoff? Not without skis? Never seen that if you did. Saw a guy on our lake doing tricks on foot and on a knee board. He had a big roll bar thing on the boat. Major hang time with that raised pull rope. Also had some bootys with a bottom, like a tiny board on them. They seemed to work very nice. The water did not spray in his face then and he could move well on them.

Way nice pad you have their too. I love wood homes. Hate plastic siding! Even fake wood is better than plastic. Our lake is wooded, and a guy built a place on there and sided it white. Looks like a big ugly styrofoam cooler sitting there. Yack! I guess in town it is ok, still do not like.

[Barefoot Bob]

I had the transom rebuilt and the top cap re-geled. The boat looks like it did back in 83 when I purchased it brand new. It cost be $3000.00.... I had this done in spring and about 2 months later we went on vac. and the boat sat in the water at a marina for a week. When we pulled the boat out and wiped it down, there was orange peel (blistering) all over the back of the boat. They told me that the gel cote must have absorbed some moisture when it sat in the water. You can hardly see it anymore, everything is drying up and they all shrunk. But its going back anyway.

As far as the deep water start, it's pretty simple. I just told my son to start filming once I am standing or the video would have been another 10 seconds long. Backwards deep water is a cool looking start:D

Thanks for the comment on the house. I get alot of people telling me how high nice it looks but how high mantanence wood is. I wouldnt have it any other way. The way I see it, everything is high mantanence if you want it nice:)

[sho305]

Hope they fix up the boat right for you.

Damn, you are a good skier!

My parents have a place with wood siding. They have found now that they have to stain it every....15 years! Wooo-hooo, lots of work there! Holy cow, how they ever gonna find the time? Have not figured that out myself. Hard to find a roof that lasts that long.

[Barefoot Bob]

I was told my deck should be done evey 3 to 4 years and the house every 7 years. I figured I would rent a boom truck for the weekend and do it right when I need to.

[sho305]

The parents used Olympic stain, two coats with a special bristle brush thing. I heard they may have changed it though, took the arsenic out or something. My deck, I use the nearly clear stain on it every four years or so. The guy next door does his every year with Thompsons. mine has a tint to it now, but his looks ok yet too.

[Barefoot Bob]

The stuff I use is called Penafin. It is $35.00 a gallon and I shot both sides of the wood before it was installed. Gave it one more coat when it was on the house. It really soaked in, I went through 62 gallons total. I used it by the 5 gallon pail. Should have purchased a 55 gallon drum.

[sho305]

Wow, you got it soaked down good then. That should protect it well. Here you have to go around and culk all the little cracks, or the woodpeckers go in there after bugs and chew it up. It is still worth it, as wood is often the best looking house around IMHO! Better than a plastic box, as I like to call them. The one I live in is an aluminum box! Trying to change that though.

[CompKing]

Bob
Good pics,I brought my dry suit down a few weeks ago just been to much going on to come down:( At least its here for that spring run:) but I think I'll wait till its warmer to have you teach me the footen thing:eek: .Do you ever go to the river in St Paul when they ski at new years?

[Barefoot Bob]

I have just watched them nuts on TV...LOL. Man, was it cold on the head doing that dead water start. I will never do that again. A couple of my friends said I would have probably been better off without the scuba hood. It held all the cold water in right on my bald head:rolleyes:

This spring you bring your dry suit down, and we can go air chairing as soon as the ice is off the boat landing. This spring I road the chair for my first time ever. There was ice on half of the lake. I just couldnt wait to try it out:D

[woodco]

See ya in June !!!!! :D

We shoulda met 10 yrs ago !!!!! We'd be footin tomorrow !!!

[Barefoot Bob]

You will have to take a little vacation over here next spring also. We can all have a blast on the water.:D

[woodco]

You can take yur vacation out here ........ What ya think ???

Footin in the a.m. Wine tasting in the afternoon ....... ;)

Or vise versa ..... :eek:

[Barefoot Bob]

We are going to have to hook up and tear up the water.

[woodco]

Kinda looks like we have alot of time to plan it also ...... :(

[Barefoot Bob]

Pulled the motor off of my boat Sunday and took it 175 miles away today to have the blistering fixed up. I hope they do it for free since they just fixed the transom and thats where it blistered.

All of our lakes are frozen over now:(

[KIRCHNER]

Well Woodco, I feel alot better chatting here. There are accually 4 different tumble turns. You have the tumble 360 and then the reverse 360. Then the 180 and reverse. Once you have mastered them, you can start doing them and return to the standing position on one foot instead of two(more points in compatition;)

Just wondering what your age is and where you are from?
im by no means a professional not bragging in any way but i have barefooted longline behind a 24' cigrette in the gulf on mexico had to abort due to driver stupidity broke a rib i was around 30 yrs old.

[stokernick]

barefoot bob and woodco, now there's a blast from the past!!