The date for Footapalooza 2010 has been set and it’ll be held Saturday, June 12 at Silver Sheep Lake (a private lake) in Rolling Prairie, IN which is just outside of LaPorte, IN. The event is put on by the Freemen Footers.
They’ll be camping near the site and lodging 5 minutes away. The Friday beforehand people are invited to a bonfire as well.
For more details, including the flyer, entry form and directions, visit BareFootSki Dot Com.
In the most recent issue of the Wisconsin Water Skier (a WWSF publication) on the inside cover there is ad announcing the Barefoot Chick Fest that will be taking place at the Blue Moo Lake near Alma Center, WI on Saturday, June 19 this year. The website is listed as www.BarefootChickFest.com but as of this writing, there are no details there. Another site to look for details is www.cowzrus.net. As of this writing, there aren’t any more details other than to save the date.
For those that don’t know, the Blue Moo Lake is run by the Heller family who have several very accomplished barefoot skiers that competed successfully at the 2008 Worlds Barefoot Championships in New Zealand. Needless to say, they know a little something about barefooting.
Aug 3
The image below came to my email account and contains all the details you’ll need to know about the upcoming figure-8 barefoot tournament at Long Lake, MN.
I just saw this on USA Water Ski. The US Barefoot Nationals are now being held at Mystic Lakes in Maize, Kansas and are taking place a week later, now from August 11 thru 15. Here’s the official announcement from USA Water Ski:
Dates & Venue Changed For ABC Nationals
Due to severe drought conditions in central Texas, the American Barefoot Club (ABC) has announced a change in the dates and location of the 2009 Barefoot Water Ski National Championships. Originally scheduled for Aug. 4-8 at the Barefoot Ski Ranch in Waco, Texas, the 32nd annual event will now be held Aug. 11-15 (to accommodate the local organizing committee) at Mystic Lakes in Maize, Kan.
“This is relatively short notice for a local organizing committee to get ramped up for a national championships, however, the American Barefoot Club is confident with the commitments we have for support, both physical and financial, that the local organizing committee will pull together a first-class event,” said Dan Cummings, president of the American Barefoot Club.
Mystic Lakes is a two-lake site built in what was formerly a sand pit just outside Wichita, Kan. It was built into a water ski community with houses surrounding the lake. Mystic Lakes has hosted the Midwest Regional Water Ski Championships with more than 300 competitors, so it is no stranger to the logistics of putting together a large tournament.
“There are sidewalks around the lake, it has very high banks for wind protection, and a center strand between the two lakes provides for perfect spectator viewing,” Cummings said. “We will be able to jump on one lake and run slalom and tricks on the other lake. While this is certainly a change from the previously announced Waco site, I am confident it will be a great tournament and one that you will not want to miss. Mystic Lakes has hosted our Regional Barefoot Championships on multiple occasions as well as regular local tournaments.”
More than 100 athletes are expected to compete for national titles in wake slalom, tricks, jumping and overall in respective divisions.
The American Barefoot Club is one of nine sport disciplines of USA Water Ski.
This is especially good news for the many barefooteres that are also show skiers. Prior to the announcement, Show and Barefoot Nationals were on the same weekend.
Update:
I recieved this in an email from the ABC President:
Barefooters,
Due to the draught we currently experiencing in Central Texas and the lack of water to make the site ski-able, this year’s Barefoot Nationals is being moved to Mystic Lakes in Wichita, Kansas.To accommodate the LOC and Homeowners association, the dates are also being moved toAugust 11-15. The date move will also resolve the conflict we had with Show Ski Nationals, which is good since most of our World Junior Team are also show skiers.
This is relatively short notice for an LOC to get ramped up. However, we are confident, with the commitments we have for support, both physical and financial, the LOC will pull together a first class event. Mystic Lakes is a two lake site built in what was formerly a sand pit just outside Wichita in Maize, KS. It was built into a water ski community with houses surrounding the lake. Mystic Lakes recently hosted 3 event regionals with over 300 skiers. So they are no strangers to the logistics of putting together a large tournament. Wichita is centrally located in the US and is serviced by an international airport.
There are sidewalks around the lake, it has very high banks for wind protection, a center strand between the two lakes for perfect spectator viewing. We will be able to jump on the second lake and run slalom and tricks on the other. They have hosted our Regional Barefoot Championships on multiple occasions as well as regular local tournaments.
While this is certainly a change from the previously announced Waco site, I am confident it will be a great tournament and one you will not want to miss. Waco is lining up to host next years Nationals, so we will get to experience that great site as well. We wanted to get the word out so everyone has as much notice as possible to make plans. See you in Wichita!
Dan Cummings
President, American Barefoot Club
Here is some info about an upcoming benefit show for Ryan Bergeron that the Sarasota Ski-A-Rees are doing. Ryan was injured while barefooting during a professional ski show. Here are all the details…
Some of you know that Ryan Bergeron, who has skied with the Sarasota Ski-A-Rees Water Ski Show Team, in Sarasota, FL, since 1999 was injured barefooting last year while performing in Brazil and is currently without the use of his legs. Ryan’s recovery is going well and he recently returned to the water, performing in our Sunday shows. As you can imagine, Ryan’s medical bills are staggering.
To help Ryan, March 22, 2009 will be “Ryan Bergeron” day at Ski-A-Rees Stadium, with all proceeds from the Sunday 2:00 show going to the Ryan Bergeron Medical Fund.
We invite all show skiers, especially those in the Southern Region or visiting our area on Spring Break, to join with us for the entire weekend, including practice on Saturday and an all-day party and 2:00 public show on Sunday. We plan to heavily publicize this show and would love to have commitments from other skiers to report to the media.
Our show director, Sherri Brunner, needs to know as soon as possible how skiers plan to participate. Please send her an email at benefit@skiarees.com.
If you’re unable to ski, but would still like to help Ryan, please consider sending a donation to:
Ryan M Bergeron Medical Account
c/o Sarasota Ski-A-Rees
P.O. Box 1493
Sarasota , FL 34230
For more information, please contact us a http://www.skiarees.com/ryan
Also here is a link to a video aired on TV done on Ryan. http://usfmasscomm.blip.tv/file/1713685/
Brad Satterlee
Event Coordinator
The Cowz R Us Ski Team, based at The Blue Moo (near Alma Center, WI) has posted their event calender for the year. They are kicking off the ski season with a Beach Party on May 30 (which is a Lions Club Fundraiser ). Their next major event is the Wisconsin/Illinois Open on June 26- 28. Following that is the Blue Moo Chick Fest on July 11th. They’ve launched a completely new website for that event and you can find it online at www.barefootchickfest.com. The Blue Moo event calander comes to a close with the Midwest Regionals July 24 – July 26.
You can view their event calender on their site or you can view the event calendar here. I’ve added all of their event and many others for 2009.
Be sure to check out their video section. They put together a nice video of the footing from the 2008 Beach Party titled Hellar 2008.
Jan 18
Just a quick note for those of you who may have been looking at the calendar here. I tentatively had Winter Waterland on the schedule for next Saturday, Jan 24th. Sadly, I’ve confirmed that this event has been postponed. I spoke witht he organizers and the January dates have caused to many ice issues to deal with during the event. They are looking at a date in December 2009 to host the event. When things are announced, I’ll do my best to update everyone. The site they post their info on is here.
On personal note, if they do host it in December this year, I’ll be able to cross another month of my list. I have a personal goal of skiing or barefooting all 12 months of the year in the state of Wisconsin. Currently, I only have December and February left on my list and a December event would cut the number of months I have left in half.
No, I didn’t disappear. Life happened, and i drifted away from here for a bit. I’m back and I’m going to try and get something new up here each week, sometimes more.
Anyways, back to the post at hand. The 2008 IWSF Barefoot World Waterski Championships are at the end of this month. Why are they taking place in 2009 you ask? Well they are taking place on the far side of the world from my Tales from the Foot World Headquarters. The tournament is hosted by the New Zealand Barefoot Water Ski Club and will take place on Lake Inspiration in Otaki, New Zealand.
China will be participating for the first time in the tournment that will feature 150+ competitors from 14 countries. Hendrick Same (seen in a few videos that have been featured here) is already there, training for a shot at the world title. And just between the American and Australian supporters, there will be over 110 fans chearing on all of the competitors.
The New Zealand Barefoot Club posted a nice little blurb aout the upcomping tournament here. They also have a lot of information posted for people that are making the trip or just want to find out more about what’s going on here.
Good Luck to All of the Competitors!
And one last comment… the name of the lake suits it perfectly… It looks like a beatiful ski site.
Image from the New Zealand Barefoot Water Ski Club Website
You are currently browsing the archives for the announcements category.