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A Good St Patty’s Day Tradition April 14, 2008

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Found this story while browsing the internet for barefooting stories.  There are a group of friends from Anapolis who were facing a mid-life crisis eight years ago.  They wanted to do something crazy and came up with barefooting.  Then they started doing footing runs on St Patty’s day.  They figure they’re already in body bags (ie dry suits) so if anything does happen, they’re all set to go.

When they are done, then they break out some green beer, a tradition the rest of the country follows.

The Duck Story February 11, 2008

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Back in the fall of 2006 I was out skiing in Monoan Bay. In the fall there just seems to a few more birds on the water. Don’t know why. So much like with the pigeons from Seinfeld, boats seem to have a deal with the waterfowl. As the boat comes through, they get out of the way of the boats and we just mumble under our breaths at all the crap they leave on our dock.

So I’m footing behind my boat, moving along at 41 MPH or so. There is a flock of ducks on the water that we’re coming up on that I’m keeping my eyes on. They scatter for the boat, but one moves just clear of the boat and directly into my line. Now, much like in NASCAR (at least according to Days of Thunder), this is kinda like a car wreck so I’m thinking “just go straight through.” There are still several ducks scattered about and trying to slalom my way through just isn’t a realistic option. I’m moving at 41 MPH and there is only about 90 feet between me and the boat. Not sure on the exact math, but that doesn’t give me much time to react.

Now I’m moving along directly towards the duck that is just kind of floating there. As I approach closer, it sees me coming directly towards it and starts swimming which is good. Except it starts swimming the same direction I’m going. It isn’t going 41 MPH. So I’m thinking a typical barefoot stance is about shoulder width apart roughly. The duck isn’t going to fit between my feet. At least not easily. I obviously don’t want to hit the duck. A) This is bad for the duck and B) hitting the duck would be bad for me. I could potentially break a foot, ankle, knee, leg, etc and I’m just not ready to call it a season yet.

So I get to thinking, the duck is swimming, it isn’t that big. I’m about 20 feet from it now and I decide to widen my stance so it is about 4 feet wide. I wanted to get wide, but not too low because the duck might remember that it can fly too. The duck starts to swerve just a bit, but not much, just enough where I need to move a little bit to keep it centered and I straddle the duck. To the best of my knowledge, I didn’t touch it. I didn’t feel any feathers on my ankles or legs.

The spotter, 7, who’s watching this, went from a look of “oh shit he’s gonna hit a duck” to laughing his ass off. John, who’s driving also sees this in the mirror and I could tell he’s laughing too. They could both see clear as day that I straddled it.

I resumed my normal stance and just kept on going.

Maybe this duck thought it was a squirrel?

- Stroy from Eric (aka Wedge)

Footing in a Show January 15, 2008

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One of my favorite and first memories about barefooting is from quite a while back, 1991 to be exact. I had learned how to barefoot earlier that summer and I was admittedly still a little rough around the edges when it came to my barefooting prowess. I was maybe 50/50 doing deeps in good water. My parents boat just didn’t have the power to pull me at barefooting speeds so I didn’t get many opportunities to go footing.

It was our last show of the season (Labor Day weekend) and in typically Law Park fashion, we were going to skiing our show in what would nearly be white caps. No one was jumping up and down saying I want to do the barefoot flyer off the dock. I said I’d do it, but was honest and said I might not make it with the water. We had a small contingent of skiers left so they decided to write me in to the spot.

Show time comes, I’m standing on the dock watching my rope feed out. It comes tight and I run off the dock throwing my feet in the air. I hit the water, the boat goes up to speed and plant my feet and manage to stand up, at least just a little bit, still buried in a ball of white spray. But I had stood up, barefooting, making it through the show course in the rough water before ending my run with a face plant at the other end of show course. This was the first time I had successfully barefooted in a show.

I swim in to the shore and crawl up the rocks the make up our shoreline, big smile on my face. The people sitting there on the shore all congratulated me in one way or another saying nice job, or what not. I may have only footed 20 feet after I stood up, but it was still a big rush.

- Story from Eric (aka Wedge) - Madison, WI