- Learned to barefoot water ski. I learned by stepping off a slalom ski. I had the luxury of having a neighbor (Brad Engelbrekt) who brought me out in his boat with a boom (I didn't have a boom at the time) and started by hanging directly on to the boom. 3 for 3! Then I went to the 5' line: 3 for 3 again! Finally, long line. Brad says "You're not a barefoot water skier until you've done it at least three times long line!" So I go for it and I'm 3 for 4! All this in about an hour! Little did I know what I had in store for me for the next few years ...
- Nearly perfected the deep water start (look Ma, no dropped ski required!). Spent the majority of this season just being dragged behind the boat. No boom, no instruction. I was hacking it at this point!
- Spent perfecting deep water starts and beginning to learn tumble turns (thanks to some training time on the boom!). We finally got a barefoot boom (Barefoot International) for our boat in September 1996. Now I know I'm going to get better and so will everyone else in my family!!! (Mrs. Footer makes her first barefoot runs hanging on to the boom). Sometime in November, "Footer's Home Page" is launched.
- Became quite proficient at long line tumbles both ways, and really picked up on one foots (again, thanks to more training time on the boom). This is the year I got to know my neighbors even better and boy did that help! Everything started getting easier. These guys are good and they're great instructors. Can't wait for the 1998 season!!! In February, "Learning to Barefoot - Through Pictures and Words" was launched.
- 1998 was a nice long season in Minnesota. Including the tow I took in March behind a neighbor's jet ski and the last tow in October, I skied a total of 8 months in 1998! That was a new record for me (up here in the frozen north)! I accomplished several new things in 1998:
Added several of these as new tips to my "Learning to Barefoot - Through Pictures and Words" pages. Still struggling with the elusive back deep! I'll get it in 1999!!!
- The year of the "FISH BONE(S) and FOOT"! Although I did get out footin' earlier this year than any of the previous years -- our first outing was on March 20, 1999; see 1999 Footin' Season Kicks Off! -- on April 9th, I had an unfortunate accident that delayed the season for me for about seven weeks. Click here to see a picture of why. WARNING: This is a rather graphic picture ... not for those with weak stomachs!
It was sort of a freak accident. I jumped out of the back of my truck onto a roll of carpet and my foot stuck to the side while my leg kept going straight. A dislocated foot is quite painful but fortunately, I had no broken bones and no surgery was required. There were only minor fractures and lots of soft tissue damage (almost as bad as a break). Read this article for a detailed explanation about foot dislocations.
NOTE: Special thanks to Fairview Lakes Regional Medical Center, Wyoming, MN for their assistance in bringing me back to 100% health and especially Anne Trudeau, RN for snapping the only picture of my foot while it was dislocated!
On top of all that, the unthinkable finally happened. I actually ran over something in the water on my bare feet and believe it or not, it just happened to be a fish! I don't think it was actually alive, probably mostly decayed and rotten. It happened on June 2, just a few days after I started footin' again after dislocating the same foot just a couple of months earlier. I went to the doctor about a month later as it was looking infected but even the x-rays were inconclusive as to what it might be although it looked like something might be lodged in there almost to the bone. Finally, on July 29, after some footin' runs, I was inspecting it closely when I saw the dull end of what I thought might be a sliver of glass. After some gentle squeezing, out pops this thing! One of my footin' buds confirmed that it was most likely the bone of a fish. It was approximately 3/8" long (1cm) and as the first doctor that looked at the x-ray said (back on July 2nd), it could very well have been something that got forced in to the foot quite far since I hit it at almost 40mph ...
But that's not the end of the story ... On December 5th, 1999, out popped one more fish bone. That piece was in my foot for over 6 months!!!
And so ends the 1999 season. I'm hoping the Y2K brings an injury free and prosperous season filled with back deeps ... STAY TUNED!
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