What Is Barefoot?

As the name implies barefooting is water skiing on your bare feet. The great thing about it is that it requires very little equipment and is easy to learn. As in water skiing, there are three main events; slalom, tricks and jumping.

In barefoot the slalom event is slightly different than water skiing, in that there are no buoys. Athletes earn points for crossing the boats wakes. Varying points are awarded for crossing both wakes, one wake and for passing on one or two feet. Point values increase for the more difficult techniques.

In tricks, athletes are aloud two passes through the tricks course, each 15 seconds in length, during which they attempt to perform as many tricks as they can. There are pre-assigned point values for each trick and an athlete may perform a trick only once. The athlete with the most points at the end of the event wins.

In the jump event, athletes may perform at speeds up to 72kph. Normally athletes are entitled to three jumps per round, over a ramp that is only 18 inches high.

Faster boat speeds are required in barefooting so that athletes can plane on their two bare feet. No tools are needed to make equipment repairs, only a tube of super glue for those nasty cuts. If a cut opens on the bottom of an athlete's foot, normal practice is to glue it shut to finish the event and get it stitched up later.

Recently, figure eight and endurance competitions have also become popular barefoot events, where the athlete who stays up the longest wins.