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First time barefooting


oldfooter

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Just wanted to share my little man's first time at barefooting. Clap.gif He first tried on the boom with the "easy footer" but by the end of the day he was on the boom without the easy footer and doing one foot and 360's. Great feeling to see your own having fun. I guess I need to find a barefoot suit for him....I'm sure he will want to deep water start before long.

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Thumbup.gif That is awesome dude, but I'd get him out of that handle asap. I don't care what anyone else says but that looks dangerous too me. One mistake and he lets go of the handle and serious injury can occur. Remember, once they get hurt, it's hard to get them back into it.
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Thumbup.gif That is awesome dude, but I'd get him out of that handle asap. I don't care what anyone else says but that looks dangerous too me. One mistake and he lets go of the handle and serious injury can occur. Remember, once they get hurt, it's hard to get them back into it.

If you re-read the statement....he was out of the "easy footer" on the first day and on the boom alone. I had the same concerns that you did, but if you actually see it in use you may change your mind. You don't have to go very fast at all, and they can hang on with alomst no effort. Great device as it allowed him to foot the first time out and then he really wanted to try and advance on the boom alone. Not sure he would have been so successfull without it and want to keep doing it. Biggrin.gif

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That's AWESOME!!! When did he start skiing? I've got a 2 year old that I want to get interested next year in the training skis. and looking for some advice for young skiers.

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Crazy.gif

That's AWESOME!!! When did he start skiing? I've got a 2 year old that I want to get interested next year in the training skis. and looking for some advice for young skiers.

He started skiing when he was about 1 1/2 years old with the trainer skis...(the kind that is tied together in the fornt with the tow rope attached to the skis)...could barely walk but really loves the water. We had an outboard at the time and no boom...thus no attempt at barefooting. We just bought our first Bu this spring and of course had to get a boom. He just kept telling me that he wanted to learn to barefoot, so we went out at 6:00 AM when the water was perfect. Hopefully he will be off of the boom by the end of the summer and onto a long line. He now claims barefooting is his favorite of the water sport, even though he has only done it that one day. I guess time will tell, but he definitely has one up on most of his little buddies. :werule:

By the way, I modified the original trainer skis as follows: I cut a length of 1 x 2 board about 2 foot long, and screwed/mounted it to the top and back of the trainer skis with about 6 inches hanging over either side of the left and right skis. This modification kept both the front and rear portion of the skis stable, but more importantly it provided me with a set of handles to hang on to. I would get him in the skis, hold on to the back of the skis to get him stable and have the wife pull us....me in tow behind the trainer skis. Once he was up and stable, I would let loose and off he would go. I also wore my barefoot suit to reduce the drag I had being pulled behind in the water (versus a life vest). Worked great and he was very happy to have someone in the water with him when he was just learning. He soon shed me and the trainer skis and was deep water starting on his own. I know sounds crazy Crazy.gif but it worked!!

One very important thing to remember with trainer skis....you MUST have a great spotter. Since the skis are attached to the tow rope, if the kid falls and doesn't come out of the skis immediately he will be dragged until the driver realizes that the skier is down. This can frighten the kid to death and he will not want to attempt again. At his age he was so lite, we had someone to hold on to the rope (with gloves) and simply let loose when he went down. A trick release would also work. If you have trouble holding on, you can have the rope go around the swivel attachment at the top of the tower to cut the force required to hold on in half. I would suggest that if you do this to make sure you cut out all loops, knots etc. from the rope section going around the swivel....don't want anything to get tangled up when you let loose. Also, keep all other passengers in the boat away from the tow rope....not good to have one of them slap you in the face or possibly in the eye when they come whipping around. Good luck!

Edited by oldfooter
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That's AWESOME!!! When did he start skiing? I've got a 2 year old that I want to get interested next year in the training skis. and looking for some advice for young skiers.

He started skiing when he was about 1 1/2 years old with the trainer skis...(the kind that is tied together)...could barely walk but really loves the water. We had an outboard at the time and no boom...thus no attempt at barefoot. We just bought our first Bu this spring and of course had to get a boom. He just kept telling me that he wanted to learn to barefoot, so we went out at 6:00 AM when the water was perfect. Hopefully he will be off of the boom by the end of the summer and onto a long line. He now claims barefooting is his favorite of the water sports, even though he has only done it the one time. I guess time will tell, but he definitely has one up on most of his little buddies. :werule:

Great job! It is always fun seeing the kids gain confidence. Our 13 yr daughter has been barefooting since she was eight. My suggestion would be to not rush him off of the boom. Let him get a lot of practice (and confidence) off of the boom. This will also let him learn the proper body position and will become second nature. My first step to getting to a long line was to put a short rope (couple feet max) with handle on the end of the boom. It is a trainer handle for getting up slalom. It has a rope cross bar in it then the handle back another foot or so. Start with the handle real close to the boom (6 inches to a foot then progress to a longer length). They get started on the boom then grab the rope with one hand and work their way back to the handle or grab the handle if it is close to the boom. We spent a lot of time on this length of rope. We then put a barefoot rope on the end of the boom with about 4-6 feet of rope (rest of rope in boat). They get up sitting on a knee board with feet out in front. This allows them to get their feet stable and in correct position and stand up (the boom still helps them up). Once they get where this is easy then we progressed to about 20 feet of rope...just pasted the end of the boat and then to the long line. Believe me the 20 feet rope and the long line will seem a lot faster to them and not a lot of room for forgiveness (thus the reason to make sure their position, etc is in memory). The boom provides a great sense of comfort and allows the footer to make a lot of mistakes without falling. Once off of the boom there is not a lot of room for error and the speed, water in face, etc seems pretty scarey (even if you are not a kid). At the start of the season we always go back to the same progression a few times to get it all back. Enjoy. Thumbup.gif

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At what speed does the little dude barefoot?

I started him at between 20 and 25 on the boom with the "easy footer", but when he got out of that and directly on the boom he said he was a lot more comfotable at 25 mph. That seemed a little fast off of the boom for his weight (52 lbs), but using the old rule of thumb weight deivide by ten plus twenty it fell right in line. I had always thought that you should go a little slower off of the boom ~1-2 mph less. Anybody else know any rules of thumb for barefoot speeds while on the boom.

In the end he wanted to go about 30 mph Crazy.gif , but that was way to fast for me to watch, but he seemed a lot more at ease at the higher speeds. He lost it a couple of times at this speed, but would hang on, pull himself around and keep on going.

Edited by oldfooter
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At what speed does the little dude barefoot?

I started him at between 20 on the boom with the "easy footer", but when he got out of that and directly on the boom he said he was a lot more comfotable at 25 mph. That seemed a little fast off of the boom for his weight (52 lbs), but using the old rule of thumb weight deivide by ten plus twenty it fell right in line. I had always thought that you should go a little slower off of the boom ~1-2 mph less. Anybody else know any rules of thumb for barefoot speeds while on the boom.

In the end he wanted to go about 30 mph Crazy.gif , but that was way to fast for me to watch, but he seemed a lot more at ease at the higher speeds. He lost it a couple of times at this speed, but would hang on, pull himself around and keep on going.

That's awesome! Thumbup.gif

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