I’ve been in the ski industry for a couple of decades, coaching and competing. Over the years I have acquired a bit of knowledge and experience, which includes some of the more common pieces of advice given to skiers getting a lesson.
The following are a few tips to help you with your mission to barefoot to the best of your abilities
Tip 1. – Know The Basic Position
Have a solid understanding of the basic position. The better you know this and can replicate it on the water, the faster you will progress. It looks like someone sitting down in a chair. Here are a couple of resourses.
USAwaterski.org has this document going over a lot of the basics.
Tip 1.1 – Glide Over The Water, Don’t Plow Through It
Feet should glide over the water, don’t push your feet out in front of you. By pushing, you are using too much energy deflecting water and effectively fighting the pull of the boat. Thinking of gliding will help you keep from digging in.
Tip 1.2 – Reduce Your Spray
Less spray is an indication of a better position. It shows that you are lightly gliding across the water with as little interference and effort as possible. If you are making a huge roosters tail then you can likely reduce your energy output by a huge degree.
Tip 2. – Do Your Dry Land Practice
One of the few practical ways to prepare. Spending some time going through the moves and familiarizing yourself with the position means you will know what to expect when you are on the water. The sooner your body becomes familiar with the basic position, and it becomes ingrained, the easier and more relaxed you will be on your feet.
Muscle memory is the goal, we want our body to know the move so well that even in an emergency, you will naturally do the correct move. Dry land training is the first step available to begin building muscle memory.
Tip 2.1 – Seriously, Practice On Dry Land Every Time Before You Get On The Water
If you can refamiliarize yourself every time you go to get on the water, then it means you spend less time on the water behind the boat just getting warmed up, and more of your energy progressing as you got the silly things sorted on the land before you went out.
As a coach, I am always happy to see people practicing dry land moves before a lesson. It shows me that they are taking the lesson more seriously. They want to get as ready as they can so that they can make the most of the time and money they are spending on coaching.
It is really frustrating when someone says, “oh, just let me get a couple runs in to warm up.” Well, then you will be half warn-out by the time you start trying to learn something new. That cuts down on how much I can tell you and how much you can learn and absorb each time you go out.
Tip 3. – Feet Slightly Closer Than Shoulder-Width Apart
This ties into not digging your feet into the water. The wider your feet, the more angle they have, which leads to digging your feet into the water harder to try to maintain balance.
By bringing your feet a little closer than shoulder-width means you are putting a flatter surface (soles of your feet) on the water. Flatter feet added with them being directly under the barefooters weight means added stability.
Tip 4. – Feel The Water Just Behind The Balls Of Your Feet
It may take a little bit before you have the awareness to move your weight around and experiment with this. As you do become more confident and starting on the bar, work on positioning and angling your feet so that the water is breaking just behind the ball of your foot.
Without shoving the heel into the water though, make sure you are rotating the angle of the foot, not just digging in deeper.
Tip 5. – Lift Your Toes, Even When You’re Not On The Water
Sitting in an office dreaming of being out on the water?? Practice curling up your toes. When you first start out, it might take a little bit to get the toe stamina going. Every footer can tell you about catching a toe and being sent tumbling.
Tip 6. – Get Lessons Or A Semi-Regular Coach
Having someone who has been through the learning process will benefit you greatly. A lot of what you are going to want to be doing is not always instinctual. Need to make sure you are developing the right habits and not making life too difficult for yourself.
Tip 7. – Use A Bar
A bar is an attachment that you can add to your boat. It attaches to the ski pole and the front of the boat. The bar hangs 6-7ft out the side of the boat. You can either start in the water with the bar or you can even slide out from the boat when you are already up at speed.
Bars give you a far more secure object to hold on to compared to a rope. It also puts the skier in much cleaner water as you are next to the boat and not out the back in the wakes amongst the wash. The bar was created in the 50s and began to be sold commercially in the 80s. For anyone getting into barefooting, a bar is going to be essential for learning new tricks and perfecting old ones.
Tip 8. – Drop The Speed On The Bar By 5-6mph
Because you have more support from the stability of the bar, the speed needed is reduced. When you are working on new tricks, being able to do so at lower speeds really helps.
Tip 9. – Use A Tower
A ski-pole tower pulls you from higher up, and is effectively like losing 20-30lbs. Moving to the long line is tough enough as it is, so any advantage you can get should be taken. When you are flying along on the soles of your feet, that amount of weight is massive. It allows you to drop the speed some as well.
Tip 10. – Pick The Right Location
Barefooting is high speed and takes some time for the footer to get up and going. This means that you need to make sure you have enough space where you can keep going without needing to turn or risk getting in the way of another boat.
Tip 11. – Drive A Nice Straight Line
The driver needs to make sure that they are holding a really straight line. So plan your runs accordingly. For a new barefooter, even a long slow turn will move them around a lot. Until you gain the control to shift direction easily, you are really just swinging on the end of a rope. Some forethought is always needed here, knowing where you are starting, finishing, and going from there need to be though of.
Tip 12. – Pick The Right Conditions
Picking the conditions can improve your day. Having the water calm is key, you don’t want to be dealing with other boats wakes as they drive by. Something secluded is best but not always that easy considering the space that is required. Early in the mornings are often best, before most of the regular skiers get out for the day and start chopping the lake up.
Glassy water can be difficult for a lot of barefooters and skiers. As a Slalomer, I couldn’t ski in glassy conditions, it messed with my depth perception and balance. When barefooting, glassy water actually makes it feel like water is cutting the inside of the arch of your foot. A small ripple from a breeze is preferred, though you can simply drive a lap in the boat, which agitates the surface while keeping the lake calm.
Tip 13. – Use Barefooting Shoes
If getting the best conditions isn’t really an option, then take a look at some of the shoes people make. The wood image is for any shoe to be attached to. The others are homemade, and as you can see, not overly complex.
Using shoes double the surface area on the water, obviously, this has a drastic impact on the Barefooter. Really helps beginners or those that ski in average to bad conditions on a regular basis.
Tip 14. – Try A Non-Stretch Rope
Having a rope that stretches too much can create a bungee effect for the skier. To avoid this, use a non-stretch rope. It will give you a much more solid connection to the boat.
Tip 15. – Change The Rope Length According To The Boat Wake
Most Barefooters will use a rope between 70 and 90 feet, 21-28 meters. That window is to adjust the length, so the skier is in the best spot in the wake. The location of the sweet spot will change between boats, and as the boat speed changes.
Tip 16. – Use A Barfoot Wetsuit
Barefoot suits are just like jump suits, in that they have the padding built-in and extra padding on the butt. Having an all in one suit reduces tags and possible items that can catch the water and cause drag.
Tip 17. – Pick The Right Way Of Starting To Suit You
There are a few ways to start, and if you are just beginning it will be important to find the one that best suits you.
- Stomach Start (Mainly on the Bar or Short Line)
- Deep Water Start (Long Line)
- Stepping off a single ski(Like the image below)
- Sitting on a wakeboard or kneeboard
Tip 18. – Step Off Like Pushing On A Scooter
Get up on a single ski, take the back foot out, place it on the water, and step away from the ski. The foot that is in the ski should move back as if you are pushing away on a scooter. The binding should be pretty loose so that the ski falls away easily.
Tip 19. – Sitting In The Right Place On The Board Makes A Big Difference
If you try by sitting on a board, just note that where you put your weight on the board matters. You don’t want to be bouncing around, so shift around as the boat speeds up to maintain the best stability. When you do go to put your feet down, do so really gently.
Tip 20. – Don’t slam your feet into the water
Try it at least once though, coz why not! See how many tumbles you can take on purpose.
Tip 21. – Move Slowly
All the moves you will be making while barefooting are calculated, done with balance and precision, so make them slowly to maintain control. Sudden movements can all too easily throw your weight out enough to make you fall.
Tip 22. – Not As Fast As You Think.
Speed = weight divided by 10 and add 20 mph
People often think that barefooters go at insane speeds. While they do go fast, it also looks more intense due to the massive spray they often put off.
| Weight | 45kg 100lb | 68kg 150lb | 90kg 200lb | 113kg 250lb |
| Speed | 48km 30mph | 56km 35mph | 64km 40mph | 72km 45 |
Tip 23. – More HP In The Boat
A boat that can easily and smoothly get up to speed can help reduce fatigue from the starts. If the boat is too weak, then the skier has to hold on stronger for longer, which is tiring. The quicker the boat gets to speed, the more time can be spent on top of the water rather than in it.
Tip 24. – Be Outside The Wakes When Moving To The Long Line
This is instead of sitting in-between the wakes where you will have to deal with the prop-wash. The variation of the water will make it difficult if you are still getting the hang of it. Outside the wakes, there is less disturbed water, offering a more stable and consistent surface.
Figure out which foot you are more comfortable putting weight on, and go the other side of the wake. I.e. Right foot, left side of the wakes. This will give you that little bit extra confidence that you can hold yourself away from the wake itself as you fly.
Tip 25. – Push Your Elbows Down
When you push your elbows down or anti-shrug, you activate your Lats, and by proxy, your core. As you sit in the chair position, push down with your elbows, it should contract your lat muscles. Activating them holds you in that strong position, with your core activated, for maximum strength.
Tip 26. – Drop The Boat Speed As Low As You Can
Epic drill to force you to improve you basic position. Because the better your base, the better everything you stack on that base will be.
How low can you drop your speed and still be barefooting?? Can you drop your speed as low as 40km/25mph?? As the pace gets lower and lower, you will be required to use better and better technique to stay up on the water. By regularly practicing lowering the boat speed, your basic position will become strong enough to handle any and all conditions and challenges.
Disclaimer
The tips here are a collection of the tools I use while coaching. Not all these tips will work together, and some may even be contradictory to some degree. A lot may be missing as coaches tailor advice to the individual and their previous experiences.
Without being there to see you ski, I don’t know which of these tools to give you to maximize your learning curve. Every person is different and reacts differently to the same advice. I put so much in here to accommodate as many different learning styles as possible.
Not all the tips here will work for you. The idea here is to get you thinking along the right lines about the fundamentals. Use whatever tips make sense to you, and use the rest as inspiration to experiment on the water. Find out exactly what makes you feel the most comfortable, and use it, because comfort is the main goal. If you’re comfortable, fun and progression come easily.