Update - Mike at the World Barefoot Championships

Saturday August 6, 2010

Today I attended the World Barefoot Council meeting so I knew what to expect in the future of our sport. At 6 pm we had opening ceremonies and it was the best ever as compared to 2006 and 2008 Worlds. At this World Championships, there were 17 countries present; I’ll try to remember as many as I can, South Korea, China, New Zealand, Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Austria, USA, Canada, …

Walking in the Stadium with the USA team with our colors is always special, and the stadium was packed with family, friends, and locals. There was entertainment: Brazilian dances, acrobatics, as well as an amazing show of Fire Works. Since we are Germany, its October fest all day.

Sunday August 8, 2010

Today skiing started at 1 pm. I checked the schedule and I didn’t ski today, so I slept late, as late as I can with bright light at 5:45 am and windows open… Started working on the 2011 NEC Changes document till about 8 am, then went downstairs for breakfast with some of the USA and Canada team members. Back up to the room for some more 2011 NEC Changes stuff, then off to the site about 11 am.

Just hung out at the site, learned about how the proposed Video Judging program worked and all of the technical details on operation as well as equipment. I’m not sure about Video Judging, the camera angle is high (on the tower), when video review is required, all video is on the hard drive that they are real time recording, it’s hard to find the skier that skied previously to do a video review by the judges when required. Also hardware/software is about $1000. I’m a cutting edge guy so I’m not down on new technology, just don’t know if they are going to get it working at this Worlds for the Finals or Semi’s, well see.

Hung around like you typically do at a barefoot event; just move from group to group, visit, talk barefoot stuff, get to know new persons and personalities, then move on again. About 5 pm went to dinner with Doug Jordan (great senior skier from Washington State) and his family, Judy Myers (oldest person to ever ski a World Championships – 67, and in a lot of women magazines), and Jim Forester (great looking guy, with a wonderful personality).

Noting exciting happened today at the tournament. I’m totally relaxed and wonder if I’ll start to freak out as my ski time approaches. My arms are okay, still taking anti-inflammatory pills and muscle rub. I have just been chilling out today.

I won’t be skiing until Tuesday the earliest; the reason is that skiers are all ranked by score and the higher ranking skiers ski later in the week. There are four groups for Senior Men Slalom and I’m in Group A. Another four groups for Senior Men Tricks, and I’m in either Group B or A. Hope to be in Group A (ego).

Monday August 9, 2010

Got up at 6 am this morning; got some work done and wrote out my thought and experiences for the past two days. Went downstairs for breakfast, then to the site to just hang; got there about 9 am and stayed till about 10:30 pm. It’s amazing how fast time can fly when you do NOTHING at a barefoot tournament! I miss my ski buddies from Florida…

Today was interesting for a few reasons: the water was smooth (glass) most or the day so the organizers decided to run the Jump event all day to take advantage of the calm water. Jumping is the most dangerous event and the skiers really need smooth water so that they don’t fall before the jump and get killed (a friend of mine died jumping…); I retired from jumping last year at the age of 58, so no worries.

There are two lakes, Slalom and Tricks for Groups D, C and many B events took place on Lake 2. The problem is that the large video screen located on lake 1 where the stands are, showed primarily the jump event, which was taking place right in front of us. Many parents and family members were upset because they could not see the action on Lake 2, so I visited the ‘video guy’ and explained - he was German, and I really didn’t get anywhere. As others complained to me, I directed them to the ‘video guy’ and that didn’t make a difference; but at the end of the day, much of events on Lake 2 were shown on the large video display on Lake 1!

The most exciting part of the day was the Women Open A jump event. Ashleigh Stebbeings set a new World Record of 20.7M (67.9 ft). I took some great photos of her jump pass, I mean great!

Then after Ashleigh skied, we were done for the day and it was off to the German Bar-B-Q, but of course no Bar-B-Q sauce. We all had a great time and they auction off items as a fund raiser; I kept waiting until he was “Going once, Going twice,” then I would raise my hand and bid. It drove the bidders crazy and the crowd loved it; of course it pushed up the bid price quite a bit. I didn’t buy that much, but did have a lot of fun.

Because of the change of schedule to accommodate the Jump event, all other event orders were shuffled; the bad part is that it’s almost midnight so I have NO CLUE when I ski tomorrow; most likely it will be in the afternoon.

I’m still quite relaxed and confident that I’ll make my starts and ski well, no matter the weather and my that my arms will be fine, we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully pray I don’t get too confident and cocky and that I stay focused.

Tuesday August 10, 2010

Arrived at the site, very stressed, not knowing when I would ski; I think I’m to see soon so rush to get gear, get all worked up to find out I have an hour or so. Adrenalin coursing through my veins and I’m feeling weak, not a good sign. I purchase some water, get to the dock and have time to settle down. After a hour on the dock with the other Division A skiers, I start to relax, and the water is glass. The first five skiers ski great, then the water chops up and gets nasty but then next few skiers do okay. My turn, I call 2400 rpm till I plant, two seconds ‘hail it’. I yell ‘Gear’ then “Okay” then I roll over to start the first Slalom pass backwards. Boat driver must be way over 2400 rpm, but I make the back deep-to-one (always get up backward on one foot). The water is ‘nasty’ and after the 4th crossing I fall, bummer.

When I get to the end of the course via the pickup boat, I’m notified that my water was rough and that I had optional re-ride. So they wait a few minutes, back to the starting dock and I try to get them to wait cause I feel it’s still too rough, but no avail; I’m to go now. I give the instructions again, 2400 rpm…. Notify them to go via ‘okay’ signal and after I plant, the boat speed was not there. I was committed to the one foot start and was not in position to step out; result I MISSED MY START – Score Zero.

Return pass is into the wind forward, but it really doesn’t matter, I’m not going to semi’s after 5 crossings, one hand slips off the handle and I twist out of position and I’m down. Score – 4.1 (my Personal best is 15.0). Total for both passes 4.1, I’m sure this is the worst slalom score I’ve ever received, and at the World Championships. No excuses, it’s called life and some times it doesn’t go as planned. But I’m still embarrassed and bummed out. I want to cry…

View Mike's pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/103472112604379439617/WorldBarefootChampionships2010Germany#