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2009 marks the 3rd year we have hosted
a Freestyle Barefoot and Ski weekend at our home site in Katy, Texas.
This year, we invited hydrofoil World Champion Geno Yauchler, Barefoot
World Champion Ron Scarpa, National Open Men's Champion Chris Morrison,
and Senior World Champion Mike Salber to Katy for a weekend of fun,
relaxation, great food, fireworks, and plenty of skiing.
Geno and Ron came in a couple days
early to conduct clinics for people that wanted to learn how to
hydrofoil or barefoot waterski. They were each booked solid and
had to bear 100+ degree temperatures throughout the day. The
upside was they were treated to glass calm water all day long.
Geno and Ron each entertained us all
by taking several ski sets. Ron was first up each morning helping
Michele make breakfast and getting the boat ready for the early morning
6:30 am video sets for all the early risers. For those not up for
the early sets on the water, they could sit on the back porch and watch
the action on the water as they finished their coffee and breakfast.
Chris Morrison flew in from Flint,
Michigan and was eager to meet two of his life-long idols (Geno and
Ron). Most of us know Chris as an accomplished barefooter, but
he's also quite skilled at hydrofoil. Geno was so impressed that
he asked Chris to move to Florida and and train with him. "With
the right coaching, Chris could be a World Champion Hydrofoiler",
explained Geno.
Several skiers came in early to train
with Ron. Marke Varnes flew in from California and was on a
mission to learn a front to back. We had him doing them on his
second set, so he was very excited. Mike Salber drove 16 hours
from Orlando, Florida with Dave Schlemp and Mike's 3 boys Cade, Morgan
and Zane. We made sure to take some time to give the boys a tour
of the Eagle factory. They all loaded up on new Eagle board
shorts, shirts, and suits.
After a long day on the water
Thursday, BarefootCentral.com treated everyone to dinner at Tony's
Mexican Restaurant. Tony's is famous for having the best
margaritas in Houston. After dinner, several of the skiers
proceeded to take a midnight margarita induced barefoot run. Ron,
Chris, Geno, Mike Salber, Mark Varnes, and Chuck all had some fun trying
not to hit bouys while footing in the dark. Several neighbors were
rumored to have shot bottle rockets at the gang.
The next day (Friday) began a little
later due to a sudden outbreak of headaches. But Ron Scarpa was
once again the first up and was the lady's favorite due to his constant
helping out with cooking, cleaning and whatever else the ladies needed.
After an early breakfast Friday
morning Ron jumped in the boat along with Chuck and Mike Salber to do
some more video for the BFC Freestyle Challenge. Ron had been
working out weeks prior to the visit to be in shape for the video shoot.
For those of you who question whether Ron still has it, you'll have to
wait to see his Freestyle video on July 15 titled "Cobra Style".
After the morning shoot, Ron and Chuck
took Geno and Pat Scippa out for some sets while another group went out
with Mike Salber. Geno had never skied on the BFC Extreme Footers
and wanted to get used to them before the battle. To say Geno is
talented on the water is an understatement. We all watched in
amazement as Geno learned all 4 surface turns having never even thrown a
reverse. By the end of his set, he was doing all 4 turns with
ease. Pat Scippa watched in amazement and wondered why Geno never
competes. It's mainly because his passion is with hydrofoil and
competes heavily in that arena.
Around noon on Friday, Chuck announced
that the annual Shoe Ski Battle would commence at 1:30pm. So as
soon as everyone had finished lunch, the introductions and Smack Talk
began.
Rob Kadanski "aka The Gangsta" set the
tone for the shoeski battle this year by taking Chuck through 6 very
tough runs before loosing to Chuck 2 out of 3 runs. Chuck kept
saying "That felt like a finals match." The 2nd match of the day
was Ron Scarpa against Chris Morrison. If the trash talk between
the two opponents was any sign of the the battle that would ensue, we
knew we were in for some entertainment., ad they didn't disappoint.
To everyone's surprise, Chris defeated Ron after several draws and that
did nothing more than piss Ron off. We just knew we would see them
battle again.
Michele once again seemed to be
cruising to the finals. Though Geno sent her to the Loser's
Bracket early, her competitors in the Loser's bracket kept coming up
lame and dropping out of the competition. Rumor has it Michele was
paying them off.
 After
Chris defeated Ron, he was then scheduled to ski against Chuck "aka The
Hammer". But just as they were about to take to the water, Michele
announced that they would need to put the next round of matches off
until the next day. Friday evening was scheduled to be the
premiere of the movie "H2O Extreme" at the local AMC theatre, and dinner
was on the table.
We had about 70 people come out to the
premiere. The movie turned out to be much better than everyone
expected. If you haven't seen it, you should definitely buy the
DVD. It's truly a story about waterskiing, not just a movie with
waterskiing in it as a side bar. If you haven't see the movie, and
would like to order the DVD,
CLICK HERE
The movie ended around 9:30pm.
We then all headed to one of Chuck & Michele's neighbor's (The Berrys)
for an evening pool party. The Berry's pool is a kid's wonderland.
It has a huge water slide, obstacle to jump off, lazy river, swim up
bar, putting green, hot tub and a giant deck with plenty of tables and
chairs. A special thanks to the Berry's for opening their house to
us.
Saturday morning started bright and
early with Ron, Chris, and Chuck out on the water shooting video.
This time they drug Geno out of bed because he'd made mention the night
before that he wanted to learn the side slide.
After a very productive shoot, we all
split up in boats and took to the water for some more skiing on the calm
water. We had about 8 kids at the event who had become quick
friends. Shane Diffly, a home owner and footer on the lake, pulled
the boys all morning.
Right after lunch on Saturday,
everyone gathered to watch the final runs of the Shoe Ski Battle.
Chuck and Chris were first on the water, and to everyone's surprise,
Chris took Chuck down after 5 runs. Chris was feeling good about
his chances of winning at that point. Mike Salber sent Geno
Yauchler to the loser's bracket and then was defeated himself by Chris.
So Chris was sitting at the top of the winner's bracket waiting to watch
as Ron, Chuck, Mike and Geno beat themselves up to get to the top of the
Loser's Bracket, just to have to take Chris on and beat him twice.
Mike forfeited to Ron due to
sustaining a shoulder injury skiing against Chris, so Ron was left with
taking on Michele. We all think they rigged it, but the Raging
Bull would still have to get past the Hammer to have another shot at
Morrison. Chuck and Ron's battle went on for several matches.
After several draws, you could hear them both saying "You won that one,
No you won it, No! I'm positive you won it." After wearing each
other out, neither one was too eager to have to take on a well rested
and testosterone filled 19 year old Morrison. So Ron was ruled the
winner and was sent to the lions.
The match between Scarpa and Chris was
one of wits, speed, and plenty of trash talk. We laughed until we
were blue in the face. Chuck offered Ron a $1000 bonus payout if
he beat Morrison. Chris was mad because the 1st prize cash payout
was only $150. So Ron offered to split it with him 30/70 if Chris
would throw the handle. Chris couldn't bring himself to loose, so
he opted to punish Ron and take home the $150. It was all in good fun.
After the Venom Energy Awards
Ceremony, we all headed over to our neighborhood 4th of July Texas
Barbeque. We ate plenty of smoked ribs, sliced beef, chicken,
sausage, and prime rib, not to mention all the trimmings and deserts you
could get your hands on.
After stuffing ourselves, Mike, Chris
and I took a few of the boys with us to participate in an evening ski
show for the neighborhood. Geno Yauchler wowed the crowd with nose
bleed areoles on the hydrofoil and we followed that up with some crazy
barefoot tricks and dismounts.
Thanks to everyone who participated in
the 2009 Freestyle Weekend. We hope you have a great time and hope
you'll visit us again next year.
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