G’day Chuck,

Andre has asked me to send a photo to you (something about sending it to Malibu), it was taken by a photographer we got in from the local newspaper when Andre came to Grafton on his Aussie tour. Andre asked me to send as high resolution photo as possible, unfortunately at this stage the attached photo is all I can get out of the photographer, hope to be able to get a better digital image once I have spent sufficient enough dollars with him on hard copies, will let you know how I go.

Would also like to mention how impressed not only I but all the people that got the opportunity to spend time with Andre while he was in Grafton, sure we knew he is a freak on the water and all of us would have been happy to pay our money and just watch him ski, but his enthusiasm even with a bunch of weekend warriors in the sport was infectious, it’s not always the case that because you excel at a sport you are able to teach but Andre really had allot to offer, given the nature of “Freestyle Barefooting” he is not constrained by the type of regimented progressions that tend to occur in 3 event trick type coaching, so all of us that did do barefoot sessions with him had a heap of fun and pushed themselves and achieved much more than they ever thought. Andre was always accommodating, the first day we had a session in the morning then after lunch the local newspaper came out where he busted out his moves to promote the sport, then back out again for an afternoon session. The following day was pretty much exactly the same except the after lunch session was where I asked Andre if he wouldn’t mind going out again to bust his moves for a mate of mine who was booked in to do the barefoot clinic with us but had had a big backwards fall three weeks before and ended up with bleeding on the brain so out we went and both Andre and Brendan Paige put on a ridiculous show. Again Andre was more than accommodating when asked to have photos taken with the guys which my wife Tammie raced into the printers to get printed for him to sign. Andre stayed with us for the two and a half days he was in Grafton along with most of the guys that did sessions in the boat (most of us don’t live in Grafton), in and out of the boat he was a very likeable young fella everyone had a good chat with him along with a bit of good old Aussie banter (taking the mickey out of each other) so a lot of laughs was had by all. Sure he is quite a confident fella but not at all pretentious always keen to help out in and out of the boat didn’t wish or wanted to be waited on like a rock star, happy to be one of the crew and very easy to get along with. Should also mention Andre did promote your Eagle suits explaining to the guys how they were designed and cuts done to help performance etc all be it most of the guys already have Eagle suits but were genuinely interested in what he had to say those that don’t have Eagle suits I’m sure will have when they are due for a new one.

Understanding you pay him to promote the sport, for mine he does a great job not because he is so ridiculously good but he genuinely wants people to achieve the things he has on the water and to encourage individuals to come up with their own tricks, I’m quite sure he is very aware that if the sport of Freestyle Barefooting is to succeed it needs as many people as possible at or close to his level. He is happy to put in the work to promote the sport not only thru the media but face to face with people, while also understanding that the work he puts in now really will be rewarded to the future generations who take the sport to the next level, I only hope that this sport gets the following it should and Andre’s legacy along with others like yourself that put in the effort leaves its mark.

As I mentioned I was very impressed with Andre even after only spending a few days with him I feel he is a great role model for the sport and feel privileged to have had the opportunity to spend some time with him and would be stoked to be able to do it again sometime in the future (have no doubt I would be able to organise a crew again) I am extremely thankful to John Price for giving me the opportunity to host Andre while he was in Australia.

I do have a bunch of photos we took (not the newspaper) while Andre was in Grafton if you wish I can forward them onto you just let me know.

Decided to throw in a photo of the crew that spent the last day in Grafton with Andre as well (for the record I’m the bald headed fella sitting next to Andre).

Cheers,

Al Barrett
Proprietor
3/9 De Havilland Crescent
PO Box 5099
Ballina NSW 2478
e: 02 6686 8979
f : 02 6686 8575
e: al.barrett@bigpond.com