By Chuck Gleason

2010 has been a very exciting summer for all of us at Team BFC.  We've had the BFC Freestyle Challenge going on all summer.  We've been to Orlando, Florida, Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the LA Night Jam, Grand Rapids, MI for the Global Insurance Pro Tour stop, Beaumont, Texas, Dallas/Ft Worth with the YMCA, and Cincinnati, Ohio.  In between all those stops, we've been visted by skiers from all over the US and World.  It's just been an amazing summer.  We didn't think anything could top it.

After spending so much time on the road over the summer, you get a little burned out from driving so much, and don't even get me started on the gas prices.  Let's just say by this time of the year, you're ready to take a break.  Andre De Villiers was with us all summer and had just left to go back home and to Germany for the 3-event barefoot worlds.  Our house went from being a flurry of craziness to the quiet I was in need of.  But wait, we still have one more event to go to, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Malibu Open Pro Tour stop.  I was thinking; "You've got to be kidding! Another 24 hour road trip! Just shoot me!"  To top things off, a day before we were scheduled to leave, I received a call from Dayna Lough, Nolan's mom, informing me that Nolan had hyper-extended his shoulder and he wouldn't be able to go on the trip with us.  That was terrible news.  Our star Freestyler was out of action and I didn't know how much Freestyling Jamie Kumlien had been doing all summer.  Ron Scarpa was coming to ski with us at the Malibu Open, but Ron wouldn't be doing the crazy freestyle moves like the ADV, hand plants. He was solid at the traditional 3-event moves such as turns, flips, toe-turns, side slides, etc but I knew he has not been practicing any Freestyle moves and I had promised the event organizer Freestyle.  So as we (Michele, Kathryn, and I) left for Milwaukee on a Wed morning at 4:30 am, I had a few very important unknowns to work out.  Basically, Jamie Kumlien needed to NOT SUCK!

What I did know was that Milwaukee had the capability of being one of the largest Pro Tour stops ever.  I had been working with the event organizer, Dana Reed, all summer.  The location was perfect.  The lake being used was run by the Milwaukee Parks & Recreation District and they had never let anyone ski on it before.  The only boats using that water were paddle boats.  After months of negotiation, the Pro Tour was allowed to host this event under the understanding that the site would be left unscarred.  Event organizer, Dana Reed, spent weeks leading up to the event preparing the site and making sure this event would live up to it's capabilities.  He had to install a slalom course and jump and have it surveyed in to within an inch.  He had to find and rent a jump from a local showski team, then get it into the water, achored and ready for the best jumpers in the world to hit it.  He spent countless hours getting the site ready and just as much meeting with town council members and potential sponsors to raise the money needed to put on the event.  As an organizer, you're never really sure how many spectators will show up as a result of all your hard work.  You're always worried you'll promise your sponsors several thousand and then only a few hundred show.  So as bad as I was feeling about having to make a 24 hour drive, I knew I had to be feeling a lot better than Dana. His hard work and dedication to the event is what inspired us to personally drive the BFC Freestyle Sanger to the event and be there on site myself to make sure we deliver on the promise of entertaining whatever crowd shows up. 

Our involvement with the Pro Tour comes as a result of the new Freestyle Barefoot craze and word getting out about the crazy things we had been showcasing at the LA Night Jam Pro Jump Tournament put on by Jay Bennett each year.  The Freestyle moves are much more fan friendly and entertaining to watch.  You never know what we're going to do next.  We're also a good filler act to keep the event running on time.  For instance, if the event is running faster than expected, we put on a Freestyle barefoot exhibition for as much extra time as they need us to take to keep things on schedule.  If things are running slower than expected, we shorten some of our pre-scheduled acts.  Our goal is to entertain and keep things running smoothly.

It took us two days to get to Milwaukee.  Day 1 consisted of driving for 15 hours from Houston, Texas to just about St. Louis, MO (I-10 East 6 hours to Baton Rouge, LA then I-55 North for 8 hours).  It's a very long drive.  To break the day up, as we passed through Memphis, TN, we decided to stop at Graceland to visit the home and burial place of Elvis Presley.  This year would have been his 75th birthday and neither Michele nor I had ever been to Graceland. Click Here to read about our tour and see all the pictures we took at Graceland

Having completed our visit to Graceland, we took back to the road and drove until late into the night.  We stopped at a random exit and checked into a Days Inn hotel for the night.  We were about 7 hours South of Milwaukee and we could take our time on Thursday getting there.  The plan was to stop in Chicago for lunch "Fontanos Subs in Little Italy" down by Univ of Illinois at Chicago, the BEST subs on the planet bar none.  We'd get pizza at Ginos East and Portillos hot dogs on the way back Sunday.  

We arrived in Milwaukee on Thursday afternoon.  They were doing final setup for the event.  We checked in with Dana Reed to see if he needed any help setting things up. A lot was happening.  Vendors were showing up, scaffolding was going up, banners were being hung, sound systems were being wired, boats going in the water, cameras being set up, tents being erected, and skiers getting practice sets.  Dana looked as though he'd been up for days getting everything ready.

The site was perfect.  It's a lake nestled in a huge park right in downtown Milwaukee.  The park was bustling with activity.  Joggers, roller bladers, bicyclist, walkers, and families having picnics.  The park is on the banks of Lake Michigan and has running/biking trails all along the shores.  It's the place thousands of people come to each day to relax and play.  On the back side of the lake is the road that allows cars to drive the lakeshore.  So the lake is surrounded by tall buildings on one side and Lake Michigan on the other side.  What made the weekend perfect was the weather.  I think the hottest it got was 75-80 degrees during the day and about 60 at night.  Organizers were worried about rain since the city had been getting so many huge rain storms in the weeks leading up to the event, but Mother Nature was kind that weekend.  We made sure to take advantage of the park and did some sight seeing before we headed to the hotel.

Playing catch with Kathryn in the park

Family bicycle around the park.

Friday started early.  We had to be on sight at 7am to take part in video shoot for a local TV station.  Nicole Kumlien drove her family (Jamie, Jacklyn and Mikey) over 50 miles to meet us at the sight for the shoot.  When they arrived, Dana was already on sight working away.  Unfortunately, we were informed that the TV crew had to go to another shoot at the last minute due to two police officers being shot.  Since Friday was qualifying rounds for the slalom skiers, we had a choice to make, stay there and watch all day or head North to find some water to foot on.  We needed to do some practicing before the Saturday main event, so we opted to make the road trip 1-1/2 hours North to Green Bay to ski with Footstock Champion Chris Van Zeeland.  Chris was a great host and took us out on the Fox River where he trains.  We were joined by Dan Baumgardner.  We had a blast watched Jamie try some of the new moves he'd just seen in Andre's latest Freestyle video, and we taught Dan the ADV over the boat.  Kathryn and Mikey got to ski and play all day together. We arrived at Chris's place around 10am and before we knew it, it was 5pm.  We were scheduled to attend a skier banquet hosted by event sponsor Rip-Tide Restaurant starting at 6:45pm, so we had to high tail it back to Milwaukee.  We arrived back at the host hotel just in time to take a 5 min shower, change clothes and head to the party, which was attended by all the Pro Tour competitors, sponsors, and organizers.  We had a great time.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect.

Saturday was finals day and we had to be at the sight all day. Ron Scarpa arrived in Milwaukee late Friday evening, so we picked him up at the front of the hotel on the way over to the sight.  We spent most of the day hanging out, talking to skiers and answering a lot of questions about how we had the boat set up for Freestyle.  Around noon, Dana came to me asking if we could go on early since the tournament was going faster than expected.  I told him he wouldn't have to ask twice.  Just tell us when he needed us and we'd get to the water.  All in all, I think we took to the water about 4 different times between noon and 10pm.  It was very cool seeing people on both shorelines as we skiied by.  Jamie was flawless on his Freestyle moves and got the opportunity of a lifetime as he double long-lined with barefoot legend Ron Scarpa several times.  Watching them both do multiple turns and shoe toes was very cool.  Danny and I got an opportunity to do some double long-line together under the lights, and the kids all got a chance to ski in front of the crowd.  Since we have the video from the boat, it's better to watch it than to read my description of it.

Plenty of food vendors on site	People checking out the BFC Sanger Freestyle setup
View from the starting dock	Ron chilling in the skier's and VIP tent
Kathryn signing autographs at the skier's table	Skier's autograph line

I want to thank Jamie, Jacklyn & Mikey Kumlien, Ron Scarpa, Kathryn Gleason, Dan Baumgartner and Nicole Kumlien for helping us make the Freestyle Exhibition at the Malibu Open a successful one.  Thanks to Dana Reed for inviting us to participate.  I'd also like to thank the Rock Aqua Jays Showski Team for assisting us with the showski demonstration.  We look forward to seeing everyone again next year.  Prepare yourself for twice the size and more ski time on the water.

Jamie & Ron ski double long-line.  Ron is doing a front flip while Jamie is doing 360 surface turns