2007
Frostbite Figure Eight Open
The
Figure-8 barefoot tournament season officially
kicked off here in Wisconsin on May 5th when te
U.W. Stout collegiate team held their 9th annual figure 8 tournament on Lake Menomonie.
What does
fifty degree weather and 30mph wind make a
good combination for? Frostbite Fest, of
course!
Skiers began strolling into town around 7:00 Friday night all amped up
and ready for the first Figure 8 tournament of the year. Trash talking
was even at a lull, but questions were flyin. Can Chris
Van Z continue his run? Will Aaron
Schoelzel be back into form and ready to start
another big run? Will the next phenom be
Max, Matt, Kyle, Dave, Nick, or any of the Ghetto Footers Barefoot Club?
Does anyone know if Jon Debelak is coming? And of course, Will
the wind be coming out of the north tomorrow morning? After a night of
sight seeing and educational banter, all questions would be answered
after a good 10 hour night sleep.
Saturday morning started with everyone wondering what happened to Dave
Mueller. Of course he was fashionably late.
(The alarm clock did not go off. Yeah right!) The Stout Ski Team was
scrambling and working against the weather to make this a great
tournament. Skiers were out in full force wrapped up in sleeping bags
and anything else they could find to keep warm.
And of course when you see a couple of the best rough water
footers there in the morning like Netzer and Debelak, that doesn't help
either.
 Skiers
took to the water Saturday morning around 9AM
and then started HITTING the water face first at 9:01. Re-runs
were a plenty, and even trying to slalom was proving to make a
lot of top skiers look like Chuck Gleason
at Footstock. haha
Despite
all of the UW Stout Waterski Team's efforts, the
tournament had to be postponed due to safety reasons.
Winds were creating white-cap conditions that were impossible to ski in,
more less barefoot in.
The tournament had
brought barefooters from all over the state.
Unfortunately, most could not stay the extra day. Luke Bruckner,
Aaron Schoezel, Mike Netzer, Chad Mietz and John Debelak were just a few
that had to make the trip home Saturday night.
The few skiers that were able to stay got
together and Saturday night and had a great time partying with the UW
Stout Waterski Team.
Everyone was hoping Sunday would have lighter winds,
but unfortunately Mother Nature was not going to give in.
Sunday morning brought worse weather.
The tournament was started over due to the fact that
so many skiers had gone home the day before. What was
supposed to be a figure eight tournament turned out to be a step off/
coin flip contest. For the lucky few that chose to
stay, I can tell you they all had a great time
watching skier after skier face-plant before, during, and just after
their step-offs. The crowds on the shoreline got to see every fall
close-up.
The Stout ski team had there whole team down
at the site bright and early
ready to kick things off so that skiers would
be able to get back home at a decent hour. They started early and ran it
safe and fast right out of the gate. Still a
lot of reruns, but anytime you can get a group of footers put it all on
the line like this, you have to respect their love of footing, yet
question their sanity. We were unable to put a camera in the boat
because safety was a much bigger concern than
footage. But when you see the footage of
the skiers from the shoreline, no matter what
the weather was like, you will see that everyone had a great time at The
Frostbite. Only one run over one hundred yards was completed all
weekend. That was the championship run between Chris Van Zeeland and
Matt Hoeft (Rochestor, MN).
Chris
pulled out the win after having to beat Matt twice.
Final results were as follows:
|
Final Results |
1st Place - Chris Van Zeeland
(center)
2nd Place - Matt Hoeft
(right)
3rd Place - Nick Gargargo
(left) |
Jon Bice,
the tournament director, did a wonderful job
even with mother nature working against him. Other people that made this
weekend possible: Tatum Treeland, The entire UW Stout Ski Team, Scuba
Steve Jones and Ryan Dewey We had a great weekend and can not wait until
next year, when we will remember to bring our snowsuits!
I would like to thank the UW-Stout ski team for holding a fun event. And I'd like to thank my sponsors:
Barefoocentral.com, US Gear, Sanger Boats, and
Eagle Wetsuits
Chris Van Zeeland
  
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