How the Barefoot Central Boat Review was organized

Before we contacted the manufacturers, we set out to assemble a team of reviewers that we felt represented a wide range of footing talent, age, and genders.  We also wanted to get the support of some of the footers that have helped coordinate boat tests in the past.  We didn’t want to re-invent the wheel if we didn’t have to.  After many calls, schedule comparisons and interviews, we came up with the following list of reviewers:

Keith St. Onge – Age 23 – The Top Dog - #1 Ranked Barefooter in the World, Team USA elite skier – Barefoot instructor, owner of Gliding Soles Barefoot Camp.

Paul Stokes – Age 32 - World class footer and coach – National Champion - Team USA captain – Barefoot instructor, onwer of Get Stoked Ski School.

Andrea Eggert – Age 37 - Top women’s skier – Barefoot Worlds US Senior Team member – National champion – Tournament judge – member of Austin Barefoot Club.   Founder of Sole Sisters.

Stuart Singer – Age 40 – above average footer – Barefoot Central April 2003 Footer of the Month – Long line front and backs, toe-ups, back to fronts, learning front to backs.  Has never competed in a tournament.  Skis for the fun of it.

Andrew Martin – Age 14 – Junior Footer – lives in Eaton, Ohio – family very active in footing - competes in many tournaments each year – Webmaster of Junior Barefoot Website.

Billy Nichols – Age 38 – World Endurance record holder.  Open skier.  Has attended every US Nationals there has ever been.  Barefoot Worlds US Senior Team member.  Has coordinated many boat tests for both Waterski Mag and USA Waterski.  Owner of Ocala, Florida based boat dealership.

Murray McKinnon – Age 40 – Chiropractor from Colorado.  Beginner footer.  Just learned how to go backwards on boom.  Very excited about the sport.

Chuck Gleason – Age 37 – 2 time National Tricks Champion – Open tricks skier – owner and editor of BarefootCentral.com.

Kyle Fahrenthold  – Age 43 – Mens 3 Competitor.  2002 was first year to compete in tournaments along with his wife Debbie.  October 1999 Barefoot Central Footer of the Month.

How would it all work?
The reviewers were set up in teams of two.  Each two footer team was given a 3 page scorecard for each boat.  Each team member had to ski each boat, come up with their own opinion, then come to an agreement with their partner on how they should fill out each boat's score card.  If they disagreed, they continued to ski until an agreement was reached.

Once each team had completed a score sheet for each boat, we all met as a group.  Each two-man team would present their scores and we would come to an agreement, as a group, as to how to fill out the final "official" score card on each boat.  If a tie occurred, our Ruling Official (Kyle Fahrenthold) would break the tie, or ask the teams to re-ski the boats until a consensus was reached.  To our surprise, there were very few disagreements.

Along with all the reviewers, we had the help of many footers to assist in shooting video, taking pictures, driving and moving boats, measuring, cooking, etc…  Some of those footers we would like to thank include: Phil Gustafson, Mike West, Michele Gleason, Britt Hartline, Shelly Singer, Jeff & Karen Kelly, and the especially the women who attended the photo shoot.

Our mission is to build a database of barefoot boat characteristics, so if 5 years from now, someone is looking to buy a new or pre-owned boat, they’ll be able to visit BarefootCentral.com and find information about that boat and get some great advise on what to expect from it and how to best equip it to maximize it’s performance on the water.