Mike Seipel's Corner

Dear Barefoot Central,

I wanted to ask a question about my back deep water starts. In my dry-suit I find the start far easier although a dry-suit is not ideal all year round and my problem is that when I set my feet in and wait for speed as soon as I drop the handle to change the weight from my chest to my feet and start to break at the waist I seem to catch one of my feet in the water and fall right over onto my head. Also I feel really sore when I am riding on my chest yet all the other footers could ride on their chests all day without any pain. I wanted to ask if you could give me any tips on how to combat this problem of coming over my feet and hurting and feeling uncomfortable when I am riding on my chest.

Andrew McDonald 15
Northern Ireland

It is best if you plant your feet early at a slow boat speed between 10 and 15 MPH. Leave your arms out straight the whole time with a good grip on the handle. If you don’t pull the handle up at all, then you don’t have to drop the handle, and you will get your feet to glide better when you plant them. Dropping the handle doesn’t put your weight from your chest to your feet.

To get up quickly and most easily when the boat accelerates, you have to learn to push your butt up about a foot off the water.  Do this by breaking at the waist, by pushing your chin and chest down toward the bottom of the lake. Keep your nose off the water by keeping your head tilted back when you do this.  Keep your legs straight.  Place your feet about a yard apart and as deep in the water as you can without burying them. As the boat accelerates up to speed, don’t do anything else to come up. Doing anything else will only hinder you from getting up. Don’t bend your knees to help get up.  Don’t bring your feet together to help get up, don't turn your feet in to get up, and don’t turn your feet out sideways too much.  Just turn your feet out a little, about 45 degrees at the most, and don’t ever push on your feet like you push against a gas pedal of a car. Just keep your ankles relaxed so the pressure of the water can point your feet back towards your body or shoulders.

If you push against the water with your feet at all or do any of the other things I mention here, not to do, you will not be able to keep your feet in the water deep enough without burying them.  The deeper you learn to keep your feet in the water, without burying them, the easier you will get up.  Keep your legs straight and your butt pushed about a foot off the water, relax & wait patiently.  This is what makes one person get up faster, than another.

Nobody can ride on his or her chest for a long time, as the boat accelerates, without feeling pain. However, the deeper you keep your feet in the water without burying them, as the boat accelerates, the faster your chest will come off the water and the sooner the pain goes away. If you don’t keep your feet deep enough, you will just stay on your chest, which hurts.

If you push on your feet, like you would against a gas pedal of a car, instead of keeping your feet and ankle totally relaxed, you will not be able to keep your feet down in the water deep enough without burying them and you will not get up. It is very dangerous to push against the water with your feet, like you would push against a gas pedal of a car. This splits your legs apart and you can pull your groin very badly. Keep your feet & ankles totally relaxed.

If one of your feet is catching in the water, it is caused by one of two things. You are either pushing against the water with your feet, like you would against a gas pedal of a car and/or you are turning your feet out sideways too much. Keep your feet & ankles relaxed, and don’t turn your feet out sideways more than a 45 degree angle.

Good Luck,

Mike Seipel

Visit Mike Seipel's web site at www.barefootinternational.com