It was 7:30 am and Ron Scarpa gathered all the footers together for an informal skiers’ meeting. Ron informed us that the tournament would begin promptly at 8 am. It was an informal style tournament (this means you go down to the dock and take your passes when you want to). I thought this was a great idea because it relieved the tension from the air and the tournament was more fun.

When I decided to head down to the dock, I could not wait to ski. I pulled on my suit and grabbed my US GEAR handle. Then the brand new Sanger Barefoot Edition came around to the dock, and I told the driver 39 mph. I went flying off the dock at my call of, “HIT IT!” I did my front one foots, sit-down-stand-up, waves and a toe touch (I had never even tried this trick before, but I decided I would give it a whirl since it was at the end of my pass). On the second pass, I did a back deep. I scored a total of 450 points! That is my Personal Best to date! I ended up winning the Women’s Entry division. 

I met a lot of people at ScarpaPaLooza. I met Betsy Colmant. She was very nice and supportive of everyone. She was trying to fire-up people on the dock before their passes. I also met Rodger “The Moose” Williams. He was very interesting to talk to. And guess who was also there?!?!? …Keith St. Onge! He skied and did a bit of judging!

After nearly everyone had skied, a man drove up in this “pimped out” yellow car. It was the strangest thing. He began to hand bananas to everyone. It was Banana George! “The Moose” let me ride in the boat while Banana George skied.  He put on his yellow suit and his yellow bow tie, and he was ready to ski. While we were in the boat, Banana George asked me several times if his yellow bow tie was straight because he wanted to look good!  Everyone clapped and screamed as Banana George rode on by. 
Not only did Banana George come to ski, but also Ron Scarpa, Paul McDonald, and Keith St. Onge. All the footers were awed by the way these pros could crank out the wake crossing and finesse the tricks.

ScarpaPaLooza was a lot of fun. I encourage everyone to come and ski the event, but my suggestion to you is if you decide to mark your calendar for ScarpaPaLooza next year that you sign up in advance because space to ski is VERY LIMITED. 

I want to thank Team Scarpa who did an amazing job organizing this event, and also the HUGE thanks to the Water-Ski Hall of Fame for letting Ron put on the very first barefoot tournament held at Foundation Lake!

To check out final scores from the Scarpapaloosa, go to http://barefoot.org/results/FindTournament.asp

Toes UP!
Marissa
Marissa@BarefootCentral.com

Thanks so very much to my sponsors: Barefoot Central, Eagles Sports, and US Gear!