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I had heard about ThinkTank on and off over the years, but was never real sure what it was all about.  I hadn't given it much thought because why in the world would I want to leave the warm confines of Texas to hang out in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin with a bunch of show skiers.  I had no interest in learning how to swivel ski or make a pyramid.  My interest has always been focused on the 3-event barefooting side of things.  We ski in straight lines, not in circles, and do deep water starts instead of step offs.  And that's the typical mind-set that 3-eventers have when they compare themselves to show skiers, and I must admit, I'm no different.

With all that in mind, I have had the pleasure of meeting many new people in the barefoot world since starting BarefootCentral.com.  I guess you could say I've taken my blinders off.  Last year we attended FootStock for the 1st time after hearing about it for years.  We ended up having a blast at Footstock, and as a result of that excellent adventure, we are partnering with Sanger Boats as major sponsors of Footstock 2005.  Our goal for 2005 is to make sure Footstock is the largest and most exciting barefoot event held in 2005.  It will surely have the biggest cash prize.

Attending Footstock also gave us a peek in the box into the show ski world.  Most of the figure-8 skiers we met were also members of their town's local show ski team.  Show skiing had introduced them to water skiing and barefooting.  They had all learned to barefoot by stepping off skis or doing two-ski bomb-outs where they jump out of skis onto their bare feet in a ski show.   We quickly discovered that there was a thriving show ski barefooting sub-culture that was just as strong as the 3-event sub-culture. We were also seeing many new members and customers to Barefoot Central coming from this side of the sport, as well as many of them popping up at the BFC/Ski Pro Cup Series races. So we decided we needed to take a trip to ThinkTank 2005 and see what it was all about..  A quick call to Aaron Schoelzel and Gary Meuller and we were set.  The trip would give us a chance to meet a large percentage of the figure-8 and show ski community all in one place.

When I told Keith St. Onge I was going to ThinkTank, he asked if he could tag along.  He had the same interests I had about it.  Our goal was to meet new footers, promote Footstock 2005 with Gary Meuller and Aaron Schoelzel, and maybe help out with a few Tanks.  Keith informed me that Ron Scarpa was planning to attend as well as an instructor for the barefoot classes.  So we all coordinated our flights to arrive at the same time and shared a ride from Milwaukee to Oconomowoc.  Oconomowoc is about 30 miles due west of Milwaukee.  Ron also brought one of his ski school assistants with him, Shauna Marie.  Shauna grew up in Wisconsin and had attended ThinkTank many times and knew everyone in the Wisconsin Water Ski Federation.  So here we were, Keith, Ron, Shauna and myself driving across Wisconsin looking at all the snow wondering why we left Texas and Florida in the middle of winter.  Ron kept us entertained with stories from ThinkTank's he had attended in the past.  He also had me stop to buy some cheese curds.  You can't come to the cheesehead state without having some cheese curds. 

We arrived at the Olympia Resort Friday evening, just in time to see the doubles competition and bikini contest.  In show skiing, doubles competition is when a man and woman are skiing together and the man is lifting the women above his head, spinning her, and contorting into as many cool poses as possible.  They can't do it on water this time of year, so they stand on stage in their costumes and perform their acts for the audience and a panel of judges.  The auditorium was packed with about 1500 people.

The Fashion Show

After the doubles competition, even more people pile into the auditorium to see what they call the Fashion Show.  Several skiers, both men and women parade across the stage in new clothing and gear for the coming year.  Everyone pretty much ignores the guys and focuses their attention on the girls as they show off their bikinis.  Once that is over, everyone heads to the bar for plenty of drinking and karaoke.

The event is very well organized.  All the attendees are given goody bags and plenty of information where to find things, and a schedule of events.  All you have to do is look at the schedule and find out what classes you're interested in and show up in the rooms where the classes are being held.  You can learn everything from how to build a pyramid, how to drive, rope management, costume planning, set design, jumping, and show ski barefooting.  The classes last all day on Saturday and half a day on Sunday. 

Keith, Ron, Aaron, Eric Friedel and I teamed up to instruct the barefoot classes.   Keith, Ron and Eric handled the "How to Barefoot" classes, and Aaron, Keith and I took on the endurance and figure eight classes.

Keith and Ron demonstrate the steps of a back deep start.	Keith and Ron demonstrate proper toe-hold position.
A typical class size	Keith gives a little one-on-one instruction in the techniques of the  back deep position.  Sometimes it's good to be a barefoot instructor!

You can also attend the vendor auditorium where you will find booths packed with waterski equipment for sale.  Lake Elmo Sports usually has the largest booth.  ThinkTank is their biggest show of the year since they cater to the show ski market.  Mike Siepel was also there selling Barefoot International equipment.  We helped set up a the Footstock booth with Gary Meuller, who helps promote Footstook.  He runs an ad agency and has come up with some of the most creative ads for Footstock over the years.  They had all the old ads on display in the Footstock booth.  I brought a bunch of BFC videos and had them playing on a big monitor for all to see. Everyone was amazed with the video of Scott Pellaton speed barefooting at 135mph.  They especially liked the crashes.  Keith St. Onge and Aaron Schoelzel stopped by the booth between classes to sign and hand out autograph cards to anyone who'd take them.  Aaron got a lot of ribbing from his friends.  They were saying he's going Hollywood on them.  Everyone was having a good time.

Checking out the vids at the Footstock Booth
Plenty of boats and new gear to check out.	The Lake Elmo booth.
Mike Schoenke and Keith St. Onge at the USA Waterski Booth and Jennifer Lowe, USA-WS new Grassroots Coordinator	Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner is catered in.  Good food and low prices.

I came to quickly find out that the nickname for ThinkTank is DrinkTank.  Host an event at a plush resort with a big bar in the middle, then invite a few hundred 21-30 year olds, and what results is a big party.  Mike Schoenke and I were volunteered to be bouncers checking IDs.  It reminded me of two things.  First, it reminded me of all the fun I had in college.  Second, it reminded me how old I am now.  I'll be 40 this year, and it was really depressing seeing all these 21-23 year olds that were born the year I graduated high school.  But Mike and I made the best of it.  Flirting with all the girls and giving all the guys a hard time.  Aaron Schoelzel also pulled bouncer duty.  We initially didn't want to do it until they informed us that we could have all the free drinks we wanted.  SOLD! Video Footage - Click Here

The bar was packed every night.
Karaoke was in full swing as Crissy Mikel looked on.
Mike Schoenke and Dan Baumgartner do their best to recruit Crissy into the ABC.	Everyone having a good time.

Overall we had a great time at ThinkTank 2005.  We had dinner each night at a local pub/restaurant, caught up with what was going on in Wisconsin & Minnesota, introduced BarefootCentral.com, Footstock 2005, and the 2005 BFC & SkiPro Cup Series Races to many skiers who had not heard of it.  So the trip was a success.

As my plane took off from St Paul, MN, I looked out the window to see frozen lakes in all directions.  I kept thinking it would really suck to have all that water and not be able to ski on it so many months each year.  But I found out that the skiers in the Midwest never take their summers for granted.  They come into Spring so charged up to ski they definitely make up for any lost time by skiing twice as much.  Many of them are so hard core and eat up with skiing they'll spend all day busting up the ice on their lake or river just to get a few seconds of skiing during the winter months. Click Here  All I can say to those guys is lay of the cheese curds, they are affecting your judgment.

Thanks to Mike Schoenke, Gary Meuller, Mike Frank, Aaron Schoelzel, Keith St Onge, Shauna Marie, and Ron Scarpa for helping make our first trip to ThinkTank a memorable one.

Chuck Gleason

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