As a key member of the Brazos Barefoot Club, this tournament was a lot of work.  I would like to start by thanking the following Brazos Barefoot Club members for their help:

Scott Damuth, Phillip Damuth, Mike Brasher, Tim Chonody, Debbie Lewis, and Colt Mahan.

Also, as you tournament skiers know, it takes a tremendous amount of help from others to make a successful event.  Thanks to all the judges, drivers, and scorers, and thanks to the pick-up boat drivers, promo-boat owners, and safety personnel.  You know who you are and we appreciate you.  And finally, thanks to the people of Mustang Canyon. They worked hard for us breaking down their courses and setting them back up.

Mustang Canyon is awesome. It is a private club geared mostly toward three-event skiing, but they do have a show ski team and some footers.  It is located between downtown Dallas and DFW airport.  The site is a damned up creek that has groomed banks all the way down the shoreline. They have a huge deck in the center of the run that sits nice and high for a great view.  The lake is nice and long for a casual setup for your runs.  The Mustang Canyon Club is considering teaming up with the Brazos Barefoot Club to bring the National Championships to Dallas.  The site is perfect for a big event. There is plenty of parking, a nice hillside for spectators, awesome water conditions, and it’s 5 minutes from the best hotels and restaurants in the metroplex. So stay tuned.

The event was a great success. We had 49 competitors which is great for our region.  I heard that the Midwest Regionals had 96 competitors.  WOW!  Nationals is going to be huge, since it’s in the Midwest this year.  We had skiers from Boys 1 all the way to Men 6, as well as Women I and Women III.  Many skiers had personal best performances. For the results click here. The only crazy thing that happened was a dust devil popped up right in the middle of the site.  I was in the hole on my trick runs, while the boat was turning around I noticed papers and tents flying in the air.  They radioed us to hold up while some swimmers tried to recover papers, raffle tickets, and money that blew into the water.  No one was injured, but we did lose a couple of hundred dollars. I guess we "poured money into the site".

The banquet was held at a Mexican restaurant close by called Mercado Jaurez. The food was great and the margaritas were even better.  BarefootCentral.com sponsored the raffle, which means we raised all of the prizes and made the presentation at the banquet.  Prizes included B.I. ropes and handles, Intensity wetsuits, a gold necklace with gold feet, and even a SkyJac Extended pylon.  All the money raised from the raffle was donated to the South Central Region.  We raised $1200. Next year BarefootCentral.com is going to sponsor a raffle for the region that supports us most over the year in memberships and equipment sales.  Barefoot Central is all about giving back to the sport.

BarefootCentral.com also set up a makeshift Pro Shop and sold Intensity & US Gear equipment (wetsuits, board shorts, handles & ropes) at greatly reduced prices.

And you can't come to Texas without eating awesome Barbeque and seeing some great sites on the shoreline.  All in all a great weekend. See you at Nationals!