The morning of FOF 5 started out as Garrett Cortese and I show up to Crazy Kelman’s house 10 minutes before the event co-ordinator himself, Mr. Danny Amir, or as you know him, Dan-O. We exit the car only to be greeted by what sounds like a gunshot. As we slowly creep away from the car scared of what we may discover we find Crazy Kelman standing on the boat dock just a few feet away from a blazing fire on the surface of clear lake somewhere around 25 feet in diameter; A great way to kick of the 5th anniversary of the best contest in wakeboarding; Feet On Fire!

 

The contest kicked off right around 11 AM as we took our caps off and paid our respects to the country we love, The USA. Dan-O took lead on the mono-toned National anthem as the American competitors backed him up. Due to the heavy volume of Australian competitors in the event Dean Smith decided to share the Australian national anthem with us as well: In my past personal experiences it was an industry first for both National anthems at a wake event.

 

For a first time visitor to Feet on Fire it may be hard to tell whether or not Feet on Fire was actually a barefoot contest or simply just a cool shirt competition. The amount of custom shirts at Feet on Fire this year was at an all time high. From tank tops to tie die’s with custom lettering to straight up shirts designed for girls but worn by boys, there was some seriously awesome stuff happening in the clothing department on Clear Lake last Tuesday.

 

With 32 total competitors the footin’ started around noon time after everyone had the opportunity sip a few beverages off of the complementary kegs provided by newly legal drinker Adam Errington. It was the same format as always, Head to head rounds and whoever can last the longest moves to the next round. There were several competitors at this years event who had just learned to foot so it was quite entertaining to witness some of the crashes and interesting start techniques. We saw everything from bomb drop starts to kneeboards, wakesurfers to one-handers and the most famous of all, the beer chug slalom ski step off.

 

The highlight of the day was by far the round of Bob Soven vs. JD Webb. JD, a past FOF champion as defeated by young gun Bob Soven in one of the biggest upsets of the day. Picture this; The two riders make the first turn of the figure 8 pattern and both faceplant when they hit the rollers. However, Bob Soven continues to grip the handle after a 40 MPH faceplant, drags on his back and tumbles back to his feet! I thought it was cool when I learned a tumble turn on the wakeboard at 20 mph, I can only imagine that this was the greatest move Bob Soven has ever pulled in his years behind a boat.

 

Other Highlights from the day included the killer lightning storm while hanging out on the dock near Kelmans Metal Robot Tower which had apparently been struck the day before, Zane Schwenk’s Two wake 40 mph double ski jump to barefoot landing, and the fact that everyone was completely faced jut in time for Chipotle to show up with complimentary Burrito’s.

And the Winner is…

 

SHAWN WATSON! Watson is like a silent assassin in the world of barefooting. He foot-skied four flawless rounds through a total of 5 roller sets without falling once…Check an upcoming issue of “The Dustpan” to find out Just what it took to pull it off.

 

Dan-O and crew would like to thank Crazy Kelman, Tige Boats, Monster Energy Drinks, Chipotle Burrito’s, and of coarse, Adam Errington for their continued support in this one of a kind event!