Barefoot Skiing

Barefoot skiing is water skiing behind a motorboat without the use of water skis, commonly referred to as "barefooting". Barefooting requires the skier to travel at higher speeds than conventional water skiing.

Barefoot water skiing originated in Cypress Gardens, Florida. Dick Pope Jr., on March 6, 1947, was the first recorded person to ever barefoot, though some believe the first person to do it was A. G. Hancock. By 1950, the first barefoot competition was held in Cypress Gardens. Throughout the 1950s, many other start techniques were invented including the two-ski jump out, the beach start and the deep water start. By 1961, a whole new aspect of the sport, backwards barefooting, was added by Randy Rabe by stepping off a trick ski backwards.

Meanwhile, the Australians were developing the sport further. In April 1963, the first national competition was held in Australia, complete with 38 competitors. The Australians were the first to develop barefoot jumping, one of the three events in modern barefoot competition, as well as pioneer many new tricks. In November 1978, the first world championships were held in Canberra, Australia, where 54 skiers competed for a total of 10 different countries. The Australians blew away the competition with maneuvers almost unheard of. Brett Wing and Colleen Wilkinson captured the World titles for men and women, respectively.