Eagle1

Very sad news. Andy inspired skiers to push themselves to greater heights and inspired industry leaders to constantly strive to develop better equipment for those skiers. I didn't know Andy well. I only met him a couple times, but being in the industry, you'd feel his presence everywhere. I don't think a week has ever gone by that I haven't had a conversation with someone about Andy's accomplishments on the water or about a new project he was working on off the water. My heart goes out to the Mapple family and the entire watersports community. Some big shoes to fill. C. Gleason

We typically pit the shortbus student against my now 12 yr old daughter Kathryn who can barefoot quite well. She's been in school all week but is looking forward to the weekend. If Kathryn beats them, they have to be her slave for a day. She's been telling him all the things she's going to have him do during that 24 hrs. Nate, on the other hand, is paying her $10 to wash and WAX his truck. I told Kathryn she'll find out how good a deal that was when she's waxing on and waxing off.

BTW, I really appreciate all the posts. Nate's a great sport all around, and yes, he's been giving me slalom tips in return. Unfortunately, there's no video of me skiing. Go figure.

For all you folks that are new to the Freestyle Barefoot scene and old farts who refuse to raise the boom above your knees (LOL!), here's the video Nate watched that inspired him to want to learn an ADV. ADV stands for Andre De Villiers. Andre has invented over 30 new barefoot tricks in the last 5 years and can do them all high, low, shortline and longline. One of my favorite tricks is the suicide hand-plant. See if you can point it out. vimeo.com/38067853

I had to give Nate the morning off today. He's pretty sore. When you see the video of Day 2 you'll understand. Day 2 he learned how to jump in and out of the boat at 42mph, Dolphin starts, Side Slides, more backwards, long-line starts (I was surprised he'd never gotten up long-line before), and long-line wake crossing. That's a lot for one very long set.

Don't worry, we're utilizing the slalom course as well. Most slalom skiers I know don't ski early enough to see water that smooth because of the morning glare from the sunrise. At least Nate tells me he typically doesn't.

He's definately tough. Barefooting is something that you'll get one day and feel like you totally forgot the next. He's a natural at all front tricks. He's never come up long-line before, but as soon as he did, he crosses the wakes like it's no big deal.

Here's the link to the video that recaps Day 1. vimeo.com/92723319

Day one was quite amazing. Nate learned two front toe holds (2 on shoes and 1 on feet). In the same set, he learned backwards on shoes, and by the 2nd set did a back to front. His comment was "It's been a long time since I've been this sore. I'm definitely using muscles I don't use in slalom". Finished with an hour in the hot tub and off for a Mexican dinner. 6 am comes quick and that's also a new thing for him.

It's in your head. The patterns are the same. The silver coating we laminate to the front is a thin rubber to prevent water penetration. It's less flexible than without it and makes the vest feel more snug, so I'm guessing that's what you're feeling. We add room in the pattern to compensate, but what each person feels is different. I get more requests from our promo skiers for that vest than any other vest and they can have any vest they want. We don't deliver to an agent in S. Africa. That's the worst country on the planet to ship to. We have several customers in S.A. that order products from barefootcentral.com due to their discount program. Most South African skiers visit the US once a year, and they'll have the products shipped to their hotels or to friends in the US.

Chad is correct. We offer floatation in 6mil, 9mil, 13mil, and 20 mil. Up until this year, all of our men's vests were 13mil front and 13mil back. Due to the popularity of the Platinum series, which we made 13mil front and 20mil back, I decided that the 2014 line would come standard 13/20. Women's vests have always been 13/20. Shorter & smaller bodies need thicker since they don't have the length. Most top ranked skiers want a vest as light as possible and have never complained about the 13/13. The platinum vests definitely stay the lightest and seem to dry out instantly. Our padding is sewn in so it won't float or move on you even after countless sets. It costs a lot more in labor to sewn each pad like we do. We must first bevel the edge of the foam, then apply an light adhesive strip to keep it in place, and then make sure the sew lines are accurate. Very time consuming! 80% of my cost is labor. Most vest manufacturers sandwich the foam between two layers or neoprene and quickly sew around it. Once the padding flips inside the cavity, it's a pain to get it back into place. We make a lot of custom vests (colors, sizing, and custom padding). Just contact your Eagle dealer and explain what you're looking for and they'll get it into the works for you. We definitely appreciate the support you give us. We're committed to being a US Made manufacturer. ...Chuck

Anyone that would like to watch is welcome. Bring a lawn chair or two and be careful not to park on anyone's lawn.

If you guys visit www.eaglewetsuits.com , you can see the camo vests (male & female versions) that we offer. Then if you don't like the standard color options, you can click and create your own version. There's literally thousands of options. We offer a digi-camo in a barefoot suit, but if someone wants one bad enough, we'll do a digi camo vest. The ladies stock camo is pink based, but can be customized to any color combo. You can spend hours creating your favorite color combination.

Being that it's the 1st year for this event, I wanted to keep it small and have an event that featured the WR Holders. It's so hard to break a WR, I thought it would be nice to have an event just for them. Plus it's the only way I could think to pit Regina against the guys. This is an invitation only event and is no cost to the skiers. If it's a success, I could see opening it up to skiers like Will, TGAS, Whitney, etc who think they could beat them in this format, but everyone would be skiing against the WR. Maybe the WR Holders continue to get in for Free and everyone else has to ante up an entry fee. Winner takes the entry fee pot. Let's see how the first one goes. I really appreciate the support we've received from these skiers themselves and the sponsors (Goode, Nautique, Malibu, and D3). I just wish my old friend Dana Reed was here. He'd love an event like this. He always like the out of the box type stuff.