Question #1:With winter coming on fast, most footers store their boats and gear until their lakes defrost next spring.  What would you recommend doing during the off-season to stay in shape and be prepared to go back on the water in the Spring?

The single best exercise for keeping you in shape during the off season and to best  prepare you to go back on the water in the Spring is the rowing machine, because it uses the same exact muscles as when you ski.  Did you know that World Ski Jump Champion and Record holder Wayne Grimdich was invited to compete in the SuperStars competition.  Superstars is a big sports event televised on major TV. They have the best athletes in different sports compete in all around sports like weightlifting, rowing,  and many others to see who is the most well rounded athlete of all the different sports.  Wayne blew everyone else away in the rowing event because his muscles were well trained for rowing from all the waterskiing he does.  He not only blew everyone away in the rowing event, he also won the overall
event and became the Superstar champion that year.

And don't forget!  Make sure you come to my ski school in sunny South Florida as much as you can. 

We have great water conditions year round.

Question #2:There have been a lot of rumors flying around about Waterski magazine thinking about dropping Barefoot articles from the magazine.  Their one paragraph review of the 2000 Worlds was a slap in the face for all footers.  What are your opinions about why this sport can't seem to grow and what things do you think need to change to help it?

Barefooting will never die.  I have no idea why Waterski would consider dropping barefooting.  Maybe they don't plan to continue the article with Ron &  Peter where they show only their head shots and had a Coach's Corner where Ron & Peter answer most of the questions.  I think they will still cover barefooting in their magazine, it just may be presented in a different format.  I don't think they will completely drop all barefooting since barefooting on the recreational level is as big as it has ever been.  We are selling as much or more barefoot equipment as we ever have.  On the competitive level, it is seeing a little lull, but it is coming back.  I think many of the people who compete in barefooting are happy to see it stay a small thing where everyone knows each other when they go to the tournaments. Like a happy little family or social group.

To help it grow, everyone needs to teach everyone they can how to barefoot in the EasyFooter using the right techniques that I show in the video that comes with the EasyFooter.  This way people can learn without the hard falls and bad habits.  Barefooting in the EasyFooter is so much fun that anyone who learns will become addicted to the fun and feeling of it.  Most people will want to just barefoot in the EasyFooter because they know they cannot fall and get hurt and it doesn't take as much strenght to do it.  Then those who want to advance faster and become better barefooters find that if they start in the EasyFooter, and learn good technique and position, they will learn new tricks much easier and will have much more confidence on the water.We also must me willing to try new things.  I really like the idea of the video tournament on Barefoot Central.  It will give people all over the world the ability to see and learn more about barefoot tournaments.  It would also be great to get television coverage on channels such as  ESPN, but getting it on ESPN at 2 am doesn't help much.  The internet gives people access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  If I was still footing, I would be out shooting my video right now.

Thanks, Mike Seipel

Visit Mike Seipel's web site at www.barefootinternational.com