Keith St. Onge congratulates Seth after his win.  St. Onge took 2nd Place

By Chris Van Zeeland

My trip to the 2007 Blairfoot started out on Wednesday night when I arrived at Keith St. Onge’s house.  Keith was not there but I did get to meet his cousin Swampy. To say that Swampy is a great guy is an understatement. I found out a lot about KSO in a two hour span. Swampy is one of the reasons Keith is the world champion.

Thursday morning I woke up to find a glass calm Lake Conine. Keith and I decided we should train since we both had not skied in a couple of weeks. I went first and skied ten minutes, at that point Keith decided that he was bored and took me back to the dock. Keith then went on a seven minute trick run. I think that might be the next tournament format that we should consider. After skiing we hung out with Swampy and his two dogs, Ranger and Annie. Thursday night my wife flew into Orlando, she was very excited to get a weekend away from our three kids. She also new that we were celebrating her birthday at Disney World on Friday.

Friday started with a great breakfast and then off to Epcot for the food and wine tasting festival. It is some thing we both enjoyed and would highly recommend. That night JJ Link (the Footstock senior champion) stopped over for a happy hour. (which turned into a very happy seven or eight hours) We were lucky that JJ decided to stay the night because the next morning he woke all of us up so we could get to the tournament on time.

Saturday started off Blairfoot Bonanza. This was something new for me. We had to do timed circles with two wake crosses per circle. I made a lot of people happy by only lasting 55 seconds before I fell. I guess that is what happens when you are used to skiing in eights. I should have been upset by that performance but I really wasn’t, I got to see Banana George ski at 92 9/12 years young. The newest phenom to endurance is Seth Frasee, the 13 year did an amazing 21 minutes. This kid will win Footstock someday.

I got to see a lot of friends who I do not normally get to see at the tourny’s in Wisconsin. That afternoon Keith invited Ryan Boyd, Adin Daniker, Dave Slemp, Brian Heatherington and JJ over for another little happy hour. When all you can do is hang on to the rope a long time, like myself, being around these guys could be intimidating. I keep finding out that the more footers you meet, the more you realize that they are all great people who just want to have fun.

Saturday night we went to the banquet for Banana George. We had a great time being around a legend like him. It makes you realize why we do this sport.

Sunday I woke early do to the fact that I did not want to be late. So I get to the site on time and that was probably the best part of my day, I never felt comfortable on the water. Ed Finley put me in the losers bracket my second run of the day (which according to the rules of this tournament is a good thing) I proceeded to win a couple of runs before I ran into the 13 year old powerhouse Seth. My tournament was over all I could do was watch Seth take down some of the best in the sport to become 2007 Blairfoot Bonanza champion.

As I am sitting on here on the plane thinking about how much fun we had, it makes me want to go and learn as much as I can. Three event, figure eight, racing it does not matter. Everyone should be inspired by a 92 year old who never gives up.

This whole wonderful experience would not have been possible without the support of friends and family. A huge thank you goes out to KSO for putting my wife and me up for the weekend. I would also like thank the people who put on the tournament. Without them the tournament would not have been such a huge success. Banana George is a man who will inspire us all for many generations to come. I would also like to thank Barefoot Central and Stoke Sports for believing in me enough to sponsor me.