Veterans and “newbies” enjoy the fun and footin’ at the Silverado Barefoot Challenge

By Doug Jordan

The 2020 Silverado Barefoot Challenge was held July 10-12, looking back it should have been called the 2020 Silverado COVID Challenged?

The tournament this year was the 28^th annual event!  Great weather water, Great skiing, and Great food, but most important were the friendships which I cherish the most!

We hosted skiers from Washington, California, Montana, and Oregon with over 250 years of combined tournament experience. The weather was good for July in the NW and the water was perfect for some world-class performances!

Here are some of the highlights:

Paul Klutz, a new skier, competed in his first barefoot tournament with a slalom score of almost 6 points.  Nice job! I hear he has a toe-up in the works and a back trick pass.

Joe Lovato scored 18.0 (9+9) in his first round of slalom and backed it up again in the second round with another 18.0 (8.8 +9.2) .  Back to back 18.0’s, I guess it pays to ski on your home site, behind your own boat, with your favorite boat driver!

William P Farrell never disappoints, at the tender age of 64, 11 months and 3 weeks, Willie put on a turn clinic of 540’, 720’s, and scored close to 5000.   Impressive performance!  Thanks for allowing us to celebrate your milestone birthday early! Your one of my hero’s

Jeff Waterfall’s performance is a great comeback story!!, In his first tournament in more than six years, Jeff put in a couple of excellent slalom passes but the highlight for me had to be the back to front during his trick pass? It was beautiful!

Vicki Klein had a PB in tricks with a score of 600 and there were so many other great performances.

Check out all of the results HERE.

In closing, putting on tournaments is a team effort!  A big thanks to my wife Dianne and her sister Darla for the World-class lunches and dinners, Brian Heeney (the best Chief Judge a guy could ask for!) Jerry Kanawyer for being the Chief Scorer, Willie for being Chief Safety (Keeping us all safe) and the Lovato’s for The Blue Sanger!

Also, I like to take a minute to thanks everyone who came for their hard work and friendship.