Look at what I can do.

There's no chance I'll be going pro anytime soon, but still…not bad for a first attempt at barefoot waterskiing. While on Spring Break, I went with my daughters and some friends to the World Barefoot Center in Winter Haven Florida. Several of the guys with the Backwater Gamblers train there and told me--having ZERO experience, this would be the best place to learn.

I'd heard that skiers from all over the world come there to learn and sharpen their skills. What I didn't know prior to jumping into the water was that the 2 guys teaching us are the best in the world. Literally. David Small and Ben Groen were our instructors and had just finished placing first and second at the World Barefoot Competition in Australia. A fair analogy would be signing up to learn how to snowboard and a guy walks up to you and says "Hi, I'm Shaun White…I'll be teaching you how to snowboard today." In other words, if I couldn't pull this off, it wasn't because the teachers didn't know what they were doing!

Not a problem, fortunately!

Trust me, it's harder than it looks:

To see how it's REALLY done, watch these: