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	August 15th through 21st, 2022

Last week, as temperatures limped back into the mid 70s°F, the northwoods shook off the previous week's weather, stopped shivering, and dove into the deep end without looking. There was golf, swimming, diving, and more skiing than you could shake a tow rope at. All the activity created much soreness in addition to legends, and lore.

On Wednesday evening, the last ski show in front of Waters Edge for 2022 impressed all.

With the sunsets coming earlier with each passing day, it wasn't very sunny by the show's end. It was getting pretty dark when the triple rig was pulled for the season.

After an exhausting week on Lucerne, all eyes turned to Peshtigo Lake just outside Crandon. Footstock, the largest barefoot competition in the world, was set to start on Saturday after a herculean effort by the organizers to prepare the lake, boats, and grounds.

Of the 5 high powered boats, only 1 was fit just before Saturday. The others had issues ranging from buggy electronics to very sick motors. Thanks to an amazing amount of work by the team's engineering group (mostly Troy Bocek), by Saturday morning, 3 wonderfully working watercraft were on the lake with 2 more in the bullpen. Huzzah!

The boats handled the long runs and flattish water with nary a hiccup

Most footers did not seem to have any problems with the flattish water, either.

Just a day before the weekend, weather forecasts called for rain, thunder, lightning, and a plague or two of either frogs or toe eating fish. After which, the bad weather was to start. Saturday turned out to be cloudy, calm, and very footy.

Sunday was even better. By the final run on Sunday it was clear that the weathermen need a new deck of tarot cards or something.

The skill of the competition and the flatness of the water made for some long runs.

Many runs went well over 4 full figure eights.

The carcasses of many an exhausted footer were pulled from the cold water or just allowed to drift away after particularly long runs that featured the un-young.

Some of the extremely talented would rest a foot. Or arm. Or both, during really long runs.

The disaster of losing a one handed grip while resting or repositioning the other hand was suffered by at least one athlete.

The food, atmosphere, and amazing feats of footness are all good reasons to attend this event, but the crashes can be worth the price of admission alone. Being a participant in the crash, not so much.

Even the winners can kick up a spray of water at the end.

That second water spray is often accompanied by a jet of elation.

Many crashes on Sunday were in or around Chetek Corner.

As a picture taking guy, it's particularly satisfying to catch the feet in the air before the spray.

Catching a toe, leaning too far forward, or roller issues? I didn't ask.

While good for loosening the bones and increasing the sales of Ibuprofen, cartwheeling is not recommended.

In the end it's all about the love of the sport, respect for the competition, and the two sisters that took first and second place in the women's division.

Which brings us to this year's legend and lore part of Footstock 2022. During one Sunday run, a stepped off ski flipped just right and dove into the lake, sticking into the weeds and lake bottom for a few minutes.

No one realized this as the pick up boat searched the step off area in vain. After a few minutes, it popped up.

Unfortunately, it surfaced just as the skiers were rounding the bottom of an eight, heading right for it.

Quick thinking, or a frantic radio message, had the boat driver steer closer to the top course marker. A damaged ski or worse, a damaged foot was avoided.

On Sunday, the sky above Footstock 2022 got a lot more eagley.

After the last section of dock and the final boat was pulled from Lake Peshtigo, the Hodag Water Shows had their last performance for 2022 on the shore of Boom Lake in Rhinelander. We really liked it.

Back off the water, the NCC golf course is in great condition.

The water hazards are really full and skierless for the most part.

Sunsets have been good all week with the weekend's being the best.

All that sun and footing seems to be good for the milkweed pod crop on the north end of Lucerne.

There's still a few events left in the Summer and all the swimming, diving, and Rafto that will fill the gaps between them. All the un-rain during the weekend has the lake level falling again, but it should hold up high enough to get them boats mostly off lifts through Labor Day. Mostly. The lake temperature seems to be hovering around 72°F +/- 2°F depending on the direction of the wind. That's plenty warm for those last season ski runs or dives. We haven't checked on the state of the thermocline since July when it was at about 25 feet and 39°F (yes, 39°F! It was really cold down there!), but are planning to revisit it as soon as the dive shop fills our tanks.<br><br><br>-Nemo likes the water flat and the sky eagley.

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