Shakopee, Jordan skiers take part in world record attempt

Shakopee Valley News

At some point, a good amount of humanity has tried to break a world record and make it into the Guinness World Records.

Three skiers from Shakopee and Jordan might have done it.

Timo Harju from Jordan and Tim Fitzgibbons and Paul Snell from Shakopee traveled to Wisconsin on Sept. 10 to join other skiers in an attempt to break the world record for number of barefoot skiers behind one boat.

Jay Hensley from Shakopee was the official photographer.

“They do a big pull every year and try to break the previous year’s record,” Fitzgibbons said.

Last year’s record was 30. The group this year started out with 35, but three fell down along the way, still breaking the world record with 32. The group is also going for the national record, which requires skiers to be upright for five seconds, so 33 skiers would count for that.

For Guinness, the skiers have to travel more than 300 meters.

The barefoot skiers start out with two skis. After the boat accelerates a bit, they can spread out and take off one. When the boat reaches around 50 miles per hour, a green flag is raised and the skiers are able to take off the remaining ski.

It’s a challenge to “find barefooters that are willing to go that fast,” Fitzgibbons said.

The barefoot skiers came from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida. The large group found each other through the show ski community. The group typically does an event like this each year and is the group who set the world record last year.

“It takes months to prepare,” Fitzgibbons said.

There are certain requirements set by Guinness that must be shown in a video, such as buoys placed every 50 meters. There’s also a weight limit for the skiers at 210 pounds. The more skiers, the more the weight limit drops in order to get more people pulled behind one boat.

The record is pending and could be for up to six months but “will be approved,” Fitzgibbons said.