It is not often that the little state of Maine gets recognized for something on an international level, but Brian Eastman of Windham and his team of barefoot waterskiers have changed that by setting the world record for the most barefoot waterskiers towed behind a single boat.
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| Bran Eastman of Windham was part of a group of 42 barefoot waterskiers towed behind a powerboat who established a new Guinness World Record at Lake Dubay in Wisconsin on Sept. 14. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
Eastman is the youngest of five children and his older siblings were always involved in water sports and that helped foster Eastman’s interest in waterskiing. He learned to waterski when he was 8, has been a barefoot water-skier since he was 16, and has been in and out of the water ever since. As a teenager, Eastman belonged to a local waterski club that staged water skiing shows locally.
His passion for the sport made him want to pursue a career in that field. In 1985, he landed a job at SeaWorld in Orlando. Eastman currently works as a licensed master electrician.
“I think it was the excitement, the adrenaline, that made me want to start,” says Eastman. “The difference between regular waterskiing and barefoot waterskiing is essentially the fact that you are going without skis, but you are instead going on your two bare feet. And in order to go on two feet without skis, you need to go much faster. So, for example, if you are typically going 20 mph with waterskis, then you would be going 40 mph without skis. It is much faster, and you also need to have the correct body posture for it to work. Once you are going, you are on your bare feet skimming across the surface at a much higher speed that regular waterskiing.”
According to Eastman, there is an organization that has been trying to set world waterskiing records since 2015 located in the Wisconsin area, which was initially called “Chain of Records,” and they set out to establish records of a large quantities of people doing different kinds of skiing behind a boat.
This year, it is being promoted as the “Big Pull 2024.”
“I came across their activities when they last did an event like this in 2021,” says Eastman. “I reached out to them saying that if they were ever to do an event like this again, I would be very interested in joining. They reached out to me in April of this year saying that they would try to beat their previous record of 38 barefoot waterskiers.”
At the event, there were 50 barefoot waterskiers chosen to participate from around the country in the lineup, and Eastman was one of those selected.
The event was held on Sept. 14 in Lake Dubay, Wisconsin and Eastman and his wife drove 20-plus hours one way just to get there.
“Last year, they were only able to have 38 people due to horsepower restrictions on the boat,” says Eastman. “They had the biggest boat possible and at the time, that was the most that they could do. The difference this year is that they had a bigger boat and more horsepower, and consequently, the idea was that we could beat that previous record.”
When the record was indeed broken, it was broken as a team, he said.
“It was not just the people on their bare feet who broke the record, it was the boat drivers, the safety personnel, and all the support staff,” says Eastman.
There were waterskiers participating in the “Big Pull 2024” representing five different states, with Eastman being the one who lived the furthest from Wisconsin.
“I am very fortunate to have been chosen,” says Eastman. “I was skiing with the best show skiers in the country, the best of the best.”
There was quite an age gap between the barefoot skiers, with the youngest being 14 years old and the oldest being 65.
“It was quite a spectrum of all age groups, and it was very nice to see that,” Eastman said. “I thought that when I went out there, I would be the oldest guy, but there were at least six other people who were older than myself.”
The “Big Pull” event itself was originally created in 1999 by the Badgerland Water Ski Show Team and Aqua Skiers Water Ski Show Team. It was intended to bring together members of the two teams to attempt the largest waterski pyramid ever with at the time, the only triple rigged waterski boat in existence. Over the years, the event has evolved into a semi-annual event gathering talented members of various waterski teams from across the country to attempt larger and larger records in various waterski disciplines.
Since its inception, a total of 11 different Guinness World Records for waterskiing have been established, including the one Eastman was part of this month. <
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