Wakeboarding
Chasing Parks Bonifay's 'Heli Toe'
Inside the mind of Parks Bonifay in the weeks leading up to the big moment.
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The 42-year-old Floridian could ski before he could walk. From wakeboards to barefooting, four decades later Parks Bonifay still sets the bar for tricks of the trade.
In 2022, Bonifay was still buzzing after acing his “Barefoot to Miami” project to hype Formula 1’s coming-out party in South Florida. Prior to the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, he headed to Seminole Indian Reserve and barefooted in an alligator infested canal while being pulled by a rope attached to the Oracle Red Bull Racing machine of Sergio "Checo" Pérez.
Parks Bonifay
© Bryan Soderlind
After riding—and one-footing his way to a personal-high speed of nearly 70 miles-per-hour—could any stunt top Bonifay’s surreal Everglades experience?
“With Red Bull, they are all about helping us push the limits of our sports,” Bonifay said. “As athletes, they always encouraged us to try to come up with the thing that visually hasn't been done or seen yet.”
When the Red Bull athlete returned to the Miami International Autodrome for the race a month later, a chance encounter with aerobatic pilot Aaron Fitzgerald—of The Flying Bulls—sparked Bonifay’s imagination. Fitzgerald, 51, an ATP-rated helicopter pilot, not only performs aerobatics at air shows but works extensively in film and television production.
The pair spent time together spitballing the possibilities in the Energy Station during the F1 race. With the Red Bull Air Force helicopter pilot in his camp, the sky was the limit for Bonifay.
Parks Bonifay
© Bryan Soderlind
“What Aaron does in a helicopter—the loops and stuff—is just amazing,” Bonifay said. “It's amazing stuff and he has like a crazy following. So I wanted to combine stuff that I love to do and kind of intertwined with like with what Aaron does. So that's where we came up with the idea.”
Over the next two years and with a bit of feasibility testing, the script began to take shape. Bonifay has incorporated a helicopter into his production before. Jumping out of the helicopter to start the sequence is an addition to his repertoire.
“We're going to combine a couple of disciplines on the water,” Fitzgerald said. “We're going to have some helicopter flying. We're going to have some barefoot water skiing and some combinations of the two.
Parks Bonifay
© Bryan Soderlind
“I think Parks is going to transfer from the line behind the boat, from a regular ski rope to the skid of the helicopter and then possibly back again. And we might even mix in some helicopter aerobatics in there.”
Bare-handing the skids (the tubes below the helicopter or landing gear) for his tow instead of using a rope takes tremendous strength and agility. Timing the 20-to-30-foot jump and angle out of the helicopter to execute the ride presents an additional challenges.
“Traditionally, you would barefoot behind a boat, that’s like traditional water skiing,” Bonifay said. “I'm going about 45 miles an hour behind a boat—with no water skis, no wakeboard—fast enough to where I can just like pretty much glide on the water in my bare feet.
Parks Bonifay
© Bryan Soderlind
“What we're going to do is the chopper is going to pretty much come up and I'm going to try to transfer from the from the boat and the rope to the helicopter and barefoot underneath the helicopter.”
The transition alone is “pretty remarkable and pretty crazy,” admits Bonifay, who has successfully flipped out of helicopters from the 50-foot range. Pulling off the feat while the helicopter is flying forward at 40 to 50 miles per hour complicates the task.
“If you jump in the water at the angle that you jump off a cliff or just drop straight off of a from underneath the helicopter then you could possibly get hurt,” Bonifay said. “So it's a unique kind of entry into the water from about 20 feet up going about 40 or 50 miles an hour. You could hurt some ribs on that one.
“It takes a wild idea like that and a hell of a pilot like Aaron to even try to execute this.”
Parks Bonifay
© Bryan Soderlind
While Bonifay was born into the family business, Fitzgerald, carved his own path.
“There was never a conscious decision made,” said Fitzgerald, who earned his pilot’s license following a stint in the Army. “It's what I knew I wanted my whole life. Transitioning into it was hard. I didn't have any family support. I didn't know anyone in aviation.
“So I really had to kind of fight and work my way in over a number of years. And I did that, but I did it happily because I was working toward a goal. It's the only true goal I've ever really had from a professional standpoint. It’s the only thing I ever wanted to do.”
After 30 years of flying, navigating a helicopter is second nature to Fitzgerald. As comfortable as Bonifay is in the water, the Wenatchee, Washingtonian feels as one within the cockpit.
Parks Bonifay
© Bryan Soderlind
“The helicopter becomes an extension of your body and of your mind,” Fitzgerald said. “So I'm able now to concentrate on the maneuvers and not so much on the helicopter. I’m almost able to express myself flying instead of the mechanical operation of the machine.
“It's more like a creative experience where I can kind of make the helicopter do what I want without really thinking about it.”
Bonifay has selected the perfect backdrop for his performance, Sun West Mines in Pasco County, Fla., north of Tampa. The former limestone quarry provides a stage of fluorescent blue water for the pair to execute their maneuvers.
Parks Bonifay
© Bryan Soderlind
“It's fresh water and it's like Kool-Aid blue,” Bonifay said. “Visually, it's going to look amazing out there. It's my buddy's piece of property. He’s allowed us to do crazy stunts through the years.
“This is definitely the biggest project that we're going to do out there. But the lake is just immaculate. It looks amazing on camera.”
Bonifay hopes Mother Nature will cooperate by offering calm winds next week. As a precaution, they have scheduled three days for the shoot. Bonifay will make a wet run off his home dock this week to test his aero package. The “dress rehearsal’ involves selecting the perfect fitting of his life jacket paired with his signature bright attire.
“Traditionally you would wear like a barefoot suit which is padded,” Bonifay said. “It helps you slide on the water. I'm going to try to keep it as colorful as I can. So I'm going to be in board shorts and a t-shirt and open my jacket and then another t-shirt on top of that.
“The drag alone when you're starting in the water, the drag from those things compared to the barefoot suit could be like a lot more severe. And that's kind of the variable that I'm like kind of worried about and kind of questioning.”
Safety is paramount to Bonifay and Fitzgerald. They have weighed out the variables and tested each theory on paper and with trial runs.
“If everyone comes out safe and we get some cool images, that's a win for us,” Bonifay said. “Then, I’ll probably drop back into the water from a relatively high altitude and then he'll just maybe flip off into the sunset or something.
“But actually, I hope I get to ride in the chopper with them and actually do a flip, do a roll with them. That would be pretty crazy.”
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