February 06, 2007

The Wakeboard Report's Topics That Never Made It...

This weekend we were doing some cleanup work on this site and on The2001.com. During this time, I noticed that The Wakeboard Report now has 70 individual stories! "Wow!", I said to myself, and then realized a couple of these stories are in draft mode still. It is safe to say that many these stories will not ever actually be posted so in memory of their passing into the delete folder, I wanted to list them and apologize for not alleviating my writers block more swiftly, and where appropriate I have addressed what may still make it to the site, and what won't. The actual working titles are used below.

Big Fan of CorrectCraftFan
The Wakeboard Report just came into possession of a 1971 Correct Craft Southwind (which was headed for the big lake in the sky within a matter of weeks) and the first place we went for information was CorrectCraftFan. It turns out that we already have a support network built up on CorrectCraftFan and the restoration work that my Dad and I will be doing will be well documented there, and of course, here. We still may post this as a full story, because despite running some very old technology, that forum has some users with absolutely amazing knowledge of restoring old boats, and in identifying key milestones in restoration projects in general. In an attempt to capture some market share, I registered correctcraftfanfan.com and plan to live off of the ad proceeds at some point in the future.

Time Magazine Names The Wakeboard Report's Readers and Commenters as 'Person of the Year'
I decided against posting this because every blogger in the world was kissing up in the exact same way the week that particular issue of Time magazine was released. The cynical tech industry deemed it a massive blunder and thus I decided to not cover this. I do wish you folks would comment more though. I see a lot of inbound traffic - but the comments are lacking. I have thick skin, and I do appreciate the feedback. So please comment - even negative comments are appreciated (if the comment is negative I usually stop crying within 45 minutes).

Me vs a Scammer!
I was hot on the trail of a blue & white 1994 Sport Nautique that had me up late, pacing back and forth in my back yard and consulting my Dad at strange hours of the day. It turns out that the scammer not only had massive guts posting this eBay auction no less than 5 times, on no less than 5 hijacked accounts; but he/she was also brazen enough to exchange about 10 emails with me on the matter. Of course this was before I discovered that this was indeed a scam (and an extremely tempting one for me personally). I decided not to post the full story and email transcripts, in the off chance that Sport Nautique selling scammers are also axe murderers.

The Top 10 Reasons to Like the Malibu 247
I so wanted to post this one; people are just wild about Top 10 lists these days. I love that Malibu 247 and managed to obtain about 15 hi-res photos of the boat, but then I got into an argument with one of the employees associated with that particular dealership and decided not to post the pictures, or the story. I still love that boat though and would appreciate hi-res photos of it from people that don't participate in internet forum badgering and trouble making. You know where to send them.

Zane Schwenk Gives Us an Update About the Master Craft CSX 220
I have 67 minutes of audio where Zane Schwenk and I catch up 6 months after the big kickoff of the Master Craft CSX 220 (it was recorded in September). We talk about the CSX 220 and he gives me the run down on where the boat stands in terms of production, plans for release and how the boat will be marketed; plus a few pointers on my terribly inconsistent frontside backroll. I have been too busy with work to transcribe this interview as text & html, and despite how appropriate this would be as The Wakeboard Report's first Podcast, I hate the sound of my voice and you will too. This one is still going to happen - it was a great interview with one of the sport's best ambassadors. It will be posted as soon as the sport's laziest journalist has a free span of 3 hours to transcribe the mp3.

The Resale Value of the Ski Nautique 2001 vs Me
I managed to get into a smattering of trouble for some comments I made regarding the resale value of the Ski Nautique 2001. I own and operate The2001.com and believe that the Ski Nautique 2001 is one of the best wakeboarding platforms ever made, even if it was an accident. That is why I push the benefits of buying one over an entry-level I/O runabout, and assert that the boat creates a wakeboarding wake that puts certain ultra-expensive wakeboard-specific boats to shame. But someone recently paid about $16,000 for a 1988 Ski Nautique 2001 and I nearly fainted. On behalf of future buyers and sellers of this boat, let's get something straight: Yes they are amazing entry level boats. But $16,000 is not an entry level price, and the boat cost $16,500 20 years ago! Like I tell a lot of people, if you know what you can spend, seek the chart. Nobody should spend that much on a Ski Nautique 2001. I don't care if it was dipped in platinum by the previous owner. Ok - maybe if it was dipped in platinum, but only if you scrape the platinum off and buy a Correct Craft Crossover 236 or Malibu 247 with those valuable platinum shavings.

The Wakeboard Report Opinion-Fest 2006
That pretty much explains this entire site! I might as well just change the tagline to this and make things more simple. Anyway - this one is headed for the delete bin, for sure.

Wakesiderides.com, Forgive Me Please
They forgave me. The reinstated my account. I pulled this story down.

Wake Boat Companies and their Non-Wakeboarder Sponsorships. Hmmpf.
This one is old. We saw that Chad Reed got a shiny new Centurion. We wept as we read the press release about Ricky Carmichael's status as a newly minted Correct Craft (motocross) rider. We just think this is all very weird. How about some cross promotion love over here too! If given the opportunity, I know that I could sell a few boats a year at least. While a wakeboarding industry blog may not seem at first glance a grooming ground for the next member of a Promotional Team (that would garner us a promo boat. Say - a Correct Craft Crossover 236) I am sent questions on various boat models and field a few technical questions on new boat purchases every week. I know of several boat purchases that I tipped one way over another. Anyway, I don't make the news quite as often as say - Ricky Carmichael, but it has happened. Once. But go to Google and search for a few random boat models. Guess who turns up pretty high on some of those searches?

And there you have it. The pile of shame that remain in draft mode on The Wakeboard Report. Again some of these will be extended into full stories, but most of them are being deleted within moments of posting this blog entr... oops... they are already gone.

Posted by erik