March 25, 2009

Now That We're Back, Let's See What's Gone Down

Before we get started up with features & reviews again, let's catch up over tea about what's happened in our industry in the last 58 days. Gosh - 58 days without this site had to have been the most trying of times for you, dear readers, and all jokes aside I apologize. It stinks that the site was down for that long but I have supreme confidence in my new provider, their uptime, and the bottom line is that you won't see the site go down like that again.

So. What has happened? Quick hit style here.

1. 1080's are still going down quite a bit. While I'm loathe to say that they're not newsworthy events, I'm actually more astounded at the fact that so many different athletes are putting down 1080's than the fact that they keep happening by Rusty and Danny. And as a sidenote - the talk of Danny's 1260 being the only one for awhile (some cite the 1999-2008 gap between Parks' 10 and Danny's - and that's utter garbage). Have you seen Aaron Rathy's 10's? That guy could stick a 12 tomorrow and I would certainly post about it, but not hold my hands in my head in amazement like I did when I saw Danny's 1080 footage from 2006. In other words I'd be impressed but not falling out of my chair and into a fetal position claiming that wakeboarding progression needs nothing further from any athlete ever again.

2. While we're on the subject of Aaron Rathy, while trying to shed talk of overconfidence/cockiness, is just slaying the wakeboarding scene. I saw a clip recently where he sticks an obscenely clean 1080 and starts his 50 Cent inspired stare down at the camera at about the 990 mark. And you know what? if I were that good I wouldn't put that sort of thing past me. I remember being that young - and I had that phase. Except my Fiddy-Cent stares came after a killer wrapped wake-to-wake 3 and not one of the most elusive tricks in our sport. And I wasn't staring at a HD camera lens, I was staring at a bass fisherman who probably couldn't have given a shit.

3. The Red Bull Wake Lab event seemed to be a phenomenal success - both in terms of pushing the boundaries of our sport and giving it excellent exposure. Exposure in Orlando where arguably is needs it the least - but I digress. The setup looked like something out of a videogame.

4. Boat Show attendance was low this year, boat show boat purchases were down year over year and dealers, by some anecdotal accounts, are sitting on unsettlingly large amounts of 2008 stock. I'm kind of getting sick of hearing that X dealership in X county in X state is sitting on X number of leftover 2008 X-Stars. I know a good way to move these boats - sell them for what they are really worth.

5. Parks Bonifay is having a documentary made about him and it sounds like it is coming together quite well, meanwhile Collin Harrington's "Box of Fun" video really seems like it is going to deliver.

6. The internet's Kevin Fleischmann remains the biggest tool bag that our community has to offer. I don't call people out but really you can't find a guy who's more likely to collect a heap of garbage and dog poo, set it on your internet porch, light it on fire, and run away like a misdirected tween. My wishes for him: diapers, and a conscience. Over the years this infant has asked me for logos and other assets, advice - which I've happily given him. At one point I even gave him admin privileges on The2001.com - but this is a guy that will take an olive branch, snap it while you watch and then try to smoke it. Forget trust - go with run when it comes to this man-baby.

7. Epic released an industry-breakthrough Hybrid revision of its 23ft wake boat. Who knows where this technology will take us, but I like that it is being investigated. My guess is that other companies will follow suit.

8. MasterCraft has released a 30ft model, called the MasterCraft 300. While we're tipped our hats at the MasterCraft CSX line of boats, the 300 confuses me entirely.

9. Much to my surprise, the Correct Craft 226 was not discontinued due to product cannibalism from the Crossover 216v and Super Air Nautique 220, and looks to be a pretty impressive offering.

10. N3 Boatworks made an all black or "murdered out" Super Air Nautique for promotional purposes for a boat show and the Internet's head exploded. It's one of the most incredible examples of custom work since the Byerly Icon Edition.

More soon. Big feature coming, but I want to get a few quick-hits out to you immediately. Thanks for passing by.

Posted by erik