State of affairs

[Tobias_Neumann]

Sorry for bringing this up (again) but I´d like to understand the current state of affairs in wakeboarding/wakeskating. Since I live on the other side of the pond (atlantic) and have only been into wakeskating two years I don´t really understand the current scene.

A few basic questions:
. What have LF and HL done to get such a bad rep. here ? If it wasn´t for them it´d be almost impossible to get a wakeboard outside the US (at least a couple of years ago).
. Are these companies that evil ? the Walmart of watersports ?
. Cassette is growing bigger and bigger. Will they suffer the same fate as LF/HL if they grow too big ? Skaters seems to really take on this cred. thing where you only support small and "unknown" companies and when they make it big they.re not all that cool anymore. I´m NOT saying that LF/HL are making better or worse skates than integrity/cassette/kampus. Thats only a matter of personal preference.

Please fill me in as I´d really like to know. Also, the way some people speak of Parks Bonifay, I get the feeling that they think he´s overrated.

Please refrain from phrases like " X is gay and X is cool". I really like the thought of rider owned companies and I´m going to support this scene by buying an Intergrity this year. Still I´m happy with my Catalyst board. I guess, in the land of the blind the one-eyed is King.


All the best


Tobias

[SleuCrew]

I will try to shed some light on this for you as best i can.

LF and Hype are owned by Kent Sports, who also has bought up many other companies that were owned and founded by riders. Kent sports has pretty much turned the wake sports market into one giant monopoly. Their main objective is to make money... Alot of these companies were originally founded by good people who were more interested in having fun and enjoying wakeboarding and not trying to capitalize on a market... even though when this first started there was not much of a market in the first place.

To top it off Hype has been pretty blatant in stealing other peoples designs and then shoving out a cheap rendition of the original design and calling it "innovative" Just talk about the things Hype has done to deceive people could go on for hours.

As far as people standing up for rider owned companies. In my opinion its a great thing, people are taking a stand against the business man in a suit who only really cares about making a profit from you. VS. someone who is doing this because they love the sport and want to share the fun of wakeskating and want to offer a QUALITY product that was built by someone who's first priority is not making a quick buck.

Everybody has their own opinion on this subject, some people just dont care or just dont understand. But unlike wakeboarding, wakeskating is still very young and has alot of room to grow and really has the opportunity to be shaped and directed by the riders and not just the people with all the money. This is the beautiful thing about wakeskating and i think its very positive that people are taking a stand for what they believe in and want some say in their own scene... Because right now its totally up to us.

Cassette is the biggest rider owned company, Thomas has worked hard for what he has and stayed true to what he believes in. He also does have a finical backer for his funding for Cassette to be so large, but he runs his company his way and is allowed to... To him its not so much about money as it is wakeskating, not to say that he dosent care about money because we all have to think about it in some way so that we can support our companies and put food in our mouths. I believe that no matter what size Cassette is along with any other Rider owned and operated co. that people will support it as long as they stay true to wakeskating.

So what it comes down to really is spend your hard earned money where you want, but if you believe in the sport and care what happens to it you will support one of the great companies that is producing high quality boards that were built from blood sweat and tears, or some guy in china for 6 cents a hour so that some guy in the US can capitalize on what it popular and buy himself a new Ferrari.

Sorry for the book, hopefully this will give you a better understanding on what you are seeing so much of.

[JamesBoardr]

does kent sports own any of the other companies like obrien, HO, or CWB?

[Greg T]

Yes.

[JamesBoardr]

so kent sports is basically herb's big monopoly on watersports?

[BillyOLDS]

yeah kent sports is the main owner of the industry but i still will support LF. they have still been doing their own thing and not ripping others off other than that vision sk8 graphic.

in my opinion kent sports sux but we do need them. like for contests that their companies sponcor there is ussually prize money and swag and lots of good free stuff and they put on the show. so to keep a sport going you need riders to make some what of a living to be able to ride.

[SleuCrew]

headhuntermx4, I agree, i do think there needs to be a balance for the sport to continue its progression. I have always liked the guys at LF and they definitely are not taking on the practices of HL even though they are owned by Kent.

Hopefully wakeskating will not follow the path of wakeboarding and we can create a balance of control in the sport... and not just let the guys with the big dollars determine what is or is not the direction of wakeskating.

You can have good without the bad...

[kento911]

JamesBoardr, not herbs, they own herbs shizzle too

headhuntermx4, I agree, I think that for now atleast we need alarger co. to support the events, but I reall ythink we need the smaller co.s to maintain the heart of the industry, alot of people dont agree withthe politics of some of the smaller co.s but atleast they stand for somethin gbesides profit I respect a mans heart even if I dis agree with his views