State of the industry update . . . . .

Most of you don't know me because I've been off the group for a couple of
years, but I was a frequent poster for a while. Lots'a new names on here (I
hope that's a good thing) and a few old familliar ones. . . . . .

Anyway . . . . .I wrote a big long rant one time Titled " State of the
industry "" or somthing like that. In which I went on and on with my
opinion about why PWC's as a hoby were NOT dying out as the Industry figures
seemed to show. My contention was that just because sales figures were down
didn't mean that the sport was declining.

I felt that it indicated four things:
1.) All the manufacturers were offering at that time was basically last
years model . .re-stickered

2.) The market was saturated and everyone was at the lake riding what they
already owned, instead of being down at the dealership looking at what
they already owned, just with new graphics !

3.) It takes a while to "wear the new" off of a watercraft, that is to say,
to become complacent and start wanting something different. The first
reaction for most guys is Modify It ! Buying and installing a bunch of
goodies and dialing in your combination takes a while so your relationship
with that particular boat will usually continue for a number of years
especially in the colder climates where season is short.

4.) The used market. There has always been those who "got in and got out" of
PWC ownership.Thus making availible barely used ski's availible most of the
time.If you could stand the out of date decals/colors you got everything the
same as a new ski in many cases.

Well, today I got a copy of a new PWC magazine called "Ride" in the mail
and in it I find this:

" PWC Market Rebounding " followed by some dribble from a market research
firm about the "depressed levels between 1998 and 2003" and then some
projections through 2008.
Fair enough, some good research I'm sure but, what it means is that I may
have been right. '98 to '03 easy math, that's five years, about enough time
to get bored with you old ski. Unless your like me, I'm still riding a '95
HX among others. You'll also see a few "square nose" SuperJets competeing
still these days but, I'm getting sidetracked.

The other really big thing that happened in the last couple of those five
years is this:
NEW MODELS ! not new graphics NEW MODELS !

Big beefy three seat performance ski's
Four strokes
Turbo's
"Supersized" stand-ups
and YES, even that new polymorphic kinda "jetmate-blaster-hx-octane-x2"
thingy from SeaDoo !

In other words : OF COURSE SALES ARE UP, THERE'S SOMTHING NEW OUT THERE TO
BUY ! People are not going to flock to the dealer ship to look at what they
already own.

So, it would seem that while the bean counters were all huddled and sweating
the downfall of the watercraft industry. We, the people they'd sold all
those units to during the pre '98 boom, were busy riding, wrenching and
enjoying our perfectly good "old" ski's just waiting for something better to
come along.

I think it's really exciting to see all this new stuff coming out.The four
stroke thing is cool because after about 50 years of HotRodders developing
aftermarket parts for performance cars and road bikes, adapting that
knowledge to fourstroke watercraft engines should be a cake walk ! I'm
really thrilled to see the solid return of the Stand-up to it's rightful
place in the spotlight of the sport. I hope the new Kawi and even the Octane
helps to draw more riders to ranks of those who love stand-ups. Hello,Yamaha
ARE YOU LISTENING ? The Gp800 pv motor in a re-designed SuperJet hull would
be unstoppable ! Hell, I even want to ride one of them SeaDoo thingy's !

Well I guess that's it, I had my say on the subject again.

Support the sport, set the example, and do yourself a favor, Go to The World
Finals in Havasu at least once in your lifetime !

"Crockett