Promo Boat Tournament Credit........Opinion Please

[Horton]

@LoopSki there has not been an official announcement.

 

They paid USAWS the required fee so the Centurions that already exist are still approved tournament boats.

 

They got pretty far along on the R&D process and hit a snag. Schedules or resources are tight so they back burnered the project. There will not be any Carbon Pro Supremes this year but there is hope that the boat could be back in 2019 or 2020.

[Ilivetoski]

@horton If that is the case dealers have not been told that as of a week and a half ago. Supreme dealer in KY is trying to get one to bring to the southern regionals... maybe they just hadn’t given her that info yet but they did not tell her that there was not going to be any production this year

[Horton]

@Ilivetoski

There are 2018 model year Centurion Carbon Pros out there. I do not know how many were built but they were built in calendar year 2017. I would not be surprised if you see some at Southern Regionals. What none of us will see is a Supreme Carbon Pro in calendar year 2018. Who knows maybe there will be a Supreme CP 12 months from now.

[LeonL]

@Ilivetoski and @Horton even if the boat(s) exist in the SR, will they pull enough tournaments to allow them to pull Regionals?

[LLUSA]

@Jody_Seal the company you referred to wanting more events at Regionals and Nationals was also the same company that 15 years ago fought to keep this from happening when another company was pulling the lion's share of tournaments. Funny how things come full circle.

[Ilivetoski]

@LeonL I’m not sure about that, my conversation with Patty was more about her thinking about bringing a Supreme, having it next to her tent just so everyone could look at it and see the boat. Not necessarily one used in the tournament

[dave2ball]

As of right now centurion and or supreme do not have any promo boats for 18. If there is a carbon pro it will be last years.

[Bongo]

@"Eric Kelley" asks: "Should a towboat manufacturer receive credit for pulling a tournament if the boat used was a privately owned boat?"

 

Refinement: Is the purpose of the credit:

a. Demonstration of each manufacturers financial and promotional support for the sport, or

b. Demonstration that it is a mainstream (enough) boat that frequently pulls tournament skiers?

 

If (b.), the make & model are what gets credit. Doesn't matter the financial background.

 

If (a.), I'd still argue the manufacturer should get credit. In some cases, the manufacturer needs to sweeten the deal by giving promo owner deals to private boat owners and in return stipulate they'll have the boat available per x number of tournaments / events. In other cases, private owners are so happy* with the manufacturer and model that the private owner will provide the boat they purchased without subsidy to pull the tournament. Whether financial or enthusiastic support for the brand, both seem appropriate motivation.

 

* Ok, I get happy may not be universal. Some local tournaments very likely beg for boats, and their buddies feel compelled to support the sport and "volunteer" their own boat.

 

Just my $0.02. Not a promo boat owner, as you might guess.

 

Bongo

[LeonL]

@Ilivetoski I misinterpreted what you meant. I was thinking pull the SR. My bad.

[DW]

Somewhat off topic, but what is the ratio of tourney ski boats that are promo v. purchased outright from a dealer (privately owned). Has the actual % of total ski boats manufactured and distributed as promo boats changed / declined in the last few years?

[JeffSurdej]

This may not be 100% accurate but if it is the proportions are off equally. This data here is just purely what came in from WSTIMS, no relation to promo vs private. My prelim guess is that about 25% of events are being pulled by non promo boats. A lot more than I thought.

 

Malibu 260 52.85%

Mastercraft 249 50.61%

Nautique 424 86.18%

Total Tournaments 492

 

 

[Chad_Scott]

@JeffSurdej

 

Do you have those numbers in percentages without the closed tournaments included. The percentage of events pulled by each manufacturer in events which are open to all tow boats.

[JeffSurdej]

@Chad_Scott I don't, let me see if I can get that, this is just from the towboat document pulled from WSTIMS which I'm not sure relates back to the sanction indicating closed or open, but it may, let me see.

[Chad_Scott]

@JeffSurdej Thanks that would be good to know. How all of the companies are doing with supporting events where all boats are welcome. Pretty much minus most of the state of Florida. I think those numbers will be much closer in percentages.

[LeonL]

@JeffSurdej maybe I'm not grasping the whole picture, but I don't understand the percentages. 52, 50, and 86. What's that mean?

EDIT.

Oops, now I get it.