The F-One website recently featured a board review written by our head instructor, Billy Ackerman. One of the many perks of being a sponsored kite boarder is getting to play on new gear all the time! Click the link below to check out his review of the F-One Trax 138 and see some pictures of him absolutely boosting on his kite.
Growing our quiver...
Today we did some big time shopping for camp. We like to give our campers an array of equipment to play with and each season it is important to us to offer only the best gear to everyone who steps on our boat. This year I may have once again gone a bit overboard. To round out our collection of wake boards we picked up a Liquid Force Angel 130 with CWB Tyke boots (for our female campers) and a Ronix District 135 with District boots. These two new boards will join our three Liquid Force PS3's (128, 134, and 137) and our Liquid Force Trip (142). That is six boards in an array of sizes to keep even the pickiest clientele happy!
As you can see in the above picture we got some other stuff as well! On the left is a great new O'Brien wake surfer which will be perfect to learn on. On the right is a sick new O'Brien Siege slalom ski (with a built in GoPro mount on the tip). It is a bit smaller than our Connelly slalom ski from last year which will be awesome for our smaller campers looking to shred the one ski. Down bottom are also some new ropes: the blue one is a sweet new LF wake board line and on the left is a new Ronix wake surf rope with a handle (we also have a knotted rope if you prefer that).
That beast is one of our two newly acquired SUP (stand up paddle) boards. It is made by F-One out of France and is actually inflatable so we can take them out on the boat and anyone who wants to can go for a paddle on the lake. The paddles are light weight aluminum and adjustable for all sizes of riders.
I had to try to get it all into one picture.
There is nothing better than the smell of a room full of fresh gear!
Renovations commence
This summer our campers will be living in a large cabin on our host camp's 100-acre campus. Last week we started renovating the cabin and have made some awesome progress already. This cabin has a large, wrap-around screened in porch which we are currently using for supplies but will eventually be multi-use indoor/outdoor area for our campers.
On the inside we are splitting the large, open cabin into separate sleeping area for guys and girls as well as a large lounge area.
As you can see from this inside picture, the cabin has some great wood floors and tons of space. When we are done in there it will look totally different so we wanted to share this "before" picture of the inside.
Of course we have bathrooms for our campers. There are two full bathrooms with hot water. The other day we installed two brand-new, high efficiency, high flush power toilets. Toilets are not glamorous but they are definitely necessary!
We will continue to be hard at work for the next few weeks so check back for more updates!
Getting the boat sorted for the summer!
Each and every year we go through the ritual of preparing the boat for the summer season on the lake. After a long winter of being tucked away in storage it makes us ridiculously excited to cut away the plastic shrink wrap and get that first glimpse of our awesome watercraft. De-winterizing the boat is a relatively painless process. After waxing and washing (a five hour ordeal), we reconnect the battery terminals, replace the hull plugs, roll it down the boat ramp, and fire up the engine. It had fresh oil, seals, and filters from when we winterized it so after a quick spin to make sure there were no leaks and everything worked we were all good to go!
If we were any typical boat owner that would be it. Having a commercial boat, though, requires us to get a commercial inspection from NH Marine Patrol. Each year they check to make sure we have the specially required modifications and equipment necessary for commercial operation in our great state. This includes a fuel cutoff valve installed outside of the main engine compartment, an automatic fire extinguisher installed in the engine compartment, extra life jackets, extra paddles (good luck paddling a 5000 pound boat), functional horn and navigation lights, and a type 4 throwable floating cushion.
Most years the M-Pat officers would come to the lake for the inspection but through new procedures stemming from cost cutting they wanted us to trailer the boat to them this year.
I loaded up the trailer, topped off the tire pressure, and drove off to Gilford, NH for the inspection. Throughout the 45 minute ride I got a steady stream of honks and fist-pumps as other drivers and pedestrians saw our boat cruising down the streets.
I won't claim to be the best trailer driver around but I did a pretty good job of getting it out back behind their headquarters for the inspection. While the officer was going through the inspection checklist the Marine Patrol mechanics came out to oogle the Centurion. They were fascinated by the ballast system and v-drive configuration of the motor so we had some fun chatting about wake surfing, our camp program, and boating in general.
It is good to have the boat back in operation with fresh inspection stickers. It is hard to believe that it has been stored away since last September and in just a month our first round of campers will be heading out on it to start shredding.
A little bit of spring lake fun
Well there are still a few weeks to go until our boat gets back in the water but that could not stop us from enjoying some high 70's temps this week on the lake.
As you can see from these pictures there is literally no one out on the water!
The water is higher than usual at this time of the year due to some extra snow melt we were lucky to have from the winter.
The water is chilly, though. It has been stubbornly stuck in the high 40's/low 50's but is warming more recently after a string of almost 80 degree, sunny days.
It is good to be back out on the water and we cannot wait until the boat is unwrapped!