Gosh it is pretty at the lake this time of year!
We are all done for the season but with the water in the 60's and the air in the 70's we could still be running camp if it was not for school!
Enjoy the fall.
2017 season recap
The sixth season of Water Monkey Camp is in the books and with autumn officially under way we are closing up for the year and reflecting on all of the good times, funny stories and great friends made in 2017. As always, camp would not be possible without our awesome campers and we thank you and your parents for keeping our program going.
Six years is such a short time for a summer camp when compared to the century-old programs in New England but we already know so much about what makes camp special. While we will always focus on offering superior watersports instruction it is the 'other stuff' that we all seem to remember the most. Being goofy, making up new games and sports, jamming out to great music on the boat, riding doubles just to high-five (or spray) a friend, using stand up paddle boards for everything except paddling, going back for thirds or fourths or fifths of a meal and so many more ridiculous 'activities' make up our summer at the lake.
In the middle of the summer we filmed our new promo video (below) and the campers that week all got to take part in that unique and fun process.
In September we said goodbye to our two camp boats, 2015 and 2016 model years, respectively, to make way for two brand new 2018 Mastercrafts! A moment of silence to remember the 'old' boats...
Our dearly departed fleet. Practically antiques!
Now some fun 2017 stats!
- 113 campers over 7 weeks (plus 18 in our family week!)
- Each camper stayed an average of 1.5 weeks at camp (longest stay by two campers was 4 weeks)
- Average number of campers per week was 16.14
- Campers were 66% boys, 34% girls
- Average camper age was 13.4
- 39% of campers were returners, 61% were new (another big growth year!)
- Campers came from 15 states (CT, DC, GA, IA, IL, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VA, VT) as well as Canada, China, France and Mexico!
- 15 trips to Boston Logan and Manchester Airport
- 15,668 visits to watermonkeycamp.com in the past 12 months
- 8,950 pictures uploaded for parents and campers to enjoy
- 1 day of intense paintball carnage!
- 9 lost SUP paddles (how do campers leave the shore with a paddle and come back without one!?)
- 5 camper items retrieved from the lake by our scubadiving chef!
- Shortest lifespan ever of a wakesurf board: 1 rider!
- Average water temperature during camp was 74 degrees
- Average boat MPH was 15.08 (estimated based on % of time waterskiing / wakeboarding / wakesurfing / chilling) which means...
- About 7,087 miles driven on the lake
- 14 hours spent waxing boats
- 220 hours on the Mastercraft and 250 hours on the Axis A22 (final hours were 450 on the Mastercraft and 680 on the Axis!)
- 2,600 gallons of gas consumed on the lake producing roughly 25 metric tons of CO2 offset with contributions to https://www.cooleffect.org/ (Specifically the Alto Mayo Conservation Initiative as well as The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests to aid in their goal of protecting the Lakes Region (where we are located). Our donations will offset about 35 metric tons with the extra going towards camper travel to/from camp.
We hope that you have a successful and fun-filled year and that as you start to think about next summer you will keep us in mind for a week or two again! We already have a number of eager campers signed up for 2018 so if you are ready to enroll just let me know.
Lastly, please let us pay you to find us great new campers. We offer a $300 referral bonus deducted from your tuition for every camper you send our way who enrolls for at least one week. This is the best way for us to get awesome guys and girls who will enjoy our program here at camp and we cannot thank you enough for helping us spread the word.
Feel free to e-mail, write, call, text, FaceTime, telegram, carrier pigeon or visit any time!
Sincerely,
Evan Goldner
617-855-9253
evan@watermonkeycamp.com
Moose!
Ryan was in the right place at the right time today and captured this video of a massive male moose running through camp!
Gear gear gear gear
Every season we purchase new equipment for our campers to enjoy. That means every season we also find home for all of our almost new equipment! Everything is in great condition and at a massive discount from retail prices. Below is a list of everything we will be offering up this year... feel free to peruse and let us know if you would like to reserve any of the items:
(some items are available on August 13 all others available September 25*)
Wakeboard Packages
*139 CM Liquid Force Harley w/ 10 - 12 Liquid Force Transit Boots (2017) $300
*135 CM Liquid Force Harley w/ 8 - 10 Liquid Force Transit Boots (2017) $300
*131 CM Liquid Force Harley w/ 5 - 8 Liquid Force Transit Boots (2016 board / 2017 boots) $275
131 CM Liquid Force Harley w/ 5 - 8 Liquid Force Transit Boots (2016) $250
*143 CM Liquid Force Harley w/ 12 - 15 Liquid Force Transit Boots (2016 board / 2017 boots) $300
*125 CM Liquid Force Fury Board & Boots (2016) $225
Wakesurf Boards
Phase 5 Oogle $350
*Phase 5 Oogle $250 (some dings repaired)
Phase 5 Prop $250 (some dings repaired)
*Phase 5 Scamp $200
Waterskis
*Small Combo $175
*Large Combo (Connelly) $225
Ropes, Lines & Handles
*Ronix Wakeboard Line & Handle $50
Ronix Wakeboard Line & Handle $50
Liquid Force Wakeboard Line & Handle $25
*Inland Surfer Wakesurf Rope & Handle $25
Inland Surfer Wakesurf Rope & Handle $25
Life Jackets
Assorted styles x-small through large $20 each
Camp is going to the pigs...
It has been a while since we posted as we are super busy with camp so we wanted to talk about something totally out of left field...pigs!
I'm so happppppppyyyyyy!
As our campers know we are obsessed with being environmentally friendly here at camp. This year we have taken a huge step to remove thousands of pounds of trash from the landfill by bringing most of our food scraps to some local, hungry, pigs. We have been talking about this for a while but it took the impetus of our new chef, Bram, to make it all happen.
This little piggy went to the market...
The experience of watching the pigs run out to greet Bram in his big red truck was amazing. They have gotten used to his thrice daily visits with all sorts of goodies. We bring them everything except for meat and they demolish it in minutes. There was definitely an alpha pig who got his share of everything first as you can see in the below video.
That's all for today! Follow us on Instagram @watermonkeycamp for daily stories and lots of posts!
-Evan