Boat VS. Cable

A few weeks earlier I talked about shooting wakeboarding and how it`s different to shoot someone riding behind a boat vs. a cable park. In this blog post I will be going into detail about how it can all affect your wallet. People would think that going out on a boat all you need is a few gallons of gas and you`re set. Well that`s not the whole story, we can`t forget about the boat prices and how a brand new wakeboarding boat can run up to $85,000. Also it`s way better for the environment as well if you just go to a cable park and enjoy the electricity driven pull as it tows you around the lake. When you know someone with a boat and they want to ride you might be able to get a few sets in a day but not nearly as close to much riding as you could on a cable park. There are 2 major waterski and wakeboard manufacturing companies: Sesitec, and Ski-Rixen. While I think Ski-Rixen`s been around for a longer period of time Sesitec is definitely been making some great achievements and always been one of the more innovative companies in the field. Just in the last 3 years alone there has been over 6 new cables built from coast to coast. That tells me that more people are starting to realize the potential in wakeboarding behind a cable. It’s also a way better investment than just buying a brand new boat and always having to fix it. If someone builds a cable park there is a huge potential of making some serious money. It’s a great business but, there are some other expenses as well that we can`t forget about such as putting up a concession stand, possibly a pro shop/rental etc. A perfect local example of an investment like such is the Orlando Watersports Complex right next to 528 and the airport. It`s a great place with a boat, 2 cable parks and even a system 2.0. all in one lake. It gets choppy quite often.  

Defy, The Danny Harf Project

For this weeks blog post I`m going to discuss and try to go into as much detail as possible about producing, funding and actually how much money did Defy: The Danny Harf Project make. Being a wakeboarder pretty much my whole life and shooting/editing it for over 8 years I can safely say I have a huge interest in the market. Not to mention bigger productions and just wakeboarding in general.

Defy might just be the next big step for the wakeboard filmmaking world.

It’s downloadable online or you can order a double disc (Blu-ray/DVD combo pack) It also did great at the 2012 X-Dance where it won an award for the Best Soundtrack. The BFY crew made the movie. They always do a solid job whether is shooting,editing or producing. You can check out more info on them over here. When a huge production like this takes place (took over 2.5 years to shoot) you can expect other huge brands to try and merge/sponsor the event. Im talking about huge industry names like Monster Energy, Fox Riders Co., Ronix, Transworld Wakeboarding and Nautique boats, who were actually the very first company to make a wakeboarding tower for a boat.

Needless to say they still are the number one wake/ski boat manufacturers in the world. As far the actual budgeting goes for the movie it was really hard to find all the information but heres a pretty good interview I found where they kind of go into detail, One of the answeres states that “between C/Chopper Dave at radar with Ronix and the Fox blue lake stunts. My guess is around $25k just on stunts.”

Not to mention building the rails, the material, rental equipment, travelling and the camera gear/editing cost later.  As far as how much money the flicks going to make my sights are unclear since its one of the newer productions out there and we won`t be able to see the total profit until were down the line a little more. 

One things for certain though, Defy is a milestone in not just the wakeboarding community but the whole watersport world. I love it and I can only recommend it.