I notice that almost all the top riders are with either HL, LF, Ronix or CWB. Gator JStar have 1 in the top 25 and OBrien 0. Why is that? I know they have Dallas who is top as well as Josh and Daniel who use to be as well as use to have Shapiro. Are they not interested in comps anymore? <BR> <BR>1. Aaron Rathy HL/BY <BR>2 Phillip Soven LF <BR>3 Harley Clifford LF <BR>4 Rusty Malinoski HL <BR>5 Andrew Adkison CWB <BR>6 Trevor Hansen CWB <BR>7 Jimmy LaRiche HL <BR>8 Adam Errington RO <BR>9 Olivier Derome <BR>10 Danny Harf RO <BR>11 Bryan Hutton CWB <BR>12 Dean Smith RO <BR>13 Austin Hair HL <BR>14 Shawn Watson LF <BR>15 JD Webb HL <BR>16 Chad Sharpe RO <BR>17 Shane Bonifay LF <BR>18 Nick Davies HL <BR>19 Kyle Alberts HL <BR>20 Corey Bradley <BR>21 Kyle Rattray GATOR <BR>22 Danny Thollander HL <BR>23 Nick Weinacker <BR>24 Keith Lidberg JSTAR <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>25 Troy Mackey

WTH happened to Watkins and Sanders? they were front runners for years.

Maybe Josh and Daniel are just at a different point in their careers and are focusing on different areas in the industry now. Both of them have families now and run their business in Australia, in addition to all the promoting they do for Obrien and their other sponsors. <BR> <BR>With that said, maybe comps just aren't a priority anymore for them. IMO, nothing wrong with that.

Dallas is tops in Women's currently. Sanders is traveling doing things primarily for RedBull... umm... Watkins I couldn't say.

Nick Davies is Killing Wakeboarding top 20 on the boat and best cable around holy F**k just showing everyone whats good

Where's Adam fields? Was in the top 10 last year and now?? injured?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a huge part of O'brien's market made up of the very large section of the general boating public who know close to nothing about wakeboarding, i.e. the people who own a wakeboard "just so their kids can try it"? Maybe they don't need a bunch of big-name pros because most of their market wouldn't know their names to begin with.

"Nick Davies is Killing Wakeboarding top 20 on the boat and best cable around holy F**k just showing everyone whats good" <BR>?????????? <BR> <BR>What's that got to do with the thread

sean obrien is on obrien and really good but i guess he doesnt ride the tour

1) Dallas Friday O'Brien

Dylan Miller rips for ob. Watch for him.

It is interesting thats all. I don't know what it means. They were the only company I knew of when I first got into watersports. They had the best kneeboards, top waterskis and good wakeboards. I do remember they had top pros in all 3, even kneeboards back in the day. I don't remember their names now but I remember things such as world skiing champion and top professional kneeboarder, etc. While the general public may not follow pros, they are certainly influenced by it when buying equipment. I know I am when I buy something even if I don't know the sport that well. My first boat was a Nautique and it was the boat that was used as the towboat for the wakeboard worlds in 96 or so. That impressed me. <BR> <BR>If I knew nothing about wakeboards and I was wanting to buy one for my young son who has really gotten into it, I would definitely look at the ones the pros were riding. Too be honest, I probably would not consider Obrien, Gator or J Star but would look at CWB, HL, Ronix and LF cause thats the board the top pros ride. I am not saying they are a better choice but as a dad who didn't know the details of boards I would want to give my kid a competitive board and would assume those are better because the top pros are riding it. So now I will wait to get blasted about how stupid that is even though I said I don't buy that way (I have owned a Gator board). It is just my opinion that the general unschooled public is very much influenced by this.

SOB.

ADAM FIELDS is fine. He won the Board up in April and he will rep the USA in Korea at IWWSA Worlds. It's tough traveling to the comps when there is no money except for top 3 or so. Only top 6 get paid but 5 and 6 money doesn't cover travel. He has a successful camp and school that he makes his living from. He was 7th on the PWT last year but he spent more than he made. Doesn't make sense to go. Too bad for the sport. I think your other thread talks about the turn out of pro riders.

No top twenty five riders? That's it... I guess I'm gonna have to switch to another company.<img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/lame.gif" border=0>

I surprised Nitzel hasn't chimed in on this thread <img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/proud.gif" border=0>

watkins and sanders have the two wackest styles in wakeboarding too

Obrien have Jarrod Askew and Julien Cohen in jnr mens at the moment. I dont think obrien choose not to have any riders in the top 25. Rather it is a matter of their top riders arent at the top anymore. Daniel and josh have been at the top of the sport for almost 10 yrs, the same for darin Shapiro, im sure obrien are looking for any up and coming riders to help promote their product in the future.

does no one buy obrien boards because of no top pro's, or are there no top pro's because no one buys obrien..... it's a two way street

Does anyone care? <BR> <BR>Do people actually select their boards based on tournament standings?

A LOT of people buy boards based on who the top pros are. When I first got into wakeboarding back in 8th grade, I bought Murray's board and bindings because he had just won the Tour, Worlds, etc. and I wanted to ride what the top pro was riding. I'm a little more objective now, but I still have several friends that only want to ride what the top pros are riding.

and those people are stupid. they ride board for the graphics and the model name (i.e. marek, one, shane, watson etc.) and not for how the board rides or caters to their style of riding.

Seems like the tour is not a very efficient form of marketing anymore. The short videos on thewakeplace, alliance, blogs etc get way more views and potential brand impressions than an individual tour stop. <BR> <BR>I think the tour is very important because I ascribe to the philosophy that contests give legitimacy to the sport. If people do not perceive wakeboarding as a serious competitive sport it will never generate the kind of interest needed to support professional riding. <BR> <BR>How many people make a living off of professional longboard skateboarding? It is an extremely fun activity, but there is no legitimacy to it as a sport.

Lee, those "stupid people" that you are referring to are to thank for most of the wake industies revenue. How about we just call them "inexperienced," because truthfully, that's how we all start out. Buying boards thank have pro names on them for msrp. <BR> <BR>Are you on a Hyperlite team?

LEE has no idea what he is talking about.

Sorry about the spelling. My blackberry skills are off after a weekend of drinking!

Yea I am bit hungover after 3 nights of Reno

ouch...you stayed a third night!

Roddy... my thoughts exactly... probably for the best though. <BR> <BR>No Company or Slingshot riders up there either. I guess those boards must be awful... <img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/uhoh.gif" border=0>