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Shelby Kantar went to her first pro stop this last weekend and finished 3rd in her heat. She didn't make it to the next round, but she did qualify for the Reno stop. What was really amazing is the ordeal she had to go thru to get there. Take a look at this letter from Shelby.
The Saga of tour stop 1:
I flew out thursday morning around 9am and got to vegas around 11am. My connecting flight left at 11:50 to get to Georgia at 6pm. Normally, this would be acceptable but the tickets I had required that I leave securty, go to ticketing, print out a boarding pass and go back through security, take a tram to a far away terminal and board the plane in 50 minutes. So I missed my flight. When I reached the ticketing counter for AirTran, they told me that I had to check in 45 minutes before my flight. It was 11:30 and my flight left at 11:50. I felt like Ben Stiller in meet the partents as the lady at the terminal sat on the computer non-stop typing telling me that there was not another flight until 10pm. and I would get to Georgia the next day at 5am. I didin't have to compete until 8:30 so i went on standby. Then I asked her where my bags were and she replied "they are on the plane that you just missed".
Can I just stop here and say that there is nothing worse than being 20 years old and stuck in vegas! I couldnt do anything. So I went through security and took a tram to my terminal and ate some food. IT was 12pm and my flight didnt leave until 10pm. Luckily I brought my pillow and slept a few hours. I mad a phone call at 12pm (3pm for atlanta time) to my hotel telling them that I wont be checking in until the next day, which they said was fine and they wouldnt charge me for the first night. I then called the Atlanta baggage claim office and left a message saying that I missed my flight but my luggage would be there. I gave a description of my luggage but nobody called me back. At this point I feel like tom hanks in the terminal. Eleven hours later, I go to my gate and ask the lady which seat I had thinking I could request a window seat. her reply was " YOu are on standby and you dont have a seat". At this point I was stoked to even get on the plane!
So 5am rolls around and I get off the plane. My phone is almost dead and I run my way over to baggage claim. I went to the airtran baggage claim office because that is where my bags were supposed to be. So my bags werent there. So I had no clothes, no board, no bindings, no rope and handle, no helmet, no bikini, no board shorts, and no vest. Basically I had my purse and my homework that I had brought along to do on the plane. The lady at the desk told me taht If i had to check in, I would have had to get my bags in vegas again. But the lady in sacramento told me taht my bags would go to atlanta and not to worry. I told the lady that I was in vegas for eleven freaking hours and I could have picked up my bags. SO all I could do at this point was fill in a lost baggage form and wait for their call when they found it.
The airport metro shuttle service picked me up and we started the 40 mile treck to Acworth. I sat in the lincoln that the shuttle man was driving and started to cry. The poor guy did even know what wakeboarding was but he was sympathetic and acted just as angry about the situation as I was. He stopped by a walmart so that I could run in and buy a bikini and drove to the site.
I checked in to the pro tour around 6:45 am and went to the Hyperlite bus to get a board. Jeremy gave me the Syn board (which I ride) but it was a flexible prototype of the same board. So as the other girls began to arrive, Melissa let me use her helmet, I used another girls belmonts, Shawna hoffmans vest, Emily Copelands rope and handle, and Oakley gave me some board shorts to wear. Usually, I am a nervous wreck before a comp and freak out. At this piont, I was over it and didnt really care. I was so tired I was just surprised that I made it to the comp and that I had gear to use (thank you for everyone who helped!)
So I rode well and around 1:30pm the airport called and said that they found my bags. I got third in my heat an no longer needed my board and other gear but I was stoked that things were starting to look up. Aparently my luggage was not able to make the connecting flight so someone put it on Delta and didnt tell anyone. So when I arrived in ATL, my luggage was there but nobody knew it because it was locked in Delta's baggage claim room. The lady proceeded to tell me that it would be delivered to me within 4 hours to my hotel room. That was 1:30pm.
As 9pm rolls around I still have no luggage. I had called numerous times and they didnt know where my luggage was at one point and then they found it a gain but the bag deliverer forgot it. So I say •••••••• Adam Fields and his girlfriend Angela were a big help. They left Baileys and picked me up, made me a drink, and I went out. I had been waiting to drink since I was stuck in the airport for 11 hours!! So I finally got back to my hotel at 2am and got my luggage in the lobby.
Nothing else bad happened until checkout day when the hotel manager tried to charge me for the night that I missed. On the printout of the hotel reservations that I had it said that you must cancel your room before 6pm the day before. Since I had called at 3pm ATL time and cancelled and they lady said there would be no charge, I told the man that I would not pay for the extra night. Finally after calling the lady that I had talked to, he did not charge. The lady told the manager, however that I called after 6pm, which was in no way true, but luckily they did not charge me.
SO at the moment I am in the hotel lobby waiting for Jeremy to pick me up to go wakeboarding. My flight leaved at 9pm ATL time and if i am lucky, I will make it back to sacramento alive.
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