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does it bother anyone else that WBM will not publish pics of riders that are not wearing life jackets in their pictorials (except the wakeskate spread with the advisory) but they will publish ads with riders not wearing their vests? seems to be a double standard when money is thrown into consideration instead of being the mag being conscience that ads influence people as well (not only to buy products but to emulate a rider). i like WBM but find it hypocritical to profess that they will not pub pics of riders w/o vests but they pub ads that show this type of behavior.

I agree with you, i find the thing that ticks me off the most if people riding with out a vest. Spcially when they suck.

Dude's....I don't get what yer problem is. All's I need when I ride is my stick and a good pair of gloves to help hold on. Those vests are totally restrictive. I can never hit any of my triples or 10's with them on.

Gloves!......

Kirk, I agree with you 100% and I'm glad someone else noticed. The magazine used to have a vest policy, which stated that from point X on (x being when they started it...I don't remember when) that all riders in the mag would have a vest on--and that includes riders in advertisements. Now they're slacking...they had a number of vestless riders in their instructional issue.

And honestly, I don't even CARE about their policy (meaning it won't persuade me to wear a vest). I know that I've never ridden without a vest, and I never will. But if they aren't going to stick to what they claim (yet still claim it) then they're hypocrital and I dislike that and it's disappointing. I'd respect them much more if they lifted that silly ban. Let's face it, just because a pro rides with a vest for a photo shoot doesn't mean that he'll wear a vest for his next set (or what have you).

And yeah, it makes me sad when I see some of my favorite wakeskaters without a vest and I'd hate to lose them, but they're adults and examples have been set, so now I feel they're equipped to make their own informed decisions. I mean, if people dying isn't convincing, I don't know what is.

Lastly, I don't know that the vest policy is really all that encouraging anyway because so many pros wear flack jackets, and those aren't guaranteed to save you if you fall hard and knock the wind out of yourself. It's kind of like a false sense of security. Yeah, it may save you here and there, but I feel like you're playing russian roulette with that one.

Anyway kirk, I agree with you and it is disappointing because that policy should be an "all or nothing" kind of deal. But, it's not my mag and if you say anything sincere, they try to make you look stupid. They actually did that to a friend of mine who works at a wakeboard shop...he's such a nice guy and they didn't take him seriously at all because they didn't agree with him.

Hey, does anyone know what happened to mike reilly? He seemed really cool and I liked the one or two issues he headed up. When he wrote his first editorial, I instantly liked him and I could relate to the spirit he was bringing to the mag. Anyway, that's kind of off topic...but he is missed.

(Message edited by electricsnow on June 19, 2004)

Shawn, you are soo funny!!