Starting a Camp

So for next summer I was thinking about starting a camp sort of thing in NH. I'm not thinking professional instruction but I have a roll and 180s and I worked at a summer camp teaching kids. It would be just a day thing, no overnight, I have a boat, I know I'd need insurance, different sized boards, a wakeskate and probably a wakesurf board. Any other suggestions. I talked to local marinas and they say there are a lot of rich families who want to rent boards but also want instruction which they don't offer.

There would be a lot tough hurdles to clear.

If you were a pro, or at least had established a reputation as being able to teach, then kids who wanted to learn would sign up.

If you are just a guy who wants to teach kids so he can pay for his boat then what you will get are those rich kids who's parents just want to get them out of the house.

The attidude difference between those two groups of kids is tremendous.

In addition to the boat and the gear you will need some staff. If you are going to have kids for next month you need to book them this month. You can't be answering the phone and talking to prospective clients while you are out teaching wakeboarding.

If you have four kids you can carry them around in the boat all day. If you have 8 kids you will need to base off a beach and rotate kids. You will also need a staff member to organize the kids on the beach, keep them occupied and supervised.

You need to be prepared for little Johnny who refuses to get in the water all week, and then his parents complain that he didn't learn anything.

It would be appropriate for you to have CPR and lifesaving credentials.

Be prepared for you boat to get thrashed. Calculate the number of hours you will put on the boat in a season, then make an estimate on the resale value of the boat after you are done with this venture (or decide you need a new boat to continue).

You might want to consider having an alternate boat as a backup. Parents will get very pissed if they signed their kid up for wakeboard camp and he didn't get to wakboard because your boat was in the shop.

If you really want details on how this would work, contact either of my children. They both work at the California State University Sacramento Aquatic center doing basically what you suggest. My son drives the wakeboard boat and teaches wakeboarding, my daughter teaches PWC, kayak, windsurfing, etc. Nice jobs for college kids.

Oh, and you should know that attendence was really down this year.

Rod McInnis

Insurance is the hard part. We just got insurance for our camp through a company in CA. It took a long time and some money to get done. With that said we are doing our camp at a private lake and getting insurance for a camp and just your boat to do lessons are 2 very different things. You WILL have to be CRP certified to get anyone to insure you as well. There is a lot to teaching wakeboarding if you actually want to teach well and get customers that would like you to coach them rather then pay for a lesson one time. Like mentioned above you have to know that you will have clients before you start up the camp and you need to do a ton of advertizing to be sucessfull.

How about integrating you and your boat in with an existing camp (maybe the one you worked for?) They can handle/provide a lot of the items Rod mentions above. My son also has 2 summers of experience teaching under his belt and I can tell you after hearing some of his stories it's not all that easy at times.

I appreciate the help, it is sounding like just doing lessons and not doing a camp is a better way to go, I have though about integrating into a camp there are a lot around my area, and I've done a lot of research about the popularity of it and it sounds like there are a lot of people around me who really really want someone to teach them. I also kinda want to use it to get to know more people around me who wakeboard cause the scene isn't real big in NH that I know of

Honestly insurance is going to be the killer. If you were able to run the camp year round you may be able to get your money back. Also you are going to have to have a lawyer draw up a waiver for people to sign.

I tried to do the exact same thing. What i ended up doing was talking to somebody from WWA (world wakeboard association i think). They will cover the insurance for day lessons... for 80 per day as long as you notify them ten days in advance, less if you select a group of days. Otherwise insurance will be somewhere around 2500 per year. I went ahead this first year of my camp and advertised like mad planning to use the WWA's insurance so that if i did not get enough people I was not out 2500. If it went well I was going to go all out and get the real insurance next year. I am damn glad I did the WWA thing because I did not give a single lesson. Best of luck to you

Thats definitely gonna help, the marinas at my lake say it should be popular but you never know

if you have any other questions about some of the stuff i tried send me an emial... or at least i can tell you what not to do since my attempt failed...lol

You will also most likely need to get your captains license since you will be using your boat for commercial purposes. A "6-pack" license will allow you to take up to 6 people on the boat at a time. Cost around $800-900 and approx. 40-50 hours of class time. I think you also need to show proof (log book) of how many hours you've been a boat operator.

just a suggestion, but for begginers, like the first time wakeboarding... a jet ski is helpful. i work at a camp and for the newbies we use jet skis. saves on gas, a lot easier to operate, safer, and a whole lot easier to talk to the kid.

thanks again for all the suggestions

I haven't posted for awhile but caught this one. This is not nearly as complicated as you may think, just takes some money to start up, and you won't break even the first year or two unless you have an amazing location. Many of the successful camps were funded by parents and others that helped them to get going.

After getting the boat of course, your insurance (try Ski Safe, Vigilant, or Boat US - they all contract out to others but some will help you directly) will be 3k a year per boat. I would recommend a 1-3 million general liability policy over that at about 2k/year. Get bullet proof liability forms and make sure your insurance OK's them and agrees to back them up. Most important, just take real precautions to make sure nothing happens. We don't let people try stuff until we feel they are ready and on easier stuff, they will never take a bad fall if you are driving and teaching correctly.

Get local shops or reps to help you get equipment and boats at cost and promote them every chance you get. (Hint: rep the stuff you actually use and like so it's not BS.) Also no "good ol boy deals" no matter how good of friends you are with the shop owner or rep. I've learned the hard way to get it all in writing and ensure both parties hold up their end of the bargain. This is all the easy stuff.

The hard part is developing a really good teaching system and daily schedule. You will be in the boat way more than you think so you have to stick to a schedule and ensure all of your people have a consistent message. We also let people ride as often as they want but stick to 20 minute sets so they don't fall apart while trying new stuff, especially technical stuff.

I would not recommend doing this if you think it will help you get on the water more...won't happen like you think.

Feel free to check out our website, www.milehighwakeboarding.com and copy anything you see or could use. It's not rocket science, you just need to do this because it's a passion, not because you want to make money. And just assume, that you will never compete with the big boys like Shaun and Travis, Kyle and Ben, and a few others. Work your local area.

Best of luck!