Boating Industry

October 2014

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44 | Boating Industry | October 2014 www.BoatingIndustry.com /// Market Trends /// about it's the development of the cable parks," said Meddock. "The boat companies are now embracing the cable parks , the board companies are, of course, embracing the cable parks with on-site pro shops. It's opened up a whole new revenue stream for everybody." Pete Surrette at O'Brien Water Sports said the shift in gears has translated into an entire new market for their cable park-focused goods. "Cable parks have had a huge impact in Europe for a number of years. We have a lot of product that is specific for cable parks that up until the last couple years have only been sold in Europe," said Surrette. "We're still very much in infancy here compared to Europe, but we do see it growing." Nautique was one of the first boat manufac- turers to recognize the power of cable parks as a feeder pool into the boating market, though they're the first to admit it's not going to sell more boats overnight. "The cable watersports market is grow- ing fast and we have entered it with two parks in Florida and many more to come," said Bill Yeargin, president and CEO at Nautique. "It is a great way to introduce people to watersports and develop them into boat buyers. However, it is a long-term view." He said cable parks are breathing new life into the watersports market. "Wakeboarding and wakeskating are a lot of fun and revitalized the watersports market over 15 years ago," said Yeargin. "It is what cable is doing today." Kevin Michael with Malibu Boats said cable parks have been instrumental in introducing people to wakesports. "Absolutely cable parks have helped. We work with a park in Texas called TSR (Texas Ski Ranch) and they are also a Malibu dealer,"

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