What inspires you more?

[TravisFling]

What's the PWT? (rhetorical question that I figured out pretty easily, but I've been wakeboarding since the mid 90's and have never seen a contest.)

[runningeagle]

Do you think that when someone goes to a contest they are more influenced to buy product A vs product B because product A supports the winning athlete? Or do you think contest bring more people into the sport and then magazines, online media, and video parts influence what people buy?
In my experience most people just see riders and skiers out on the water from a distance and usually don't even stay to see who won. Not to say contests aren't important because I think they are. I just wonder how much influence they have on what people actually buy in the long run. I bought my 2001 SAN210 becasue it was the boat Watson and Byerly rode behind because they inpired me to ride and because I thought it had the best wake and quality at the time. I had no idea how they did in contests. Thanks for the feedback guys, my friends and I have been debating this for a while.

[gride300]

i think most people purchase gear b/c of the rider or skier who uses that product. i think boat purchases are more based on wake and quality as opposed to who is sponsored by them, but you can tell some companies, i.e. mastercraft and hyperlite set prices b/c they have "rusty" and charge 700$ for his board b/c people think they will be able to do really ugly swtich toe 9's on it. we need contests, but i also think we need more raw footage of guys just out riding and training to let people see how it really is day to day. i've seen it. it is alot different than most people think. personally i would like to see pro's coming to each and every state in the continental us just for big demo's. let the crowd have a say in who wins along with the judges. lets bring the fun back to fun

[SuperSquirt]

Freeriding is where its really at......you will see some of the sickest moves in wakeboarding when you're out with your crew and the only person judging you is your best friend with a miller lite in his hand. Don't get me wrong, contest riders are by far the most consistent riders out there, but even they hold back big tricks in fear of falling.