SOAKED or Water Sports Festivals

[Wish]

Anyone know if "Soaked" is coming back to Orlando??

[Wish]

Bump.... anyone??

[DooSPX]

I hope it does!

 

[Skoot1123]

Here's to hoping it happens again as well. Good for PR!!

[ForrestGump]

Considering Surf Expo is only 3-4 weeks away(which it was held in conjunction with), and there's been nothing out about it, I wouldn't expect it to be back this year.

[Wish]

Bummer. I really think it would have grown this year.

[DooSPX]

I agree @Wish.

[D-Law]

I was there for the first one and although I would have loved it to be annual thing there was just no crowds. Sad.

 

[Wish]

Ok, not a promoter but I thought they did a great job promoting the event. Made all the local news channels and radio. Felt like it was promoted as a festival. A good idea. But, having the venue fenced off left a lot of the crowd out of the loop. Maybe a bit to much control was being exercised. Did not feel festival like when you got there. There was food but it was limited and inside the fence. There was music but also inside the fence. I stayed outside the fence. Was a better view. Most non skiers had no idea what was going on. Was being announced in "line off" in what little you could hear outside the fence. Folks would walk up, look for a bit, then look confused and walk off. In the hundreds over a period of time. I know I'm being an arm chair coach here.

 

Lots of woulda shoulds couldas I'm sure. Impossible to believe it was not seen by thousands with the number of office sky scrapers waterfront all the way around the lake and the fact it was at THE Downtown Orlando public park used heavily. Oddly enough, I believe the city required them to leave the fence open in the mornings due to the high number of walkers and joggers that circle the lake daily. Then after a while, they closed it all off.

 

I know it's not all about location location location (FLorida, Orlando, Ski capital of the world). But if that's a huge part, and I think it is, they had that in SPADES.

[DooSPX]

I 100% agree @Wish

[ntx]

@wish Just wondering why you stayed outside the fence? Was there a gate fee?

[Wish]

There was a gate fee. Not much. But those in the know of waterskiing were inside the fence. You will always get those fans. The problem was the joe public was left outside to kinda hear what was going on and there was no food or music outside the fence. With it being promoted as a festival in the park, it felt more like a have and have nots in the park or a they get to and we dont. Not a good vibe. Oh and it was an 8 foot fence in many places especially the entrances. Really? Was that necessary.? Look, it was a good time, great skiing and all in all a success in my book. The vibe for the in the know waterski community was great. The vibe of joe public that was there out of curiosity and perhaps some food (food trucks would have been awesome), beverages (perhaps local wine, beer tastings) and music (a second band shell with less expensive bands or a dj) were left on the wrong side of the fence.

[MattP]

@Wish run your own event.

[Wish]

Ya, I knew someone was eventually going to say that. They were just observations. Don't get your panties in a wad.

[liquid d]

so, you watched, but didn't want to pay the 15 or 20 bucks? How do you think these guys can keep putting on that type of event and make it grow without the cash. The fence was there to try to collect the gate money...not sure how else you could do it. Both of those organizers put a fair bit of cash in and got nothing out. I don't think they were in it to make a bunch of money-both are very wealthy. They tried it, got lousy weather and luke warm "support" from fans like you , that basically got the entertainment for free. And the skiing/entertainment was great!

 

Next time , hopefully they fence the whole lake, and change some things to make it better. The 2 organizers did go out afterwards to some skiers, fans, and ask for feedback on how to make it better.

 

[Horton]

@liquid d

100% correct!

[behindpropellers]

Simple way to grow it is to charge per car for the event.

[ntx]

Thats why I asked the question. I knew there was a gate fee. Pretty LAME to not support the event and come on her wondering if they are doing it again this year. WOW

[Wish]

"Fans like me...." Wow.!!! The assumptions are amazing. I did pay. For myself, my wife and my daughter. But thanks for assuming @liquid d. My wife had to go to an obligation with my daughter and could not attend. I chose to be outside the gate for several reasons but one of which was a better view. Secondly I spent a vast amount of time, all day and into the evening in fact talking with the non waterski community educating them on the terms and what was happening. Got a ton of ah ha moments. How many did you get inside the fence? I've mentioned having done this in other threads. My point was simple. If your going to promote an event as WELL as they did as a festival of fun and then hit Joe public with terms they did not understand and fences so high it looked unwelcoming then there's probably gonna be some problems. If the organizers had to go "out" to talk with folks that may say something right there. I get they put out the cash. I get the weather wasn't the greatest. I know why they did it and I know just from being there they lost money. What I dont get is how a few suggestions could possibly be so off putting. Read my posts. I praised them for what they did and accomplished both here and in other threads. Which is why I'm disappointed that it's not happening again. The other assumption is that I have 0 experience with putting on an event. I ran a festival event with around 2000 in attendance twice. Not on the scale as Soaked. But one thing that crosses all event in terms of improvement is listening to the folks that were there. What made the second better then the first was listening with an open mind to those that attended and had meaningful suggestions (I made legit suggestions here that had almost 0 additional cost). So again, dont get your panties in a wad. And we all know assuming rarely pans out.

[Wish]

@OB Plans have already been made to attend the next Atlanta Pro Am. LOVED IT!! But I dont dare make any suggestions ;)

[SkiKolb]

Will the Atlanta Pro Am be the same weekend next spring? I plan to go if I am healthy by then.

[John Brooks]

I think @Wish makes good comments. We need to be honest with feedback although I very much understand the economics of it all. I did not attend Soaked, my ski partner did and said he really enjoyed the event and especially commented on how enjoyable the trick portion was done.

 

I have attended the Malibu and loved that event. It did feel like a festival and I saw and talked with a number of non skiing spectators. There were plenty of food and drink vendors. It felt very open and welcoming, had great skiing and jumping and I enjoyed the exhibition events which I thought were a nice touch.

[jipster43]

I wonder if SOAKED would work as a traveling festival. I know it would do great at Green Lake in Seattle. We don't have the clout as a sport to be charging admission, but dough could be made in food and beverage vendors.

 

I'm not necessarily talking about a tour with multiple stops... yet. But a new location each year might slowly grow some interest.

[Wish]

Hmmmmm? Did SOAKED just get rebranded and relocated?. See the front page.

[ski4xtc]

@wish, could this have happened with you starting the thread? Whatever the case, another pro tournament which is really needed!

[Wish]

@OB Wait what......? Explain please.

 

@ski4xtc I dont think so. But I'm more then happy to help them out with ideas as it's a "festival" again. ;-). I will say 2 days ago I attended a "Food Truck Bonanza" (yep, they named it that) just north of Orlando as part of an Art and Music festival. OMG was that some amazing food. Twenty unique gourmet food trucks all lined up from hot and spicy food to cupcakes and everything in between. And a beer and wine truck. Feed/refreshm/hitm with the music. Cost to the City of Castleberry $0.00. I'm betting the trucks had to pay a small fee to be there. Number of folks there. Close to 500 I would guess. Maybe more.

 

Crossing my fingers BIG TIME that this happens and goes well.!! Perfect time of the year as well. Weather is fantastic. Location location location. And that's a good location. Lots of BIG fall festivals happen that time of year so I hope they get there ducks in a row (may be lined up already) before all the local venders sign up with other festivals.

[ski4xtc]

@wish, do you know how long that lake is? I was looking at it on the map and it appears to be pretty short. https://google.com/maps?saddr=Unknown+road&hl=en&sll=28.562417,-81.377363&sspn=0.009498,0.021136&geocode=FX3KswEdnkom-w&t=h&mra=mr&z=16

[Wish]

2090' at it's longest point. But that sets the course pretty far away from the park on the East shoreline. Close to 600 feet away. An 8 buoy should work right infront of the crowd. 200 ft or so away And heres hoping its not a 4 ball. Parking may be a pickle. Plenty of room for viewing and festival items. Public boat ramp and there are homes on the connected lake so they will have to close that off somehow. Highly visible from a HEAVILY used highway.

[liquid d]

Lake Ivanhoe hosted several Pro Tours back in the 80's. The Slalaom course will be on the east side (inside the jump) and with great visability. It can be a 4 or 6 bouy config, but now with the 55's , it's probably a 4.

[Wish]

Can an 8 buoy be record capable?? If it's a 4, that lake has enough room to do side by side courses like they did in Mexico and the same way they did tricks at SOAKED. Now THAT would be cool and a hell of a sight to watch if they cant get an 8 ball in there and make it record worthy.

[MattP]

@wish yes. ATL ProAm was a record. You skied in it...

[Wish]

@MattP. It was all just a blurr. Had I known that I woulda tried harder. ;-) Actually I had no idea. Just wasn't sure so thanks for the clarification.

[MattP]

@Wish try harder? I think you won..

[Wish]

ya but I woulda tried for the record---sarcasm font. :)

[webbdawg99]

@Wish AND you beat @Horton. Poor guy

[Wish]

So looks like the same folks putting this Extreme Watersports Fest together as Soaked. That's great. Perfect actually.

 

Kind of a thread steal but maybe not.

 

So the folks at MasterCraft seemed to pay attention (maybe) to the thread about the perfect boat and look how far they knocked it out of the park.

 

So, if you were gonna put on a Water Sports Festival, what would you put out for the folks for their hard earned dollars? Or if you were in attendance, what would you like to see, hear, and do for your entrance dollars? What do you think would capture the Joe public?

 

Brainstorming, free flowing ideas may have some impact here.

[SkiKolb]

This is great news, we missed Soaked last yr, but my kids have oct 17 & 18 off school, so I think we are driving to Orlando for this event! Do they have to charge admission? I would rather it be a no charge event, but have plenty of vendors so we can spend plenty of money on food, waterski gear, etc. the vendors can pay a small fee to be onsite to generate funds.

[Wish]

So.. Awesome that we get another High End Pro tournament here in Orlando. See Front Page

 

I truly wish all who are involved best of luck and I'll do everything I can to spread the word.

 

I'll toss out my 2cents worth of ideas.

 

1.Food trucks. Costs event nothing and gives THE best verity of food. People will literally come just to eat the food. They follow these food truck band wagons to different locations throughout Central FL

 

2.Have more then just a bounce house and face painting for the kids. Get a portable rock wall company to show up and a bungie jump rig to come out. Get creative here. People see the word festival or fest and have expectations of more then just watching the action.

 

3.If its an 8 buoy course great, a record could be set. But for the sake of moving our sport into the world of joe public's interest, ANNOUNCE IN HOW MANY FEET IS LEFT ON THE ROPE and not feet off. That can be secondary in announcing and a side education during down time. Don't wast time or money on pamphlets explaining it either. Just get them hooked....then educate.

 

4. If its a 4 ball, run TWO COURSES side by side (plenty of room on that lake). What could be easier to understand and more exciting to watch for joe public then two skiers side by side ripping down the course with twin walls of water. Pretty obvious who beat who as well.

 

 

 

 

[MattP]

@wish ill say it once... ill say it again... you should put on your own event..

[Wish]

@MattP once was enough... But if you need to... ;)

[Skoot1123]

AWESOME!! Glad another event is happening!

[ski4xtc]

@wish, great ideas. Hearing an announcer say "the rope is now only 34' long" for -41 would make much more sense to the general public. Skiers would have to do a little math if the -41 was not announced but we are not the ones who's interest needs to be kept. I also really like your side by side skiing idea. It would seem more of a competitive sport and everyone would know right then who won that segment and is moving on. Good thoughts. Hopefully they will be considered for this event and others. Someone just needs to figure out how the keep the crowds interest during the down time and outside of the 16 seconds of actual course skiing for slalom. Maybe on the fly automatic line shorting and more of an actual skiers endurance competition?

[scuppers]

Well here goes my turn for an ass chewing - As hard as Mike Morgan worked on the event - It just didn't quite get there. There were a load of logistical problems but most of all, he needed TV cameras in boats, out on the water, filming the action very up close and personal. He needed "real" trained color commentators that speak clear English. Then dozens of TV monitors all over the place so everyone could see every bit of the action, and replays and "play by play" so to speak. The announcers HAVE to know and understand slalom, jump and what ever is on the water and they must know the players, and their stats and their history. And did I mention they have to speak clear, articulate, enunciated English. Want to know how to get it done? Call a collage like Full Sail U. and make a deal. That's what those kids live for. Think pro football, NASCAR any other event. Try watching them with the mute button turned on. That's what it was like at Soaked.

[Wish]

Wish I could remember the announcing but I don't. I also cant remember what tournament the mic was handed to Freddie Krueger but my jaw dropped just listening to the guy. He fit everyone of @scuppers criteria and then some. His knowledge of the skiers was incredibly deep. His knowledge of the techniques used by the skiers was way above the norm. He was flawless, concise, factual, entertaining, knowledgeable and very very easy to listen to. And THE best part, he did it all for the slalom event. That man absolutely has a God given talent and if or when he retires from jump this would be easy for him to do. I was so impressed with his knowledge of slalom that I actually want to seek him out for coaching.

[Ed_Johnson]

I believe it was Diablo last year, and Wish is right...Freddie did an absolute INCREDIBLE job announcing...I do feel that was a big surprise to a lot of people, being a Slalom event. However, anyone that knows Freddie was not surprised at all...The Guy is pure Talent and a Super Person.

[DooSPX]

Looking forward to it! @Wish, do you know which part of the lake it will be on? Wanting to google map it in my phone so I have it saved.

 

Also, does anyone know if @Marcus Brown will be skiing?

[Wish]

Google Lake Ivanhoe Orlando. The portion of the lake is on the east side of the highway (i-4). On that portion, look along the east shoreline and you will see a park that runs the entire east shore line. That's where it will be held.

[DooSPX]

Thanks @Wish! Gaston Edwards Park?

[Wish]

Yes

[DooSPX]

Excellent. Thank you!