No one left on Gator Boards?

I was just watching this video of the Fox Spine & Swine.

http://www.wakeworld.com/news/featur...ne--swine.html

I noticed that D.Cook is rocking an LF board in the video. (Riding insane by the way) That prompted me to look at the Gator website, which only lists 4 team riders now. Gator, AJ Racinelli, Kyle Albert (who I thought left) and Ashley Leugner. I would hate to see Gator Boards disappear. Where they at Expo this year, I dont recall seeing any of GB stuff posted.

Just wondering.

Yeah I remember seeing Gator Boards at Expo..but they didnt have new gear. It was all 2011 stuff

Isnt Rattray still with them?

Rattray is on Byerly now. I would venture to say that Gator is pretty well done.

Yeah Rattray went to Byerly a while ago. I would hate to see another wake company go under.

Andy, I agree that nobody wants to see them go under, but there's been what seems to be writing on the wall for a while.

Ive seen a couple kids at cable parks recently sponsored by Gator. I think theres a video of the national points chase with a couple riders rocking Gator equipment. im pretty sure Revolution cable park and a couple 2.0 parks carry Gator stuff. I dont know if thats a sign of good or bad business, but it says something of theyre involvement.

Don't care about selling boards? Thats the reason you have a wakeboard company.

Originally Posted by fowl

Don't care about selling boards? Thats the reason you have a wakeboard company.

I agree.... Can't fund a team without selling product.....

whoa that was an odd response there Terry!

Hmmm Iguess i should have elaborated. I just feel that Wakeboards cant evolve anymore than they already have You dont need new inovations every year to sell ya a new board. Gatorboards last soo long and the Milltant and gator shapes are perfect. Thats why no big booth or updates every day reminding you hey you need this board cause you will ride better. cause you wont. And selling boards is not the reason for wakeboarding companys. Wakeboard companys should be created to push the sport and express artistic views ( in the product and in the riding) of everyone involved in that company. plus expo gets lamer and lamer every year!! #justsaying ha

Terry,
Pushing the sport and expressing artistic views are definitely a great thing, and it's great when a company, wake, snow, skate, etc has this in mind. That said, to maintain a business, selling your product is essential and it is what allows you to fund projects which aid your riders in the expression of artistic views and sport pushing.

I'm sure if you asked D. Cook, Rattray, Randall, Gonzalez and many others, they'd say they love to express their art too. But it's hard when expressing said art comes with bills. Big bills.

Terry,

Still, for me, another strange response. Should wakeboard companies stop trying to use new ideas, push new shapes, use new materials? That makes no sense. I feel that wakeboard companies and wakeboards are still evolving the sport is still an infant. Gone are the gimmics of the past, things like the Byerly hook. There is still so much room for growth in this industry, if they stop growing the industry will die. Take surfing, it has been around forever. In the 1960s it exploded and they are still pushing new ideas and new shapes. I guess I just dont agree with your point of view and that's okay. Agree to disagree. And yes Selling boards is the reason for wakeboard companies, that what keeps the doors open and wakeboards under your feet. The artistic view is what the rider adds to the wakeboard that the manufacture is trying to sell. It helps sell the boards.

I mean it is pretty rare to see a non-sponsored rider riding a gator board. Danny Burnstein sp* was rocking some new gator stuff at mccormicks but other than that, he was the last person i saw on a gator besides for my buddy who rode for them a few years ago.

Originally Posted by terrybailey10

False just a diff direction. Us new kids dont care about selling boards or PR. our AM team is tight and the next couple years we are just figuring out what we wanna do with wakeboarding. Gator isnt going anywhere. http://www.gatorboards.com/Homies/Todd-Watson

With a rich owner, i dont suspect it going anywhere either

owners dad.

I have always wanted to try Gator product

Originally Posted by kyle_L

With a rich owner, i dont suspect it going anywhere either

was waiting for someone to say this. as long as Gator wants to keep making boards, his dad will keep funding him and bailing him out.

your the "pro" don't you have the insider info?

who the pro me?

Originally Posted by terrybailey10

Hmmm Iguess i should have elaborated. I just feel that Wakeboards cant evolve anymore than they already have You dont need new inovations every year to sell ya a new board. Gatorboards last soo long and the Milltant and gator shapes are perfect.

Many companies share this same mentality; they also end up closing their doors a few years later. If you aren't innovating, someone else will. That has been true in every product development environment I have worked in, and looking at the variation in shapes and materials from just the last 5 years I cant imagine the wakeboard industry is any different.

Originally Posted by terrybailey10

I hate moneyy! lol yeah bills are lame. im not trying to get rich. and Luckyly i have alot of ppl looking out for me and so does the company. So i really dont have any responce to that aspect. But as far as the innovation i just think board technology is spinning its wheels the boards are fine just need bigger wakes!!! (cant wait to try that new xstar wake) A skateboards a skateboard but if ya wanna do a 9 you better have a hundred thousand dollar tranny??? I just know im stoaked on next yearr. Umm the house stock gator and SICKBOARDZ.COM. and to make up for expo 2012 millitant and prospect graphics!!!

I disagree, i think its lack of knowledge and understanding of design and the engineering process to say that, at some point, we are just spinning our wheels with board tech, or any type of tech for that matter. with a little step in the right direction every year, a little tweak here, a new composite there, you get some awesome technology and products that are perfected.

As the riders expression changes, the boards need to change, how about boards from 10 years ago riding rails? they would be destroyed.

If 10 years ago, the companies decided "a board is just a board" what would we be riding today? skurfers still haha?

The board does not make the rider, but a good rider can definitely ride better with the right board.

I really like it when a company is involved with pushing the sport and promoting riders, but at the end of the day, they are the ones giving us the tools we need to keep riding. They need the revenue for our sales to support those riders who are pushing the sport, otherwise, they aren't really a "company" they are a group of guys who like to ride and express themselves. Nothing wrong with that, but its careless to say your company doesn't care about sales.

It is a bit self defeating to suggest that money is not a part of the equation for a company. Even the most core free rider needs gas money...

There is truth to board shapes plateauing. There's a reason why I love Nelson's shape for hyperlite because it simply works, and has been around for years. Many of the molded channels have finally stopped getting crazier and crazier. Liquid force still seams to do a million concaves on one board, but at the end of the day a Watson is a Watson, and they call it a classic for a reason.

There's also a reason why Im likely moving over to slingshot for next season-not that I don't still like my tribute, because Nelson is one of my all time favs and love supporting the guy, but because I love how slingshot is progressing things. They certainly aren't the only, but are without question one of the clear front runners for progressing tech in the right way. Nothing crazy, but simply doing what's needed and thinking outside the box a bit.

The best part about the militant is that it isn't even a Gator shape, it is essentially Keith Lidberg's 2005 Pro Model when he rode for double up. Very MINIMAL changes were made to the board when he went to Gator, mainly a slight widening of the tip and tail, but basically the board is identical. Now I rode the Lidberg for the 2005 season and absolutely loved it, ton of rocker, finless, popped like a maniac. My buddy consequently rode the militant when he rode for double up through the 07 season, and it was still sick but a perfect board? Absolutely not. Now I might be slightly biased in my opinion of GB for how they treated my friend. He was the only rider on the team who qualified for the pro tour in 2006 and they wouldn't even pay for a hotel room for him. He was in architecture school at USF and they literally told him that "there is no reason for school and if you don't drop out, we won't fly you out and put you in Transcend to film your part. If you want to be in it you have to spend the entire 2-3 months there filming and being part of the team." He told them that he could take 2 weeks off to film but that was all he could miss but will be at any of the shots that are in the US (which was a lot of the video). So basically, the video consisted of Lidberg's section which was insane, and then filled in with riders like Mark Weikel and other amateur caliber riders. Then on top of everything, they made him ride the Gator Pro for 2007 because Lidberg was on the militant so they for advertising purposes he had to ride a shape that looked like it was from the 90s and rode just as bad and they mutually split ways. Basically if you aren't stoned, and it is passed noon, the only excuse you can have is that you have a drug test with your probation officer at 1. I went out with him and a few of the team guys once back in the day and once I saw the 9mm in the glove compartment. You never know when your brand new 210 is going to be held up on a private lake so you better be packing heat. Like I said, I in no way feel bad about the negative PR because how they treated my buddy but unfortunately as long as Gator has an interest in wakeboarding, there will still be a Gator Boards. When your family essentially owns Naples, FL (21 waterfront high rises), what's a couple hundred thousand in losses in your sons company if it makes him happy (and keeps him away from your friends). This a shot of the family compound, no it is not a neighborhood lol. I guess it kind of makes sense when you think about it that there is no reason to goto college.
http://www.lutgert.com/holdings/default.asp

no innovation but def followed the NEON trend with the graphics. That's original and artistic..

Gator who? Totally thought they were already gone. Don't mean to hate, but really they have done nothing for years, have no riders, or anything.

Gator has been winding down since 2008, stop kidding yourselves. Yeah it is a shame, but its a sign of the times and is what it is. You need to sell 2000 boards and at least that many bindings to have a company. But to sell 2000 boards you need to have a paid team, advertise and continually be on the cutting edge of what is latest and greatest. Scott Lutgert has dumped over $10m into that project since it started and since 2008 he has pulled back harder and harder. TheHouse.com is the last stop for any company that is liquidating product, if Thehouse.com has it, they bought it for below what it costs to build, sickboardz.com ships out of Ft. Myers, coincidence that Gator's buildings are in Ft Myers, I think not.

A bunch of kids riding for free is not a company, its over, yeah they have a few boards and maybe they are floating around graphics, but nobody sells Gator, they have zero athletes, do not support the Pro Tour or any grass roots events and they advertise nowhere. Randall leaving was the beginning of the end, Ricky was the last dagger and Rattray, Cook and Daniel Grant were Gators last hopes of ever having some sort or presence.

In the wakeboard business it takes money to play, its obvious the Lutgert family has a ton of money, but they are playing with it in other places, otherwise they would realize it takes minimum investment to have viable wakeboard company. I think Gator is lucky everyone has kept their mouths shut about what was really going on behind the scenes over the last 3 years. The facts about how people were paid and NOT paid would be embarrassing, especially when the owner of the company is suppose to worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Kyle L, its MILLIONS of dollars of Loses, rich guys stay rich by making money, not losing it.

Teri Bailey, when you cant even afford to have a secretary to answer the phone or a warehouse guy to ship out your products, you are not a company, you are a nightmare-

If anyone can revive a company its Erik, he obviously has the resources to do so, however the wake board market is not what it was 6 and 7 years ago, so why throw more good money after bad?

A lot of you are forgetting that in order to make a board you have to pay your manufactures and if a company doesn't make good on their obligations to the manufacturers then the boards don't get made.... Maybe that's why there is no new product coming out.. Just a thought

Originally Posted by steezyshots

A lot of you are forgetting that in order to make a board you have to pay your manufactures and if a company doesn't make good on their obligations to the manufacturers then the boards don't get made.... Maybe that's why there is no new product coming out.. Just a thought

I don't think anyone forgot, it just sounds like you have a bit more information than most.

No more information than anyone on here

Gators dad's mansion pool made for some kool shots as seen in that footage on Retrospect though.

What's his dad do? I know he's got money, but is it old money wealth like passed down in the 100s of mills or is it new money and he's got 15-50 mill?

Gator web site is a white page.................. Even company wake is still up and running, guess the hosting bill went unpaid at what $9.00 a month!!!!

R.I.P. GB

Yea I noticed that too.

Warning:

Gator Boards warranty is effectively void. There is nothing to back it up. If you purchase product, you are buying the same as used. Use extreme caution.

That said, I was once a GB dealer and still ride the gear.

RIP.

Not sure what all of you are talking about. I had some laces on my GB bindings break recently. Contacted them & they sent them right out... ????? guess it's that off-season drama kicking in already...

Originally Posted by wazzy

Not sure what all of you are talking about. I had some laces on my GB bindings break recently. Contacted them & they sent them right out... ????? guess it's that off-season drama kicking in already...

I know abosuletly zero about this topic but how long ago is recently? a couple days? a couple weeks? a coule months? Maybe this just happened in the last week or so that everything stopped completely.

Oh that is right, its normal to fire everyone, turn off your web site and let the phone go unanswered for the winter in the wake board industry. Those lace locks were replaced what a month ago? Since then the receptionist (who was the one and only paid employee) was let go and now the web site is down, Facebook has not been updated in forever.

Anything Gator is definitely out of warranty, I bet The House will be having a huge sale on all the stuff they have.

The fat lady has been warming up for the last 3 years to sing goodbye to GB, she is at full volume now.

Give the bro and company prop's for making a run at it... With a flooded market they did exceptionally well for themselves! GB will be missed for sure.

Just talked to one of the last team riders, I knew of. He says GB is no longer around. Major Bummer for the industry. I hate to see companies in the Wake Industry go Under.

Found out recently that Ashley Leugner will be riding for Ronix next year