By Marty Head
Wow. What a beginning to the 2001 Wakeboarding Season here in Louisiana. We started out the year with great water conditions. Then, just a month ago, the river was cresting at close to 5 feet above flood stage. Now, we are safely below flood stage, and we are dropping around half a foot per day. For those of you that do not understand how high the water gets around here, picture this...remember all the camp grounds and RV parking last year at LSF? That was about 6 feet under water. But now we are safely below flood stage and dropping fast.
As you may or may not know, Louisiana Spring Fling will be a week long festival this year. If you are wondering what exactly goes on at an event like this, well, its basically one thing...Riding. LSF is held on the Ouachita River in Monroe, Louisiana. There are 300+ miles of river to ride on. As long as you stay on the river, you will be safe. Just watch for the channel markers and you will know which way the river flows. If you get off of the river, that could mean trouble. But the river is easily defined by the markers.
Anyway, on to the good stuff. Like I said, LSF will be held from Monday, April 30th through Sunday, May 6th. The main activities will be from Thursday through Sunday, with the "do not miss day" being Saturday.
Louisiana Spring Fling 2001 has decided to go back to its roots this year. Moon Lake Marina will once again play host to LSF for the 4th straight year. Monday through Thursday will consist of nothing but riding all day long. Friday, there will be much more riding. However, BA Boards, Liquid Force Boards and Hyperlite Boards will be available to check out and possibly demo. The Marina will be the home base for the entire event. If you do not have a ride, or if you are looking for someone to ride with you, all you got to do is walk down or pull up to the Marina and introduce yourself. I get a lot of e-mails from people that ask if they should tow their boats just to make sure they get a ride. I always say that if you can bring your boat, you should, just to be safe. But there is usually a lot of boats that are looking for other riders to join in. My advice is to go to www.wakeworld.com and visit the LSF Message Board. David will have a link on the front page of Wakeworld. Use this resource to catch rides or offer rides. Also, use the power of the Wakelist and get hooked up before you come!
Saturday will be the "social" day. This is the best time for people to meet up at the marina and socialize with everyone else. Its amazing how many people you will see there that live right down the street from you, and you never knew it. And its always good to see those "LSF" people that you only get to see once a year in Louisiana! There will be a "Ladies Only Boat going on Saturday sometime before the other activities. Waterski Boats of Dallas is bringing over an SSV to help provide the flotation for that gathering. Just like in years past, there will be a Double Up Contest at 3 O'clock at the Marina pulled by Hyperlite and one of their brand new 2001 X-Stars.
For the first time this year, LSF will feature a "Super Stereo" Contest. This will take place immediately following the Double Up Contest. This is your chance to show off your hard work and your hard earned money you put into your boat. The prize is yet to be determined, but we will work something out.
Immediately following the Contest, there will be the annual Raffle Drawing. The Raffle Drawing is our chance to give our thanks to the LSF Sponsors. Without those guys, LSF would not be possible this year. Please support the companies that support you. Here is our 2001 Sponsor List. Thank you to each and every one of you for everything! A list of some of the raffle items will be posted later in this release.
Moon Lake Marina Resort
Gus Campbell Watersports
MC Boats of Arkansas
Ambush Boarding Company
Krooked Minds Wakeboard Team
Y2Kp Board Gear
Munson Inboard and Ski Watersports
See Dick Ride Wakeboards
Lakeside Watersports
Glass and Powder Boardshop
Gath
Newt Juice
Carp Suckers Wakeboard Team
Outfitters, LTD.
Ichor Intelligence Company Wakeboard Accessories
White Trash Wakeboard Team
BA Boards
Hyperlite Boards
Liquid Force Boards
Reef Brazil
No Flex Inc. Binding Boltz
Rainbow Fin Company
Skylon
Utopia Optics
Dregs Skateboards
WAKEtv
Wakeworld.com
Wakeboarder.com
Boardtrends.com
Wake Boarding Magazine
Alliance Magazine
Supra Boats
Mastercraft Boats
Waterski Boats of Dallas
Mickee's Billiards and Ballgames
Texas Ski Ranch
Fly High
And LSF is also working in conjunction with the Oklahoma Wakeboard Association and with the 360 Wakeboard Club/Waketoberfest.
I would also like to personally thank my T-shirt producer, Joe Pearson at Action Shirts.
Like I said, LSF is going back to its roots this year. LSF was originally intended to be a "Wakeboarding Festival", not a wakeboarding tournament. There will be more riding at this event than ever before. The Double Up Contest will not last but an hour or so, and the raffle will not last but about 30 - 45 minutes. We want to encourage as much riding and socialization as possible. Why pull your boat for 10 hours to get here, then just sit in it and watch others ride. We want you to go out and enjoy our river and see what it is to ride in Louisiana. Please be kind to the locals and they will be kind to you. Please have respect with your wakes and stay on the river! On the same note, I do encourage you to all be in Moon Lake for the Double Up Contest. Just form a circle around the outer edge of the lake and the contest will run right in the middle. This is the best time for all of those killer crowd shots and your big chance to get on WAKEtv!
For those of you that are coming to LSF for the first time, it may seem like there is not much planned for LSF. The reason for this is because there is something ALWAYS going on at LSF. There are people every where..riding everywhere..action everywhere. If you are tired of being in a boat, come to the marina for a while and hang out with tons of people that have the same common interest as you do. And the cool thing is that if you are at the camp ground, and you want to go ride but your friends don't, just grab your gear and walk down to the dock and stick your thumb out. Don't think it works? Ask the people that went to LSF last year!
If you are wondering what to do at night, well, this is Louisiana. Crawfish are in season. If you have never had crawfish, or have never heard of crawfish, get someone to take you to eat Crawfish. It is quite possible that we will have a crawfish boil at the Marina one nite, but that is yet to be determined. If we don't, make sure you go experience the Cajun food of Louisiana. There are plenty of places to eat, just ask the locals.
And, once again, Mickee's Billiards and Ballgames has requested that they have the opportunity to entertain the LSF guests for the 4th year. But this time, its going to be an unbelievable night. At 11:30pm at Mickee's, Liquid Force will be raffling away one of their new Evolution Series Boards, and then there will once again be the throwing out of tons of Reef Brazil goods! At this time, Liquid Force is going to turn down the music, and turn up the TVs to host the second premier of "Tomorrow", the new LF Video. Thats right, LSF is the second premier date for "Tomorrow"! The video will be shown for the very first time ever the night before in Tempe, Arizona at the Nautiques Big Air Challenge. Then, the next nite, its us! Liquid Force states "This showing will take place at the popular spot, Mickee's Bar, in Monroe. This event is in conjunction with the Louisiana Spring Fling wakeboard event that is happening that week. Several Pro riders and Liquid Force representatives will be there.." Think that's enough? I don't think so. I have no idea what Mickee has planed for us that nite, but he told me today to "stick around for another surprise".
Mickee has also invited us for pre-party celebrations on Thursday and Friday Night at his place. There will be plenty of socialization and fun at Mickee's Billiards and Ballgames on Thursday and Friday Nite, but Saturday will be the huge nite! Thats one night you do not want to miss.
As far as LSF T-shirts go, they will be available at the Marina. They will be on a first come, first serve basis. There should be plenty of shirts to go around, but they usually don't last past Saturday. I have had many of you ask me to reserve shirts for you. Please, only people that cannot attend the event may e-mail me and I will sit one aside for you. For those of you that are attending, just relax and be patient. They will be there for you! Also, don't forget to check out the complete lines of Y2Kp Board Gear and Off-Axis Board Gear at the Marina!
We are really looking forward to LSF this year. Things are really starting to fall into place, and the reason for this is because we have such strong sponsors this year. The reason that I am so proud of these sponsors is because they came to me for LSF. They called and offered their help to get LSF '01 on its feet. Thats the beauty of this industry. We are all in this industry because we love this sport. We all have one common interest and one common goal. That is to ride. Please support the sponsors that support you.
Here are some examples of what will be given away at LSF '01 this year..
Wakeboards from BA and Liquid Force
Fat Seat from Fly High
Reef Brazil goods
Gath Helmets, C-Skins and Barz courtsey of Murrays.com
Board Bag from Glass and Powder
Lokz Binding Bolts from No Flex Inc.
Rainbow Fins and Skylon products courtesy of Bill Doyle
Too many shirts to count from many of our sponsors
No Fear Gear from Outfitters, LTD
$100 gift certificate toward a Pylon or Tower or accessories from Ichor
Intelligence Wakeboard Accessories
Phat Buddies from See Dick Ride Wakeboards
An assortment of goods from Ambush Board Company
Newt Juice!!
Utopia Optics
Dregs Skateboards
and much, much more.
Guys, thanks for everything. I look forward to seeing all of you at LSF again this year..and, yes, I will have another wakeboard at the T-shirt booth for you to sign, just like last year! Please, everyone stop by and sign the board! Thanks!
Marty McFly
Hyperlite Wakeboards
Y2Kp Board Gear
Body Bag Weight Systems
NoFlex Inc. (Lokz Binding Boltz)
Malibu Boats
Midway Marine
Glass and Powder Boardshop
Newt Juice Binding Slime
(318) 376-2398 Marty2kp@aol.com
