my "pay it forward" wakeboard story

[sandm]

sorry it's kind of long, but eh...

saw on wakeworld that one of the hyperlite pay it forward boards was stuck here in meridian for 6+ weeks. volunteered to go check it out. girl really had no intentions on sending it on, so I took it. guy that gave me the info on it said to ride it for the weekend, send it on to someone in ashland oregon and he'd pay me for the shipping. I sent it on, shipping was only $16 so I told him I'd eat it since I got to ride it and never sent my address. this was several weeks ago. last wed, I get an email from a hyperlite rep asking for my address to send me some swag for sending the board on. turns out the guy had sent him the information that I wouldn't accept payment and wanted me to get something. sent my information and waited.

well, get home today and there's a box on the doorstep from hyperlite with a sweet fleece hoodie in it, pretty excited, and right along with it is the damn wakeboard again.......
guy in oregon sent it back to me instead of the next on the list in helena montana..

now I lived in montana and I have to imagine that their riding is getting close to the end. sending it on tomorrow and hoping he has a chance to ride it...

here's crossing my fingers I don't see it again in a few weeks

[Jeff W]

I read about that on the other forum.

Very cool - aside from getting the board back.

[viking]

Do you have a Link to the info on how the "pay it forward" thing works?
Never heard of it before and interested!

sorry it's kind of long, but eh...

saw on wakeworld that one of the hyperlite pay it forward boards was stuck here in meridian for 6+ weeks. volunteered to go check it out. girl really had no intentions on sending it on, so I took it. guy that gave me the info on it said to ride it for the weekend, send it on to someone in ashland oregon and he'd pay me for the shipping. I sent it on, shipping was only $16 so I told him I'd eat it since I got to ride it and never sent my address. this was several weeks ago. last wed, I get an email from a hyperlite rep asking for my address to send me some swag for sending the board on. turns out the guy had sent him the information that I wouldn't accept payment and wanted me to get something. sent my information and waited.

well, get home today and there's a box on the doorstep from hyperlite with a sweet fleece hoodie in it, pretty excited, and right along with it is the damn wakeboard again.......
guy in oregon sent it back to me instead of the next on the list in helena montana..

now I lived in montana and I have to imagine that their riding is getting close to the end. sending it on tomorrow and hoping he has a chance to ride it...

here's crossing my fingers I don't see it again in a few weeks

[Jeff W]

Do you have a Link to the info on how the "pay it forward" thing works?
Never heard of it before and interested!

Couple of the Hyperlite guys threw a couple of boards out there at the beginning of the year and you ride them for a weekend and then ship them to the next guy. Board gets a lot of use, new shapes looked into, pics are shared, etc..

pretty cool.

wakeboarder.com

[sandm]

pretty cool concept. I'll be watching for a signup next year to actually get involved in the program, and not the bad guy knocking on doors

great way to get to ride a murray140 that I normally would not even consider riding due to price. bet it sold a few boards through the season..

[mikebu]

Thanks again for the help Scott. I'm glad Hyperlite hooked you up with something...

[501]

Awesome story and nice work shipping for free.

Too bad about the girl.

How was the board?

[tprkolbas]

i also was involved in the pay it forward program this year. i rode the 135. i had a hard time getting comfortable with the board. i felt the landings were very hard. the board had tons of rocker. the board allowed me to recover fairly easily when i had a sketchy landing, but again, the landings were rough compared to a lot of other boards i've ridden. the quality and graphics of the board are good - it just doesn't fit my riding style.

i think hyperlite, wakeboarder.com, and shaun murray did a great job putting the program together. it was a shame that some people took advantage of it. i wakeboarding buddy of mine & myself both made the same list. we got the board on a thursday evening, and i had it in the hands of the next guy on sunday morning.

if the program is continued next year, i recommend giving it a try. i'm a firm believer that you should demo anything you can to figure out what is best for you.

i posted some pics from when we tested out the board on the wakeboarder.com forum:

http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=81687

(as of the time i posted this, my pics are the last in the thread, dated 9-14-09)