OWS Viewpoint
Industrial Relations				P. Jurbala 01/23/96

Water skiers, even the competitors, are a pretty laid-back bunch. 
Even the wild-eyed, intense, moody competitors are pretty relaxed 
compared to, say, tennis where hacking a linesman to death with 
your racquet for a missed call is an accepted practice. So if you 
want to live on the edge and meet really dangerous water skiers, 
you don't go to the lake at all: you go to the Toronto International 
Boat Show and talk to a water ski dealer, distributor or (if you dare!) 
the V.P. of one of the ski or boat companies. Because, well, skiing 
is skiing, but business is business, and the business of water skiing 
in Canada is not an easy business to be in.

Now that the Nasty Nineties are in full swing, the OWSA has had to 
cast off its' "free advice and grant cheques" past and get into the 
game with these dangerous types. The first step was to identify 
some promising programs and get some sponsorship for them, 
which we did with the Water Ski Pro Guide, Pro Clinics, and Skills 
Awards programs. Good start: we're going to be doing more of this 
as quickly as we can get new programs going ('95 
Wakeboard/Kneeboard Series) or make existing programs more 
marketable (Ontario Team?).  But the water ski business being 
what it is (and the Nasty Nineties being Nasty), sponsorship in most 
cases means donations or loans of equipment rather than stacks of 
cash. It also creates some problems of its own: competition among 
distributors sometimes creates tension at events or between 
potential sponsors and the OWSA ("Why is so-and-so's boat pulling 
your event instead of my boat?"). 

At the Boat Show I was talking about what I see as the next step: 
the OWSA taking a role in bring together all the players in the 
business for their common advantage. There is, after all, a time to 
compete and a time when cooperation can be more beneficial- for 
example, cooperation in funding a lobbying effort to keep the 
waterways open for skiing, or to promote the sport to the public. 
Any program which promotes water skiing, whether competition 
skiing, recreational skiing, safety, or whatever is a good investment 
for a company which survives by selling to water skiiers. I, 
personally, would love to see an Ontario Water Ski Centre where 
skiers could come to test skis and boats back to back, funded in 
part by all the dealers and distributors. It seems like a logical step 
for the future of the OWSA, and the future of Ontario water skiing, 
to develop this sort of partnership.

One day, we'll get there. In the meantime, we're trying to keep our 
new programs open so all potential sponsors have an opportunity to 
contribute. When a choice has to be made, we'll prefer to work with 
businesses which have supported the OWSA in the past as 
corporate members, advertisers, and sponsors: and you should too, 
for these are the businesses which have the vision to see that they 
are investing in their own future. Or are you still trying to smuggle 
your equipment in on your annual trip to Florida?  Take pity on 
these guys: making a living on water skiing in Ontario is hard work.