New Additions Coming Soon

It is that time of the year where I start reviewing and updating my business plan in preparation for 2009. Seems a little early doesn’t it? Reason is, it all revolves around the Outdoor Retailer Expo, which takes place in Salt Lake City Utah every August. That is where manufacturers showcase and launch new products and start taking preseason orders.

Last year, we were quick to bring to you the latest news in new products by Heritage, Native, NuCanoe and a few other brands. I got an early preview of what you can expect to see from Native and Heritage but was sworn to secrecy until after the show. Stay tuned!

I am particularly excited this year because I am now more than ever in tune with what is out there, what my customers want and setting the stage for our overdue retail front. And, as I have stated before, I am working to expand out watercraft line as well. In an effort to offer a more diverse product offering, I am looking for new and innovative boats instead of your standard run of the mill kayak. We are in the process of setting up shop to sell Gheenoe and KL Industries boats and also plan to expand our Flatstalker inventory. We’ll provide more details on this soon.

There is one product we picked up a few weeks ago and I am honored to be the first dealer in Central Texas to offer it…the Freedom Hawk Kayak. I haven’t had a chance to demo the boat myself but plan to play with it a bit at the OR Expo. I’ll be sure to post my report here as I am very excited about this product. I have learned that one my customer’s number one priority in buying a boat is stability. This boat seems to take care of that in more ways than one. We currently have a couple in stock and will have one at our demo day in September so be sure to check back for dates. Here is a link to a video.

Well, keeping it short…updates from the OR Expo coming soon.

Cheers,
Roland "Bones" Jimenez

Native Watercraft Manta Ray and More!

Yeah, yeah, so I never got to posting updates regarding my experience at the 2007 Outdoor Retailer Expo. Seriously...I am sorry about that. I actually did post some pretty good reports on our very own Native Watercraft Owner's Group, Austin Kayak Fishing and Texas Kayak Fisherman, so instead of reposting, here are some links:

Report on Native Watercraft Owner's Group

Report on Austin Kayak Fishing

Report on Texas Kayak Fisherman



The biggest news comes from Native Watercraft. Aside from some minor updates to the current line, the Manta Ray is now part of the Native Watercraft line. We are excited to announce that we will now have it in stock. We expect our first shipment to arrive in late September. To reserve yours, email me directly at roland@lakelinewatersports.com. Native also launched a sit-inside kayak called the Marvel. Sweet ride, nice features and we should have some of these in stock come January 2008.

Hope those reports provide some good insight on what's to come this Fall and in 2008.

BTW, we picked up some new watercraft brands/styles...more info coming soon.

Cheers,
Roland “Bones” Jimenez

Where's Roland (Not Waldo)?

That’s right, I made the cover of Outdoor Retailer magazine!

Okay, nothing to be too excited about. As you can see, it would take an industrial magnifying glass to figure it out and even then, I am so far in the back that I’ve been blurred out. The cover shot was taken at the Open Air Demo held at the Summer 2006 Outdoor Retailer Expo in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Ever been to a kayak dealer’s demo day? Well, multiply that by 20…this event is huge! It is where many dealers get a chance to demo kayaks by most manufacturers. In this photo, I was paddling a Malibu. Great kayak but I decided to pick up Heritage and Native instead.

On that note, my flight and hotel are booked and I am ready to hit it again this year. Instead of focusing on new watercraft, my goal is to greatly expand my accessory product line to better serve my customers! My Heritage/Native rep is also telling me that I am going to be very excited about what they are going to release at the show. I promise you will be some of the first to know as I plan to post updates on this blog while at the show so be sure to check back.

The dates of the show are August 7th – 12th and I plan to be there most of the week.

Stay tuned…more news about Lakeline Watersports & the expo coming soon.

Cheers,
Roland “Bones” Jimenez