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WakingMeHappy

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I’ve been grazing through some old posts just looking to see what is in the history of the BuCrew. Well, it got me to thinking…how did this site begin? Who was involved? I can guess “why” it was started, but what were the expectations in the beginning? Is the site now what you hoped it would be then? I could go on with the questions but you get the idea. So, what’s the story?

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MalibuNation

IIRC I started with MBO in 2001 and as it moved away from "just Malibu" this group started and I got an email out of the blue ... was wary at first ... but it turned out great.

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Malibudude will have to give us the particulars prior to 2002, that was when I entered the picture. But yes, I believe that MBO started as a Yahoo group in 2001.

In the spring of 2005 the owner of MBO decided to take it in a different direction. The site was purchased by Wakeside & expanded to include all makes of tournament boats into a site called Wakesiderides.com. The overall feel & direction of the site was going to be much, much different. The rest of us could see that, & for some of us we could see the death of our community within that even if WSR would be successful. There were (& still are) too many here that have no interest in what that site was all about. So a few of us decided to do something about it.

Many people come here for the content & information. That's great, it's one of the things that will help the site endure, particularly with the advent of sites like Facebook. But at the crux, at the heart of it, this is a place that people come to meet up with their friends. I've seen a few threads lately that reflect that. You almost can't put a price on spending time on the water with people that really get it. For most outside of the boating world, it's just something to go do. This place is full of people that understand that it's so much more than that to us. That was what MBO was all about, & Wakesiderides was a huge shift away from that.

We've tried to keep the same feel here. Some would say that we've succeeded, some not. And some of that is just flat out of our control.

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Malibudude will have to give us the particulars prior to 2002, that was when I entered the picture. But yes, I believe that MBO started as a Yahoo group in 2001.

In the spring of 2005 the owner of MBO decided to take it in a different direction. The site was purchased by Wakeside & expanded to include all makes of tournament boats into a site called Wakesiderides.com. The overall feel & direction of the site was going to be much, much different. The rest of us could see that, & for some of us we could see the death of our community within that even if WSR would be successful. There were (& still are) too many here that have no interest in what that site was all about. So a few of us decided to do something about it.

Many people come here for the content & information. That's great, it's one of the things that will help the site endure, particularly with the advent of sites like Facebook. But at the crux, at the heart of it, this is a place that people come to meet up with their friends. I've seen a few threads lately that reflect that. You almost can't put a price on spending time on the water with people that really get it. For most outside of the boating world, it's just something to go do. This place is full of people that understand that it's so much more than that to us. That was what MBO was all about, & Wakesiderides was a huge shift away from that.

We've tried to keep the same feel here. Some would say that we've succeeded, some not. And some of that is just flat out of our control.

Well said, and have being with the site since it's inception and on the previous versions, I would have to say, all in all great job to Tracy and those that put in the work to make this site what it is. :thumbup:

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Malibudude will have to give us the particulars prior to 2002, that was when I entered the picture. But yes, I believe that MBO started as a Yahoo group in 2001.

In the spring of 2005 the owner of MBO decided to take it in a different direction. The site was purchased by Wakeside & expanded to include all makes of tournament boats into a site called Wakesiderides.com. The overall feel & direction of the site was going to be much, much different. The rest of us could see that, & for some of us we could see the death of our community within that even if WSR would be successful. There were (& still are) too many here that have no interest in what that site was all about. So a few of us decided to do something about it.

Many people come here for the content & information. That's great, it's one of the things that will help the site endure, particularly with the advent of sites like Facebook. But at the crux, at the heart of it, this is a place that people come to meet up with their friends. I've seen a few threads lately that reflect that. You almost can't put a price on spending time on the water with people that really get it. For most outside of the boating world, it's just something to go do. This place is full of people that understand that it's so much more than that to us. That was what MBO was all about, & Wakesiderides was a huge shift away from that.

We've tried to keep the same feel here. Some would say that we've succeeded, some not. And some of that is just flat out of our control.

I'm on this side.

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I remember the day I tried to log on MBO and it was gone! I was directed to Wakesiderides and said "NO!!"Cry.gif I was lost and thought I was done with the boat boards.

Then I received an email directing Me here, All the familiar people from MBO, it felt like home again.

What was it , like 2 weeks or so and TMC was up and running?

werule.gifthankyou.gif

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Originally there was a Yahoo group setup for Malibu owners started by Clint back in ~'99. At that time forums were really becoming the norm for social media and I looked into starting a forum based site, Jason and I ended up getting together to start the site that eventually became Malibuboatowners.com, emailed everyone we could find about it, which existed from '01-'05, when it was sold off to WSR and since has faded into the distance. I knew that the change was coming MBO being sold to WSR. So grabbed a great group of friends and decided to create a new site that continued with the original concept as MBO and we went live in April '05. Doug Hickey a crewmember summed it up “the Crew, was akin to the local pub to hang out with friends”. We’ve worked hard to keep the Crew objective and free from outside influence i.e. commercial ads. The membership defines what we are about and imho continues to be the pub that not only can you come to get a drink to make new friends you can also get bar none the best info from a variety of walks of life on a huge array of subjects.

In ’01 I started the first Weekend on the Water (WOW) up at Lake Shasta and they’ve been going strong ever since….One day we might have a national WOW at Powell….

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Originally there was a Yahoo group setup for Malibu owners started by Clint back in ~'99. At that time forums were really becoming the norm for social media and I looked into starting a forum based site, Jason and I ended up getting together to start the site that eventually became Malibuboatowners.com, emailed everyone we could find about it, which existed from '01-'05, when it was sold off to WSR and since has faded into the distance. I knew that the change was coming MBO being sold to WSR. So grabbed a great group of friends and decided to create a new site that continued with the original concept as MBO and we went live in April '05. Doug Hickey a crewmember summed it up "the Crew, was akin to the local pub to hang out with friends". We've worked hard to keep the Crew objective and free from outside influence i.e. commercial ads. The membership defines what we are about and imho continues to be the pub that not only can you come to get a drink to make new friends you can also get bar none the best info from a variety of walks of life on a huge array of subjects.

In '01 I started the first Weekend on the Water (WOW) up at Lake Shasta and they've been going strong ever since….One day we might have a national WOW at Powell….

Truly amazing :thumbup:

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I've spoken with Malibu about doing a national WOW & we could actually get good support from them for the event if we could find a spot near one of the factories. I think at this point Merced is out & I don't know anything about what is around the TN plant that could accommodate us. But it would be a really cool thing to put together if we could. I've always wanted to do it.

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One day we might have a national WOW at Powell….

Ha! Now your talkin!

.....anything about what is around the TN plant that could accommodate us.

Dale Hollow? :rockon:

Interesting stuff. Having gone thru a similar process with the hydrofoil groups, I know what it takes to keep things alive & running. We actually started with the old Listbot service in 1996, then Yahoogroups in 1998, and now Foilforum.com since about 2007.

Kudos to those of you who have been involved over the years. It's definitely the "local pub" of forums! I'll have a Mac&Jacs please. :yahoo:

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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I've spoken with Malibu about doing a national WOW & we could actually get good support from them for the event if we could find a spot near one of the factories. I think at this point Merced is out & I don't know anything about what is around the TN plant that could accommodate us. But it would be a really cool thing to put together if we could. I've always wanted to do it.

There are some big lakes in TN, not to mention Lake Lanier near Atlanta which is HUGE but about 3 hours from Loudon. I know a lot of people who know some of those lakes...should I look into?

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I remember we had lots of discussions about how we should get the word out about the new TMC site. We didn't want to just post on WSR about the site. After a few well placed emails, the ripple effect started and we started seeing a lot of the MBO crew showing up. You can look back at the membership list by join date and see how fast they were coming.

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MalibuNation

I've spoken with Malibu about doing a national WOW & we could actually get good support from them for the event if we could find a spot near one of the factories. I think at this point Merced is out & I don't know anything about what is around the TN plant that could accommodate us. But it would be a really cool thing to put together if we could. I've always wanted to do it.

Often wondered about a national one ... I know Crownline has one. Heck, I'm still trying to get WOW for Michigan ... maybe next year.

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I remember we had lots of discussions about how we should get the word out about the new TMC site. We didn't want to just post on WSR about the site. After a few well placed emails, the ripple effect started and we started seeing a lot of the MBO crew showing up. You can look back at the membership list by join date and see how fast they were coming.

And I think that we only told maybe 1 or 2 people each. Myself, I think that I only told one person about it, I just figured that "if you build it, they will come". It was pretty amazing how fast everyone told everyone else. People here are connected.

In terms of a national WOW, my own thought on it is that it has to be a place that has a centralized gathering area where people can not only stay, but ideally have options on that count (whether it's camping, staying in a hotel or cabin, or houseboating). Powell is tough because it's so spread out & there isn't a centralized spot like this. The spot that Texas used to have their WOWs on the Rio Brazos comes to mind, something like that (only bigger) would be nearly ideal. The idea of having it near one of the factories was proposed to me by Mark Gibbs & frankly I think that's a really great idea.

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We have had gatherings at the old Texas WOW spot that were in the 60-70 boat range. It gets pretty crowded fast with that many boats on the river. Same thing up stream where they have the Texas Hydrofoil Fly In. It just gets too crowded and is a recipe for someone getting injured. The lodging situation is limited too. You can get lodging there and some camping. A larger crowd would be staying off the river, 20-30 miles away. Riverrunner has had some surf comps there but I'm not sure how many actual boats were in the water at one time.

BTW... I suggest we move the WOW discussion to a new thread.

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We have had gatherings at the old Texas WOW spot that were in the 60-70 boat range. It gets pretty crowded fast with that many boats on the river. Same thing up stream where they have the Texas Hygrofoil Fly In. It just gets too crowded and is a recipe for someone getting injured. The lodging situation is limited too. You can get lodging there and some camping. A larger crowd would be staying off the river, 20-30 miles away. Riverrunner has had some surf comps there but I'm not sure how many actual boats were in the water at one time.

Yeah, I think that the Secret Spot is too small for something like this. When I was there & we had, what, 25-30 boats? I cant' see having too many more there comfortably. But the idea of a place like that only bigger is kind of what I am thinking would be ideal.

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martinarcher

I would say Norris Lake in TN. Truely an awesome lake :partytime:

We rented a boat on Lake Douglas on out honeymoon. That's how I sold my wife on boating! Yahoo.gif

I'd love to see a National WOW in TN. I'd also love to see/tour the Malibu factory. Everyone who has done it seems to be amazed at how customer focused the people at the factory are and how cool it is to get a tour and see where our Bu's are born. Rockon.gif

Just to re-interate what others have already said, here's a big thanks to our fantastic admin crew that has worked hard to create an absolutely fantastic place for Bu lovers to gather and feel at home over the years. Rockon.gif

thankyou.gifwerule.gifthankyou.gif

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And I think that we only told maybe 1 or 2 people each. Myself, I think that I only told one person about it, I just figured that "if you build it, they will come". It was pretty amazing how fast everyone told everyone else. People here are connected.

In terms of a national WOW, my own thought on it is that it has to be a place that has a centralized gathering area where people can not only stay, but ideally have options on that count (whether it's camping, staying in a hotel or cabin, or houseboating). Powell is tough because it's so spread out & there isn't a centralized spot like this. The spot that Texas used to have their WOWs on the Rio Brazos comes to mind, something like that (only bigger) would be nearly ideal. The idea of having it near one of the factories was proposed to me by Mark Gibbs & frankly I think that's a really great idea.

That's kinda of always been the problem nothing is real central.... Table rock is closer to centralization than Dale Hollow or Lake Norris. Definitely it's going to be a huge challenge to locate a place that meets all the requirements.

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I need to talk with Mark again about this. He's a good idea man.

And when I used the word "centralized", I wasn't necessarily thinking centralized nationally. Just that the locale has to have a centralized gathering area. I'd really like to do it near one of the factories myself.

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Same thing up stream where they have the Texas Hydrofoil Fly In. It just gets too crowded and is a recipe for someone getting injured. The lodging situation is limited too.

You mean camping in Spitz's yard isn't an option? :crazy:

The first year I went, I slept under the pool table. :rofl:

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