Some thought it was trivial, others did not. So what?! This is an internet forum where people can express their opinions, any opinion! Everyone that reads/posts here knows that.

Best has derived a lot of business from using this site as a major piece of their marketing. Just look at how many posts there are that were started by Gumball, Simon and other Besties. So, of course Gumball/Simon and the rest of the Best crew should take any thing like this with a smile, it's good business for them.

I'm glad there was an apology and it was smart that Gumball used this mishap as an opportunity to sell more kites and therefore get rid of '04 inventory. He certainly is no dummy, though blaming a subordiante is never a cool thing to do.

Anyway, good luck to Best. It's nice to hear they are charitable and attempt to be an upstanding company.

Gumball said:
"One of our graphics guys made a mistake and no one, myself included, caught it. Apologies to Ozone, they make nice foils for snow. "

Interesting. He didn't name names, he said "one of our graphics guys". He also admitted that he failed to catch it. It never looked to me like he was blaming a subordinate. He was taking responsibility, and giving an explanation as to how it happened.

More importantly - who cares? I don't own a Best kite, but I don't think they're going to destroy the entire Sport either. Nor will they single handedly bring the price of all kites down to $200. Competition is good. Best is just the first company in this sector to fill the "direct to the consumer" void. If not them someone else. We can already see that others have joined. My crystal ball tells me there will always be kite companies with distributors and retailers, and there will always be direct to the consumer companies as well. Take your pick.

I hope kites will come way down in price, but I'm not so sure they will. They've been making paragliders for a long time, and they still cost a whole lot more than our kites.

RC

i think its pretty safe to say "that at this time best kiteboarding has no immediate plans to move into the world of bottled aromatherapy products"...

but hey, never say never right!

It's good to see that Best has finally got their own photos now.

Cmon peolple you make it sound like Best is the next ENRON. Give it a break!! One very small screw up. I wish all of you would go after Ken Lay with the same hate! He only cost you 10% of your stock portfolio and is a free man. While Martha sits in jail!!!! Get your shit straight.

I know Best has taken a little heat because we've been selling snow kites and neither Shannon, Jeff or myself have actually snowkited (we've been a little busy making sure we have the best kites at the best prices for you), but we have now! We just got back from a trip to Utah and snow kiting ROCKS! Within 15 minutes we were doing everything on the snow that we can on the water, even kite loops and handlepasses. Well, at least Shannon & Jeff could do handlepasses...

If you haven't done it, I would highly recommend it. We just posted 2 new videos from our trip:

[url=http://www.bestkiteboarding.com/home]
White Out Video[/url]

[url=http://www.bestkiteboarding.com/home]
Utah Trip Video[/url]

For some reason I looked on the back of the can of deodorant I use this morning, it says "never underestimate the power of smell".

Gumball-

You think Utah is great, you should try snowkiting in Michigan. We've got the biggest group of snowkiting enthusiasts! I also hear that the Red Bull Ice Kite in Minnesota (I believe) is huge and the biggest kick @$$ snow kiting event around. It's in February I believe. We may try to make it this year. We have our own ice kite in Michigan along with a few other local ice kites.

Lindy

Freak Warm weather in michigan has made it so the locals in michigan have been snow kiting one week and on the water the next. It's been warming up and cooling down like a broken refridgerator. What's up with that? Next thing: slush kiting. Who knows, could be the next big thing....

...nevermind