Ask the Experts | New Year's Resolutions From Our Watersports Friends

[iboats.com]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Throughout the year we are honored to have folks from the different disciplines within our industry contribute to our newsletter. We would like to thank three of our friends from the watersports world for their ongoing contributions to our site and this newsletter and let you know some of their New Year's Resolutions. [/FONT]


[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Between winning wakeboarding championships this year Raimi Merritt has provided our newsletter readers with great tips on technique and equipment. We wish Raimi the best of luck for 2014. [/FONT]


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[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]For 2014, Raimi wants to: [/FONT]

1. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Do more clinics for girls that love to ride! [/FONT]
2. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Eat better to stay healthy. [/FONT]
3. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Be consistent in the gym to keep my body from getting injured. [/FONT]
4. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Post a blog on my website once a month to help other up and coming riders.. [/FONT]
5. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Practice my tricks more on the trampoline before taking them to the water [/FONT]
6. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Land a new trick behind my G23 or the Nautiqie NSS [/FONT]
7. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Win a contest on my Hyperlite Maiden (I'm holding it in the above shot) with my Hyperlite Brighton boots. [/FONT]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Raimi Merritt, 2013 Wakeboard World Champion (second consecutive), 2013 Masters Wakeboard champion and 8-time World Cup champion, is sponsored by MonaVie, Nautique, Hyperlite, Smith Optics, Breathe Boardwear and Fly High. Raimi also offers personalized coaching in Orlando, Florida. Email raimi@stevemerritt.com to schedule a lesson. For all the latest news, check out www.raimimerritt.com or on facebook. [/FONT]


[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Tom King is probably the most famous watersport photographer skiers, boarders and footers have ever known. Tom's images have been published in enthusiast magazines for well, since many of those publications have existed. Most watersports tow boat companies have and continue to have him photograph their new products for their annual catalogs. You'll see Tom's images on many iboats.com site pages and our FaceBook site "I Love Boating". Look at Tom's fantastic work at: http://www.tomkingphotography.com/ and his own FaceBook page https://www.facebook.com/tom.king.587. [/FONT]

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[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Tom's top resolutions are: [/FONT]

1. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Take a completely new & original photo of a boat, never done by anybody before. (always a goal, very hard to accomplish!) [/FONT]
2. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Take more photos of Fishing/ Fishing Boats (sometimes with me doing the fishing). [/FONT]
3. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Get a new outboard motor for my boat. [/FONT]
4. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Get a VHF radio for my boat to call for help if the old motor breaks down. (in case #3 doesn't happen.) [/FONT]
5. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Learn to throw a big cast net. [/FONT]
6. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Catch a Kingfish, King Mackerel [/FONT]
7. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Get paid to do resolution #2 [/FONT]
8. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Quit worrying about resolution #7 and enjoy what I love to do! [/FONT]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Tom King has been photographing boating, watersports and active lifestyles for more than 30 years. Tom lives on a lake in Orlando, Florida but travels the world to capture the best images for his clients, boaters, skiers, boarders and footers. See more of Tom's work at http://www.tomkingphotography.com [/FONT]


[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Zenon Bilas not only has contributed articles and photographs but has provided us with opportunities for additional articles from his friends such as Raimi Merritt. What can you say about a guy who has been the behind the animation for "Tony The Tiger" Kellogg's Frosted Flakes mascot and a world champion barefooter. Zenon has continued his coaching career while also writing articles and providing photography for leading industry magazines. [/FONT]


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[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Let's all watch to see if Zenon gets his resolutions done for 2014: [/FONT]

1. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Do more water ski clinics and barefoot water ski shows in more locations throughout the world, especially exotic out of the way places. [/FONT]
2. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Get more air time and continue to improve technique of wake 360 and 540 spins on a trick ski. [/FONT]
3. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Keep getting leaner and fitter [/FONT]
4. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Continue fine tuning my diet for high performance barefooting. [/FONT]
5. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Continue not only to train harder but smarter [/FONT]
6. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Continue to increase focus, awareness, and confidence, especially for top level barefoot tricks. [/FONT]
7. [FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Make 2014 even better and even more exciting than 2013 [/FONT]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, Arial, sans-serif]Zenon Bilas is a 7 times U.S. barefoot water ski champion. He has coached and performed barefoot shows throughout the US and in 16 countries. To schedule Zenon for a personalized coaching session on your ski boat anywhere in the world, contact at zenbilas@bellsouth.net or call 561.433.4554 or check out at www.facebook.com/zenonbilas.[/FONT]