To Our Dear Customers & Friends:
Sydney and I wanted to take a moment to write and share with you about some changes you’ll notice with Kirby’s School of Wake in 2018. Before we share, we want to extend to you our gratitude for you and your family, for supporting and being a patron of Kirby’s School of Wake. We are truly honored to serve you and consider so many of you dear friends. You enable us to pursue God’s calling on our lives and we are thankful for that.
It is our heart to be very transparent with you about the changes happening with Kirby’s School of Wake. A lot of changes transpired in 2017 and the beginning of 2018.
Firstly, I have once again regained sole ownership of Kirby’s School of Wake. My former partner desired to focus on his family more and I respect and honor that decision 100%. Family is so important and sometimes we have to have the courage to say no to things to simplify and devote our time to what’s really important. I’m grateful for the contribution he added to our business and wish him and his family nothing but blessing and favor moving forward!
Secondly, as many of you heard, last fall Wake Effects was sold to Big Thunder. This left Sydney and I with a big decision we were not prepared to make as far as the direction we wanted to take for our future. It gave us a fresh slate in a sense. Over the winter, we took months to pray, constructed SWOT analyses, and had meetings with local dealerships at the lake. This is not a decision we have taken lightly. The decision we wanted to make was one that we wanted to be in for the long haul. We really desire stability and a company that supports our vision, which is why we took our time and went to extreme lengths to allow God to direct our path with which boat dealership to partner ourselves with.
You are the first to hear this news…We are VERY excited to officially announce to you that we have decided to partner with Malibu/Axis and Stateamind/Iguana Watersports from here on out! Stateamind and Iguana Watersports approached us about working together shortly after news of the Wake Effects sale surfaced. One of my good friends that I worked with at MarineMax is now a manager at Iguana. They were so kind, and the only dealership we met with over the winter that truly aligned with our vision, passion and core values: to operate with excellence, focus on ministry, empower others and create community. We were not willing to compromise our values and were overwhelmed, overjoyed, and immensely grateful and relieved for their excitement for what we do and their desire to have us on board. They too have gone through a lot of changes and we were extremely impressed by their professionalism and most importantly, their focus on family. At the end of the day, that’s what really matters.
I am thrilled to represent Malibu/Axis Boats!! As you know, Malibu’s flagship boat, the M235 goes head to head with all the other inboard boat manufactures. They have quality boats with really solid wakeboard and wake surf wakes that can fit a much greater range of prices for wake boat customers. After all, my ultimate goal is to be able to share a quality wake experience with my students. I sincerely haven’t been so excited to represent a boat brand in awhile and I cannot wait to introduce you to them this summer! We have some really exciting things planned for you! I’m so incredibly excited and honored to be representing Malibu and Axis boats.
In other news: Fort Myers, Florida has become our main hub for Kirby’s School of Wake. We’ve been so blessed to see business blossoming here and to be able to operate back home at the lake in the summers. We will be back to the Lake of the Ozarks for full operation May – September. As you can imagine opening a new location can be scary, but we continue to be provided for. Thank you for those of you who have kept us in mind on your vacations and spring breaks! We love seeing familiar faces!
As we walk into this new chapter of life, we could not be happier. Sydney and I feel this is where we are meant to be. The last few years have been very transitional and we are at peace feeling as though we’ve finally settled into a stable, new normal.
Thank you. Thank you for your grace and continual encouragement and for choosing to wakeboard and wake surf with us. It continual humbles us. We couldn’t do this without you. In our effort to be transparent and open with you, please feel free to shoot me an email or text or give me a call if you have any questions about the change. We are so excited about this summer and can’t wait to see you on the water!!
