Venture aims to boost Bermuda's watersports

FRIDAY, AUGUST 5: Bermuda has the potential to regain its reputation as the Mecca for watersports and a new company hopes to give it a push in the right direction.

Axis Adrenaline Projects was launched earlier this year by local watersports enthusiast John Martin. He has high hopes for the water and adventure sport scene in Bermuda but that is all part of the five-year plan.

The company currently offers wakeboarding, water-skiing and wakesurfing trips with optional lessons as well as more family friendly activities such as tubing, beach trips, tours and parties. He says he hopes to bring something new to Bermuda and his new 500-horsepower, custom built, 2011 multi-sport inboard boat is just the beginning.

Upping the game

Martin, who has worked all his life on the water and is one of the island’s top wakeboarders, hopes his company will step up Bermuda’s game in the world of water sports. 

“The boat is everything I would ever want and with my experience in wakeboarding — I was pretty picky with it. It’s salt water ready it has the tower so it’s great for water-skiing — it’s just the perfect boat for what the industry needs.

“I can take someone out who wants to go water-skiing and with just a flick of a switch…there is no wake which is good for someone learning to wakeboard. I start them out with an easy, small wake.

“I also have the exclusive dealership for Ronix wakeboards and Radar water-skis and they are revolutionising the industry.”

While wakeboarders are a fairly familiar sight in Bermuda’s waters, Martin is offering a new sport to the island — wakesurfing.

He explains: “Wakesurfing is where I only go at about 10 or 12 knots and fill the ballast tanks right up — that makes the wake behind the boat so big you can actually surf it. You go out on a towline, drop into the wave and then you throw the towline back at the boat and you can just surf the wave.

“It’s no barrel but it’s definitely a continuous wave so that is a market I am looking to experiment with and this boat actually has a specific setting designed for that sport.”

Martin believes that Bermuda’s young people have the potential to compete on an international level in water and adventure sports given the right opportunities. He is hoping that Axis Adrenaline will play an active role in making that a reality for all walks of life.

 “I marketed the company mostly to the locals because we are going to be doing some work with a couple of charitable organizations — under-privileged youths and things like that.

Opportunities

“Wakeboarding and waterskiing tend to be sports that privileged kids get into mainly because either their parents own a boat or can afford the lessons and I want to be able to provide everyone an opportunity just to try it out and who knows the next Parks Bonifay (professional wakeboarder) might come out of it.”

Axis has big plans over the next five years and they are not just going to be based on the water. He has been looking at the X Games in the States and which is proving both highly profitable and marketable.

“The great thing about that is that it draws in a younger group of individuals and they tend to be more of a renewable resource. You don’t see that often in Bermuda.

“We have great golf and diving and sailing but Bemruda used to be the Mecca for waterskiing. I would like to throw a demo show at the end of the season and whether they are my clients or potential clients — get a bunch of kids to compete against each other.

“The one who wins I would love to sponsor and provide them with free gear and training and to really get them on to the international market get them out there in the X Games and then you would have Bermuda's first extreme sport enthusiast and it would be great for tourism as well.”

As a new company Martin says his rates are competitive for the quality of service you get. The rate is $200 an hour and you can fit up to ten people on the boat.

The website is currently being constructed www.axisbermuda.com.

There will be a clip of the week, wipe out of the week along with customers’ photos and reviews.