I’m not a world traveler. I have nothing against those who are. It’s just that I’ve never had the time or money to go very far from home. Plus, Kitty Hawk Watersports exists to ensure other travelers make the most of their travel to the Outer Banks. Still, I do sometimes enjoy a Roanoke Sound weekend adventure. One trip, in particular, comes to mind.
I’ve had many great employees at Kitty Hawk Watersports over the years, but one, in particular, was one of my favorites. It’s not because he was a hard worker, although he was. And it’s not because he was a nice guy, although he was. He was one of my favorites because he spent every day of the summer soaking in the Outer Banks experience. He was in love with Outer Banks and intentional about every moment, even when it came to jet ski rental.
This isn’t an Outer Banks story, but it is an amusing adventure about sailing a Hobie Cat long before my days as the owner and operator of Kitty Hawk Watersports.
*The names have been changed to protect the innocent.Many summers ago I was in my home office catching up on some paperwork. It was a slow day at the Kitty Hawk Watersports location, and I had a good manager watching over things. Surely, there would be nothing to worry about.
Every now and then, despite the proactive actions we take at Kitty Hawk Watersports to keep our customers safe, there are individuals who neglect to listen to and heed our warnings. The letter below was written by one of those customers.
I really enjoy parasailing. I’m not just saying that to sell tickets, it’s a really cool activity. I would call it a “once-in-a-lifetime” activity. As in, you should at least experience it once. I’m lucky enough to have done it several times. Full disclosure: I get a little anxiety when flying in an airplane, but being tethered to a boat attached to a parachute over the water is no problem.
As a customer, I hate when businesses create rules that don’t make sense or add excessive fees they camouflage to look like something else. There’s a company I do business with (and I wish I didn’t have to because of this one bad practice) that charges huge fees for shipping. I hate it when they treat me like I’m stupid. It doesn’t cost $20 to ship one bolt. Why is it in a box large enough to ship Shaquille O’Neal’s shoes? The box doesn’t need three feet of paper to prevent it from breaking. It’s not going to break. Throw it in a padded envelope, charge me $10, and let’s call it even. Just be honest. Tell us what your shipping fee really is: a revenue producer. At Kitty Hawk Watersports, we do so much better by our customers.
As the proud owner of Kitty Hawk Watersports for the last 23 years, I’ve made a lot of good memories out on the water. When working in watersports, you’re destined to meet a few characters. One individual – I’ll call him Ron – has become a successful, small businessman. But when he was a college student mating on a parasail boat, his summer hobby was making moves on high school girls.
At Kitty Hawk Watersports, our business is so many things to so many people. It can be an emotional outlet, an adventure, a time to stretch boundaries, entertainment, or it can simply be play. Some people come out just to get away from the daily ho-hum, while some want to give their kids a new experience. Others come out for the excitement, and many customers just want to relax.
As I write this post, a pandemic is shutting down the entire country. I can go in a few directions. I can write about how this event is affecting Kitty Hawk Watersports and the entire Outer Banks, I can pretend everything’s fine and that we’ll see you this summer, or I can spend some time reminiscing about the good times so we can distract ourselves for a few minutes.