Gorge Gear Library +
Buyback Idea

The Idea:

 

I'm passionate about finding the right gear. Once I found it, the benefits were shocking and my fun levels went through the roof. The Gorge Gear Library and Buyback Idea will hopefully help people find the right gear a little bit easier. The hope is that this will:

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• Serve the community as a reference location for what gear is available for free demo and how to track it down.

• If free gear is not available, hopefully it will provide an affordable opportunity to all riders to buy and resell equipment year round amongst themselves. 

• Hold riders accountable for losses and damages by using a buyback system.

• Put money back into the communities pockets to lighten the financial load of foiling. 

• Save visitors from having to buy small wings or pay airline fees for a once a year Gorge trip.

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How buyback works:​

 

In a perfect world, everything you are considering buying and riding is available for demo. Sometimes though, you are looking for a short term performance purchase while traveling. 

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Anyone can list a piece of gear in the library. When listed, the owner will note the condition of the gear, the sale fee as well as a "buyback" fee. 

 

Sale Fee: List the item for the value that you would want out of it if it sold today. You do this, because you are actually selling the gear. Theoretically, the person who walks away with your gear could lose it, destroy it, or desperately want to keep it. You don't want to be hosed if someone destroys your board. This fee holds them accountable. If you 100% want it back, then I'd recommend listing the item for full retail plus shipping cost. 

 

Buyback: You agree upon a buyback fee that is fair to both users. "If you return my gear in the same condition, I'll buy it back for $$$ less after a week of use." You can offer any price and timeline conditions you want. I, personally, don't want to be managing gear every single day. Plus, getting to know gear is way more enjoyable when you have time to try them out. So, I'll probably do 7 day sales with a buyback of $100 less on wings and $200 less on boards for my gear which is about 1.5% of the value per day. 

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Who can use this?

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Anyone really. Locals can post gear up for beginners to advanced riders. Travelers to the gorge can post that they want to ride specific types of gear when they arrive. Travelers leaving the gorge can get their hands on travel friendly gear (inflatables, different wing sizes for your destination, surf vs downwind foils, travel bags, etc). 

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I'd love to see this grow to the point where there's a huge quiver of local performance boards, foils and wings available throughout the community. 

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If you don't want to list gear here, but still like the idea, you can really do this on any platform anywhere in the world. Just post your gear for sale and tell buyers that if they don't like it after a week you'll buy it back for a little less. I'd love to be able to fly around the world knowing it was easy to track down the right gear from local riders. 

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I'm not on the Facebook much but I did create a group to make communication easy for people: Gorge Foiling Library.

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Do's and Don'ts:

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Don't list your favorite stuff! If you would be devastated to lose your brand new Mikes Lab foil, then don't put it in the Library. 

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Do give friendly and fair terms for your items. This is about helping each other out, not becoming rich off our community. 

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Don't list bad gear. If you know your wing is bagged out and terrible, don't sucker anyone into checking it out so you can make a few bucks. 

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Do have fun with it! This is a great way to try new equipment, share your stoke with others, and tune your kit to perfection with a very minimal financial investment. 

 

Don't trash the gear you demo and expect to not pay for it!​​

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Can shops and brands participate?​

 

100%! Some shops and brands can and are sharing gear for FREE demo. Plan for these to be shorter demos, not your whole trip to the gorge. These companies are participating so you can try their gear which helps them make a sale. Not so you can have unlimited free demos for the summer. ​Also, please take extra special care of the gear when doing free demos. It only takes a few reckless riders to hurt a free gear program and have brands pull out!

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If you are a brand, shop, ambassador, rep that isn't listed and would like to be please shoot me an e-mail and I'll get you listed.

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My Contribution and Commitment:

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I intend to keep some wings, boards and foils in the gear library, will update this page with all new gear options that local riders want to have up for offer, and will be coordinating with various brands and shops to get more connections for free demos. Any money made off the gear library will go towards purchasing more gear for the library. 

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Current Offerings:

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Five-O Windsports is offering free demo's on Dynamo wings. E-mail Carter to meet up and grab them. info@fiveowindsports.com 

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Omen Foils is offering up free demos on their boards and foils. Fill out the contact form on their site or shoot them an email. info@omenfoils.com

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Appletree's rep, Sam Shannon lives in the Gorge and is available to track down for board demos. He also just jumped on board with the KT team and has foils you can try. Shoot him an e-mail to connect. sam@appletreesurfboards.com

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I am placing the following gear in the library for free demo:

Lift Florence 130x front foil. 

AFS 80cm UHM mast

Silk 850

Silk 650

Silk tails, 132, 142, 152

Artness v2 Retractable Harness Line

 

and these items with with buyback options:

Boards:

Sunova Aviator 6'6"x18" 90l $1300 with $1100 buyback.

Sunova Pilot 5'9"x20" $1250 with $1050 buyback.

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Wings:

Cloud IX 3.5m windwing $500 with $400 buyback.

Ocean Rodeo 2.5m Glide A $900 with $800 buyback.

F-One Strike v3 2m $600 with $500 buyback.

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Foils:

AFS Tails: HA 38 or Silk 132. $200 with $150 buyback

You can email me at bryan.wouzel@gmail.com to coordinate. ​​​

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​Shops and brands near the Gorge:

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Dougs and Code Foils doesn't have a full demo/rental fleet but if you are on the verge of buying some Code gear swing by their shop and talk with the wind manager Chris to see if you can set something up.

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Windance offers demo setups for $200 and will apply your demo fee towards a purchase. They will also be doing various free demos through the summer, touch base with them to learn more. 

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Duotone will be offering some free wing demos this summer but not on demand at the moment. Stay tuned with the local shops and on the social medias for when those days will be.

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Armstrong and Real Water Sports will be doing Gorge demos this spring. Check in with them on social media to get the details.