HO 2016 Season Preview

After a big season in 2015 with some big innovations from HO waterskis it's time to throw our gaze over the crystal ball again and see what might come of the next season. What should be expect to see? some new model ski's maybe a new boot model, we could even see further innovation from HO who until recently have been pioneers in the industry for a long time, which can definitely be helped along by being one of the oldest business's in the industry. This small fact though is detriment to HO, where older companies hit their peak, rode the wave then have slowly paled out making way for newer companies, HO swam back out to the swells and have continually gone after the next big wave. This is why guessing HO's range is the hardest of the lot, they innovate that often that we can never get it 100% right, none the less we do our best so without further a do let's give it a crack. Have i mentioned last year was a massive year for HO? well it was, not only did they streamline they're range which in todays society is almost necessity to keep it straight forward for the customer, but they went through a complete overhaul, the TX of the 2 years previous got the flick, we saw the end af an era as the A series after 3 iterations went to the pool room next to the Monza and the CDX to make room for the V-Type, the only ski that got through the range unscathed was the Freeride, because in that case if it's not broke and you don't really have a competitor for it, don't change it, for the love of god please don't, square one is an ugly place to be, ask Warner Bros I've seen more Superman reboots than i've had hot dinners. On the boot side the range nothing was safe, with the introduction of the new direct connect system we saw all new boots, the new Vmax hugged your foot better and the cheaper options provided better ankle support, which in skiing is becoming ever more necessary, so what does this mean for next season? Well more than you might think. As much as HO like to change things up constantly, the likes of the Freeride this year might get some competition, but like Apple with the iPhone, when you get a jump on the competition you've got a few years up your sleeve before people are tempted to test the waters, so we can't see that changing. An updated CX built of the older mould from last year and the slightly wider version that became the new TX, may get some slight adjustments to it purely to fix some bugs that might have come out across the first season of a new shape, naturally the Superlites shouldn't change being replica shapes of the CX and TX with upgraded cores, but form here is where it gets interesting. If we look back through the history books, we have seen that HO are constantly updating their top end tournament ski, when the A series was introduced we saw three iterations and the first the A1 had a year on the shelves before the next update the A2 which saw 2 years before the A3 hit stores. Updating little hitches and adjusting for their technology innovations is foremost in HO's processes, which is why i think we could see an updated V-Type rolling out in the next few months. On the women's side wether or not we see a completely unique women's ski is in the dark, but along much of the same HO have worked hard to streamline their range and this was a part of that. HO's ability to make their range more succinct was thanks to altering flex patterns of the mens ski's to develop the women's and the kids, this makes the range easier to explain while still allowing for a strong performing ski, the downfalls though we're not likely to see any changes here either, atlas until it's men's counterpart gets a change. So not many changes seem to be presenting themselves for HO, which is partly thanks to that fact they sit that one step ahead of the market at the moment. Until the pressure starts to be put on them, which with the rise of Radar and their business plan seemingly replicating HO's, innovate relentlessly until you can't no more, we are likely to see HO only make subtle change here and there, which isn't such a bad thing, how often can we really update ski names and constantly have things change without becoming overwhelmed. As much as we like to speculate, unfortunately from here on in we have to sit tight until September 10th until the full range is released. Skiforce is Australia's number one wakeboard and waterski pro shop catering to all your needs at the best prices! Written By Clint Barton