A Dream Come True...

It is Christmas time - what an exciting time of the year for children. The toy manufacturers have released all of their new toys just in time for Christmas. Each year the toys are bigger, better and more technologically advanced. All of the new toys are displayed proudly on the shelves and advertised in commercials in the hopes that children will add these new toys to their ever growing Christmas lists. Isn't it every child's dream to be secretly locked away in the toy store to play with all of the latest toys? Aren't we really just big kids? We have the same dreams; our toys are just a little more expensive. Well, dreams can come true...

On October 30th I left Houston and flew to Gulfport, Mississippi to fulfill my dream. I was lucky enough to be one of fourteen people chosen to participate in Ehlert Publishing Group's Dream Demo 2000. As a member of the Dream Demo Team, I flew to Gulfport and stayed at the Grand Casino Hotel which is situated on the beach overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. All expenses were paid by Ehlert Publishing. My task for the week? To ride all of the new 2000 model watercrafts and evaluate each one. It was a tough assignment, but I felt up to the challenge.

The first Dream Demo was held in January 1990 with five manufacturers and a total of fourteen different models. This year four manufacturers, Kawasaki, Polaris, SeaDoo and Yamaha, arrived at Dream Demo with a total of thirty-two new models. The PWCs were divided into seven categories: Deluxe Four Seaters, Deluxe Touring, Performance Touring, Musclecraft, Hi-Performance Runabouts, Performance Runabouts, and Stand-ups. Each watercraft was judged on six factors: Overall Appearance, Features/Ergonomics, Quickness/Power/Speed, Handling, Comfort and Fun Factor, while keeping in mind the model's intended buyer, be it the novice rider, family, aggressive rider, etc. Each craft was awarded points for these factors with a "10" meaning best in class and a "1" meaning poor.

It was a lot of hard work! (I know you're feeling sorry for me!) Each day began at 7:00 am with breakfast and a rider meeting and ended around 5pm. Each day we rode and evaluated a different class of PWCs and any time we weren't on the water we were filling out detailed evaluation forms. Dream Demo is clearly the leader in the industry with regard to the testing and evaluation of personal watercraft. The information that is gathered at Dream Demo is crucial not only for the PWC consumer, but also the PWC industry. Based on these evaluations, Watercraft World selects the Watercraft of the Year and PWC Magazine compiles the 2000 PWC Buyer's Guide.

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