Forty Years and Counting

Forty Years and counting: About once or twice a year we try to say a Thank You for everything everyone does to support Bass Cat in the success we have had. September brought out the 40th actual production year of Bass Cat Boats. Man what a ride it has been! As we enter the Holiday season it has come time to bring this out and say Thank You for everything! Thank you for everything from assistance on the Owners Board, to those who visit our parts department, right on to the many who own new Bass Cat boats. Holidays always give us all a chance to pause and reflect on all aspects of our lives. No doubt this 40th Anniversary year enhances those emotions even more.About that 40th Anniversary? On December 16th we will launch a 40th year promotion with this on the Owners Board and the various boards we all visit. We are doing something really special to enhance the 40th Anniversary of Bass Cat. Even the folks at Bassmaster are fired up about this promotion. Over the course of the next 45 days we will have even more information on many different topics coming out. Things are really clicking at BCB and while we have our faults, the whole staff is really putting out the effort! Man, 40 years! All too well I remember the whole gang at the end of Cranfield Peninsula boat ramp (Lake Norfork) on a chilly night in September of 1971. Mom and Dad (Ron & Jan) had it all wrapped up in a boat he had built, as he and Ron Deardorf took it for its first spin. No Carpet, no accessories and they just had to go run it. From there things have continued to change immensely and Bass Cat is the only committed bass boat company with no failures, no changes, sell out, liquidations or leveraged sale to another party. And sometimes we still had it all wrapped up as when this all started, such in 1982 when we only managed to build 32 bass boats. With Genmar filing for protection the same day as GM, there is little doubt these past few years have been challenging and continue to be so. Those economic events of the last year or two have really put an exclamation point on the success of Bass Cat. Never in that 40 year tradition has it been more noticed than it has been these last few months. Many of you are business people, professional individuals and business owners. You know what meeting payroll, monthly bills and the bank issues are all about. Those who meet those obligations seem to be even more passionate about doing business with companies and families who share those principles. And while we have a very rich heritage and a deep history few have in bass fishing, we dont spend much time looking back as this all just keeps turning forward. Back several years ago we did a slide presentation at the social in the gymnasium, which covered a great deal of the history of Bass Cat. Much of that is on the Facebook site, in the albums. That brought those attending up to date then and today there is so much more lost in time. Who knows where we will take this in 2012 at the Owners Invitational, April 13 & 14, 2012. It will be quite an event! Today we are running percentage levels to previous production higher than any of our major competition. Our market share has grown and your loyalty and dedication to Bass Cat has allowed us to slide right through Fall, and we go into December without a slip to date in the momentum. We also continue to improve the product line when the others seem to just be repainting the walls in this recession. Such as in 2007 when we had the Pantera II and Sabre FTD, then in 2008 we tweaked the 20 main hull and again in 2009. Then all new in 2010 was the Jaguar and early introduction of the Eyra (released 2011), which has been very popular! This was followed in 2011 with new consoles, revised striping, hulls and more! Then we have not quit as in 2012 we knocked out the new Cougar FTD and the Margay. We recently did finished boxes on the later Cougar FTD front storages. Things continue to evolve here. Things have been very aggressive at Bass Cat and it takes a really great staff to pull it all together. It just has to make you wonder what is in store as we enter 2012 and on into the 2013 model year. We promise it will be something you do not expect! Thats just our nature! The last quality poll we put a number on showed around a 74% return rate of ownership on Bass Cat, 4% were new to BCB and there was a 13% attrition rate who simply left boating for various reasons. With attrition and return ownership being 87% we feel pretty good about that number. As for that percentage that bought another brand, we hope to see most of those in a Bass Cat again some day. The amount of all new ownership we see coming to Bass Cat now is higher than reflected above. We are reaching out and doing things outside the comfort zones of others. Today though we really wanted to just stop today and say Thank You! Thank You for the ownership of a Bass Cat. Thank You to the Charlie Criders who have owned a Bass Cat since the early 1970s, to the Jim Byler(s) who has been our friend since the beginning of Bass Cat. To many, many folks and friends, Thank You for Tommy Martin, for Dave Fenton and on to many more that have been pivotal at many different marks of time. Pivotal in the development, support and continued ownership of a Bass Cat Boat. Without you guys we fail and you have not allowed that. My favorite quote is one of Richard Tierlink. Richard has a somewhat jaded history though this was in Inc. Magazine years ago and it hung on my wall for over a decade. His noted success in this case was with Harley as he had restructured the company and someone asked him what he had magically done to turn this all around. Richards quote is “We looked at the problem and the problem was us” after referencing Harleys lack of recognizing the issues prior, mentioning oil leaks and more, he went further to say “we are our own competition”. We dont ever want to seem like we are so arrogant as to think we have no other competition, though if we focus well on what we do, the rest will have to follow. And as we have said before your either lead, follow or fail. You all know what our choice is. Thank you again and we hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with their families! God Bless, Rick PierceLast edited by Bass Cat Boats on November 25th, 2011, 5:04 am, edited 3 times in total.