Hyperactive History
The origins of Hyperactive Watersports.
While looking for relevant photos to post in this section, I realized that the roots of Hyperactive started in the summer of 1982. While attending the University of Calgary at the time I learned to slalom ski at a small lake near Sundre Alberta. 
I had grown up working around automobiles at the family owned gas station (remember those? Where they actually gave service and fixed things.) and water-skiing was the perfect combination of machines with plenty of horsepower and exhilarating physical activity. Boating would have been dull if it had not been for the thrill of learning to cut harder at increasing speeds and shorter rope lengths. Learning to water-ski led to owning my first used boat, an outboard powered 16 footer that developed serious hull cracks during my first summer of ownership. 
That lesson of “Buyer Beware” led to a hands-on education in hull disassembly, stringer design, fibreglass application, and hull assembly. Of course the first “project” boat led to dreams of owning a true inboard ski-boat. 
Reaching that goal in 1989 led to working at the Calgary Boat and Sportsmen’s Show in 1991 where I met Paul and Murray Fraser, owners of High Output Sports, the HO water-ski distributorship for Canada. Without a business card or a business name I became a local rep for their products quite literally from the back of my van. 
In 1992 at the Seattle boatshow I saw some of the very first Tige boats produced by a brand new company with big ideas. There I also met Herb O’Brien, argueably the most influential individual in the watersports business to this day. That trip set the wheels in motion and on November 30, 1992 I quit my office job and Hyperactive Watersports was officially born.
At the time of writing, that date is almost exactly eighteen years ago and during that time numerous marine shops in Alberta have come and gone. Big ones (Hunter’s Marine), small ones (Argosy Marine), long standing ones (Harper’s Marine), and a long list of all others that could not make “a go of it” over the long haul. Thanks to a great number of people that have passed through the doors of Hyperactive Watersports to volunteer, be employed, provide products, give advice, and of course become our loyal customers, we have been able to build a business that has succeeded where others have so often failed. Really, selling boats and water-skis in a locale with such a painfully short summer and a location that features almost no lakes within several hours of driving, just isn’t the most sound business plan ever proposed! But at Hyperactive we have always been passionate about boats and watersports, and that passion has overcome plenty of adversity business-wise. The surprise over the years continues to be just how many other people and their families are as passionate about their boats and watersports as we are!
From water-skis, throught the rise in popularity of wakeboarding, and now on to wakesurfing, we at Hyperactive have enjoyed every minute of the journey to the present. When I look through all of the old photographs (pre-digital camera ones too) I realize just how many boatshows, waterski camps, wakeboard contests, store openings, and new beginnings we have seen over the past eighteen years. 
I have enjoyed a very interesting occupation and consider myself lucky to have met and worked with so many great people. Thanks very much to all of our friends, staff (past and present), customers and supporters from so many years. I know I will forget a few but below this text are just a few names of folks that I am grateful to have met and I’m appreciative of their support.
As 2010 draws to a close and the nineteenth year of business for Hyperactive begins, we all look forward to the next summer and those to follow. Our commitment to serving our customers needs for their boat’s and equipment is stronger than ever. As Tige Boat’s #1 volume dealer for 2010 we look forward to another decade of representing their superior line of towboats. Tige’s aggressive twenty year long push to reach their goal of building boats that are second-to-no-other in terms of performance, quality, style, and warranty is a breath of fresh air amidst the current doom and gloom of the boat manufacturing sector worldwide. Slalom Sking lives on, wakeboarding is still a great sport, but thanks to wakesurfing and progressive companies like Tige, we have a whole new sport to keep us excited about driving to the lake as much as possible during our oh-too-short-summers. Think summer!
John Kittler
Owner
Huge thanks to the following individuals for their support to Hyperactive Watersports: .
Ron Pfob, Dan Velcic, Bill Hawes, Murray Fraser, Paul Fraser, Doug Rawlyk, Ryan Spence, Marc Karstaedt, Karl Heer, Jeff Heer, Neal Van Beers, Kevin Taylor, Jim Humber, Scott Smit, Jamie Calon, Herb O’Brien, Brett Thurley, Brett Ireland, Tige Short, Jaclyn Seitz (Brown), Charlie Pigeon, Paul O’Brien, Tony Fussel, Lanny McDonald, John Dielwart, Kerry Dyte.
Summer Gear, All Year (since 1992!)
