Action Water Sports: Bringing a little Michigan to the Sunshine State

After more than 25 years serving various areas of Michigan, Boating Industry’s 2017 No. 12 Top 100 dealer, Action Water Sports, is headed to the Sunshine State. Action announced the expansion in January 2018.

The new location will open in Polk City, Fla., with plans to bring Action’s devotion to a new level of MasterCraft service and support to the Florida boat community. 

“We couldn’t be more excited to have Action Water Sports open a new dealership in this critical market,” said MasterCraft Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing Jay Povlin. “We at MasterCraft have a lot of respect for the team at Action Water Sports and are excited to have them supporting our MasterCraft owners in Central Florida.”

The new Action Water Sports location – located off of I-4 in Polk City – was purchased from USA Waterski.

“We’ve been working with Action Water Sports for just over a year, and we are very excited to see the building and lake continue to be utilized with our goals of promoting the growth and development of recreational watersports,” said USA Waterski Chairman Tony Baggiano. “We couldn’t be happier that a current USA Waterski member is purchasing the building.”

Current plans have the new dealership featuring a variety of MasterCraft Boats and a state-of-the-art pro shop and service center, along with the backdrop of Lake Grew, to be used for product demos, events, and ski school.

In affiliation with the new dealership, Ski Fluid — the current school operating and Lake Grew — will be offering coaching to those interested in growing skills in watersports.

“I’m very excited to work with a team that has a passion for waterskiing like Action Water Sports,” said Ski Fluid owner Kyle Eade. “This new dealership will be great for watersports enthusiasts and will take my student’s experience to a whole new level.”

Prior to the expansion, the Action Water Sports network featured four dealership locations around Michigan and one wakeboard cable park.

After outgrowing its original locations, Action moved to its Hudsonville location in 2002. The location now features a 10,000 square foot showroom, with a recently completed 20,000 square foot expansion, along with a 7,000 square foot service department.

“This Action Water Sports showroom has been used as a template in boat dealerships around the nation,” said Action Water Sports Marketing Manager Kevin Zoodsma.

Just down the road from the Hudsonville location, Action opened Michigan’s first full-size cable wakeboard park, Action Wake Park. Zoodsma said that the park has a “county park feel” and features and
upscale building to purchase passes, rent gear, and get concessions.

With continued growth, Action opened up its Traverse City location in 2003, to help serve the greater Northern Michigan area. The location features a 5,000 square foot showroom, with pro shop. 

Where the Traverse City location really shines, is storage. The location features five, 12,000 square foot storage buildings to accommodate the growing storage demands in Northern Michigan.

Following continued success, Action opened a location in Fenton, Mich. in 2008 featuring a 16,000 square foot showroom and seven 12,000 square foot storage building. The Fenton location also features a front pond to water test boats and feature summer rail jam wakeboard events.

Action also made a home in East Michigan in the form of its satellite location, Pine Lake Marina. The location offers sales, an on-water pro shop, watersports ski school, and a marina.

“It is East Michigan’s best location to try out new pro shop equipment, or to take your watersports skills to the next level with help from our Pine Lake Ski School,” Zoodsma said.

Action Water Sports has prided itself with involvement in various 20 Groups for both Cobalt and MasterCraft boat brands, the Better Business Bureau, local chamber of commerce, the Water Sports Industry Association, various advisory boards, and is also a member of the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas. 

Despite continued success, the No. 12 spot on Boating Industry’s 2017 Top 100 dealers, a 3.27 percent increase in revenue for 2016, and much more, Action Water Sports refuses to stop pushing forward.

“Our store offers one stop shopping for all boating needs from boats to docks and lifts, to accessories, to dockside service, and fringe service items like our fiberglass repair shop,” Zoodsma said. “Rarely do we send a customer somewhere else for their business. We have nicer facilities and invest in our staff more than many of our competitors to deliver a better overall ownership experience for our customers.”

With eyes set on a continued climb up the Top 100 list, and a drive to be the best boat dealer customers come across, there’s no telling how far Action Water Sports will go.