Our story unfolds on a quiet, mist-shrouded island in Oswego Lake. Beyond a
moat, a spiraling road winds up to a tree-girdled mansion on a hill. The serene
exterior belies the struggle to establish an empire that rages within. Welcome
to Inca Island, where snowboarding is being revolutionized.
You've heard of Avia sneakers, right? Their cantilever soles propelled
local inventor Jerry Stubblefield to fame and, eventually, fortune in
the form of a $150 million Reebok buyout. That was 1987. Thirteen years later,
his son Don wants in on the action.
Don is a Stanford graduate and a former satellite engineer. He's also a giant
of a man who wears a size 15 shoe. Put him on a standard snowboard and his toes
hang over the edge. Not a good thing when you want to make a turn. Frustrated,
Don realized he'd have to make himself a custom board.
Luckily, it just so happened that the Stubblefield homestead harbors a state-of-the-art
R&D lab in the garage. Necessity was about to give birth to yet another
invention: the Dual-Camber Snowboard. Old snowboards place your feet
precariously over a single arch in the board. Stubblefield's Inca boards
look like squashed McDonald's logos: Each foot stands atop an arch on a stable,
chatter-free board that wants to carve.
Boring stuff, right? Snowboarders just want to do the carving. Take Forrest
Sparks, for instance, a man with big brass balls who's not afraid to use
them on the slopes. His signature trick, the Backside Rodeo 720, dislocated
his shoulder at the beginning of last season--and yet there he was in national
competition by season's end. Couple that with the fact that he had to deal with
the loss of his father, and his story becomes one of Olympian drama. In fact,
now his eyes are fixed on competing in the 2002 Olympics.
He wants to do it on an Inca Snowboard.
The relationship between Sparks and Stubblefield's company is mutually beneficial.
The hardest thing for Inca is getting the word out about its new snowboard design.
They have to get beyond explaining the technical advantages of their boards
and get people riding them. Sparks is the man to do it. They've tricked him
out like a rock star in a plush Inca touring RV, complete with washer/dryer,
queen-sized bed and a bristling supply of Inca boards. Forrest will travel to
resorts all over the western United States and Canada (not to mention some in
Japan, New Zealand and Australia), touting the boards. At a recent demo in Wyoming,
more than 30 people tried the boards, 29 loved them, and five actually ponied
up the money to buy one.
But how will the story end? Right now, both Stubblefield and Sparks are men
on the verge, with lots to prove. This winter season could make or break them.
Will Forrest overcome adversities and triumph on the mountain? And what of Inca?
Will the company's boards soon be the obvious choice for the snowboarding masses?
This spring will answer these questions. Meanwhile, look for the big black Inca
RV and Forrest Sparks at a ski resort near you.
