and I paid for my ski... FACTS man.... not opinion..
Alright, here's why I think people are wondering what's up ...
It's pretty well known that you had a WF hull ... which was a nice machine already, but you dumped that machine to get a Trinity, and a new engine from X-Scream.
You can't complain about the costs of the sport, and your inability to travel when you basically put yourself in that position ...
The machine you had was probably better, and more expensive than 95% of what everyone else has, but you decided to sink more money into a new machine knowing that it was going to put you in a hole ...
You had to know. You're not an idiot. I'm sure you can do basic math ... so knowing children were coming, and that the economy sucks ( especially in your industry ), it doesn't make a lot of sense to have upgraded from a kick-ass machine, to a super kick-ass machine.
I don't have any problems with you asking for donations ... that's all good, but you had to expect you'd get some blowback. If you didn't, that was pretty damn short-sighted of you.
You have a killer machine, and miles of riding skills ... but dude, your decision making process just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
If you're complaining about cost, and not having money in the bank ... you can't go out and buy a new boat and not expect people to wonder what's going on.
Thinking out of the box ...
Sell the Trinity to someone who can afford it, downgrade for now, and you'll have more than enough for a kick-ass machine ( maybe not as kick-ass, but more than good enough ) ... you also be able to travel to the event and compete, and still probably put a few grand in the bank.
Maybe you can work out a deal to get your old hull back? Or just ride a stock hull with a few lightweight parts ... drop in a decent 760, and you're good to go.
JK rode an OEM engine, I'm sure you can do the same.
If you really want to ride, do it in a way that you can afford to do it ...
G