Cayman’s newest water sports
attraction suffered damage at the hands of vandals at the Public Beach over
this past weekend.
V-Kool Watersports, which is owned
and run by local sports figure and now entrepreneur Michael Morgan, has been in
operation for just over a month at the location.
Morgan said he had invested roughly
$15,000 to $20,000 on starting the business, which boasts 13 different kinds of
floats, adding that he was more hurt and disappointed than angry that someone
would appear to have swum underneath the structures and punctured them.
The business offers families and
individuals a new way of enjoying their day at the beach with its elaborate
scheme of inflatable trampolines, slides and ladders majestically rising out of
the water.
Mr. Morgan said he developed V-Kool
primarily with residents in mind and could have put the labyrinth of floats
closer to one of the establishments more frequently traversed by tourists but
chose the Public Beach for this very purpose.
“I was originally born in Jamaica
but have lived in Cayman for a long time now, playing on the National Basket
Ball Team and representing the Islands, as well as playing basketball in
college on scholarship as a result of what I was able to achieve during my
years with the CI team. A lot of people look for what they can get from Cayman,
but I want to give back in some way and I got the vision for this business,
saved for two years and started it from nothing,” he explained.
He pointed out that individuals
often ask why he does not deflate the structures after usage, as opposed to
leaving them in the water overnight as he has been doing. However, he said this
was not a practical option, because for maintenance purposes it is recommended
that the devices are only blown-up and deflated every two months.
Instead, Morgan said he uses a
security company to keep an eye on the floats during the night but admitted
that it was impossible to tell if the incident happened during the day or at
night, because the floats take considerable time to deflate.
One plus for Mr. Morgan and those
that have come to enjoy the business he has created is that V-Kool will already
be back in action by next weekend, as the damage the would be vandals attempted
to inflict turned out to not be as severe as it had first appeared to be.
“It seems as though I will be able
to repair the pieces at a fairly reasonable cost, but I still think it is
important to let people know this happened to us. I hope this will get people
talking about the importance of respecting one another and taking pride in our
community. This kind of behaviour is really inexcusable and we can do better
for ourselves and Cayman,” said Morgan.