Jason Jennings and Coreena Fletcher enjoy a paddleboard outing with their rescue dog, Molson. The couple invested more than $100,000 in their stand-up paddle business, but they have decided to pull out of Osoyoos because the town wouldn’t take action after they said they were repeatedly harassed by a competitor. (Photo supplied)
A stand up paddleboard (SUP) company has pulled out of Osoyoos in frustration and is warning other companies not to locate here.
Jason Jennings, who has operated 3 Phase Adventures with his wife Coreena Fletcher, said the couple is relocating their business to another community because the Town of Osoyoos would not take action to stop a competitor from repeatedly harassing them.
The couple paid the town $5,600 last summer for the right to operate paddleboard concessions at Cottonwood and Gyro beaches. They were never able to open the Gyro location because they needed to hire security as a result of the harassment, they said.
They’ve alleged that their competitor, who did not have a concession, repeatedly harassed their young staff and customers, shouting profanities, spitting and playing loud death metal music outside their concession. They’ve also alleged the competitor followed them around town and even followed Fletcher home.
“You can hear the inflection in my voice,” Jennings said in an interview last week. “It’s a disappointment. We’re also angry at this and we’re really hurt by the whole thing and really disappointed.”
Jennings said the final straw was a letter the couple received at the end of January from Mayor Sue McKortoff informing them the town intended to take no action in the dispute between 3 Phase Adventures and the competitor, Bodhi’s Beach Hut.
“Council and administration will be taking no action to defuse the conflict between the two businesses,” McKortoff wrote in the letter dated Jan. 28. “Council encourages you to seek civic remedies that will achieve your goals or enter into a mediation process that was previously offered by the RCMP. Town administration will have no role in developing the mediation process.”
Jennings said the letter came as a shock to the couple because previously there had been discussion about the town possibly helping to mediate between the two businesses.
“It came as a very insulting, disrespectful unsupportive shock to us,” said Jennings.
The Osoyoos Times has tried repeatedly in the past to speak to Chelsey Ogilvy, owner of Bodhi’s Beach Hut, for her side of the story, but she declined to be interviewed.
She did not respond to a voice message requesting an interview for this story.
Jennings and Fletcher said they invested more than $100,000 to start up their business, which began in the summer of 2013 at Cottonwood Beach. Their goal was to make Osoyoos a paddleboard destination.
In each of the past two summers, 3 Phase Adventures has had about 2,000 visitors and it has been rated highly on the travel website TripAdvisor, they said.
Jennings does not want to name the community the couple is moving the business to because he is afraid of possible interference. It is, however, in another province, he said.
“We have found a town that is interested in supporting us,” he said. “They recognize the importance of what we bring. They see us as a huge value to a small town that can help increase revenues at hotels. The town is stepping up to support us and this is what we’re looking for. It’s great.”
Jennings said he is warning other companies in the paddleboard industry not to go to Osoyoos.
“We don’t want anybody going through what we went through,” he said. “If something does happen, the town is not going to help you at all. They’re not interested in doing any kind of partnership. Everything can be an uphill battle. They really don’t care.”
Mayor McKortoff, however, said 3 Phase Adventures was asking the town to take their side in the dispute, which council didn’t feel was appropriate.
She said she wasn’t personally involved in the dispute, which occurred last summer before she was mayor.
She believes, however, that Corporate Services Director Janette Van Vianen and Chief Administrative Officer Barry Romanko did everything they could within the town’s limited powers.
“I don’t think there’s anything more that we can do,” said McKortoff. “A whole ton of time was spent on this issue. It sounds to me like a personality clash between the two sides. There’s always one side and the other side and then the truth.”
McKortoff said she feels badly that 3 Phase Adventures is pulling out.
“They were a great company and I know a lot of people enjoyed it,” she said. “But there comes a time when you have to say, ‘Okay, we’ve spent enough time on this.’”
McKortoff hopes that stand up paddle boarding has a future in Osoyoos.
“I certainly hope it will continue,” she said. “It’s something people can afford to do, they can do it in lots of different weather and it doesn’t make a lot of noise.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
