Jet ski racing ranks in as one of few sports with the highest average age for its competitors (professional golf being the highest at 35 years old). Due to a confluence of generational trends, industry productivity, and the sport of jet skiing in general as being part of the cultural zeitgeist, jet ski racing is really, truly lacking in the youth appeal. With today’s news, we’re hoping that is soon to change.
Multi-time IJSBA National and World Champion, Larry Rippenkroeger, who has served for the stunt double for Bruce Willis, Michael Rooker and many others, is no small figure in the world of PWC racing and freestyle. Rippenkroeger recently announced the production of his first film, titled “Hot Water,” an action-comedy centering around competitors of a fictional PWC championship tour as they battle it out for the title.
The pro athlete-turned-stunt man-turned-movie director has been busily gathering second-unit footage for the film, showing up at various PWC events to capture some heart-racing action. This pursuit landed Rippenkroeger at Powerboat P1’s inaugural Miami P1 AquaX event, where he stated, “The P1 events are exciting. I see a lot of love for the sport, a lot of energy and it’s growing and growing so I would love to see this event turn into an annual one. It’s a perfect venue to race too.”
He continued, “When I used to race, I had many surreal moments where I was reaching top speeds with stunning skylines as company. In those moments I found myself thinking ‘Wow! This is like something out of a movie’. From there, I made it my life’s ambition to bring the excitement of PWC racing to the silver screen, one day. It may have been a long time in the making, but it’s so awesome that it’s finally happening.”
In an interview with The Fan Carpet, Rippenkroeger explained how after a particularly severe injury during filming for Live Free or Die Hard that his own film really begin to find legs “During filming for Live Free or Die Hard, I fell from 25ft tall scaffolding where I came out with life-changing injuries including two broken arms, a skull fracture, a punctured lung, fractured ribs and other serious injuries. It took me a whole two years to recover and it was during this time out that I was able to properly sit down and write the screenplay for Hot Water. It’s kind of sad but it literally took me to take a serious hit, to write the script. You could say the accident was both the best and worst thing that has ever happened to me.”
Although there is yet to be an official IMDB listing for the film, or an officially-confirmed cast, Rippenkroeger is hoping to have the film completed and distributed throughout cinemas and movie theaters by next spring.
