If you haven’t learned by now, everything can be found on the Internet. If humans have learned it, it can be found here. While that can be either a horrifying prospect or one that fills you with hope depends upon your personal perspective and your private search history. (Ha!) Nevertheless, one thing that we find endlessly amusing is the innovations of the past as creators and innovators looked toward the future. One such creation is Ski Craft’s unique Ski-Tow.
The Hamburg, Germany-based vessel-maker Ski Craft built its business around waterborne recreation and pleasure craft. By 1964, Ski Craft Boats had relocated to Seattle, Washington with a distributor in Los Angeles, California. The craft itself was a 6 1/2 ft fiberglass hull powered by a 24-horsepower NSU Wankel Type 61 rotary engine. Weighing in at 60-pounds, the vessel was rather lightweight given its heavier materials.
Designed for one-man use, the operator rode on water skis behind the craft, “grasping extended handles which include throttle controls,” according to the Wikipedia page. The operator steered via the skis. Ski Craft had innovated a type of “deadman” throttle which stopped the motor if the skier released their grip, but many States had legal requirements already in place requiring separate drivers and observers for water skiing, making sale and use of this vessel almost entirely illegal. See it in action HERE:
The P1 Aqua X race season kicked off their final round for the year in the city of Fort Lauderdale, Fl. This was a going to be a huge event, as many racers from across the world were planned to attend. Phil Pope made the trek from the United Kingdom, Mike Klippenstein arrived from Canada and Michele Colasanto came in from Italy. There were also be racers that attended from across the Pacific Ocean. Ronghua Wu and Dezhi Yue made the trip all the way from China. It was a total of twenty-one racers who would be on the staring line in the Pro Class.
A few months ago Fort Lauderdale was the scene of red tide and a fish kill that moved into the area from the Gulf side of the state. Fortunately things cleared up and racing was set to go. The racers received their mandatory safety briefing and were given instructions. The new marine observer team canvased the course from the helicopter above. Would this new team be more forgiving or would they put racing on extreme holds would be the question. They cleared the course for racing and the event started with Amateur Class athletes. The racers were pumped, as they wanted to prove themselves in front of the spectators on hand. The temperature was a little chilly with winds coming in from the east due to a slight cold front that had moved into the area earlier in the week.
The thirty-four racers lined up on the starting line, the green flag dropped and racing had started. The points leader with 135 for the Amateurs coming into the weekend was Dave Davidson after a great showing in St. Cloud last month. Yaniel Fiallo was close behind by a mere 11 points and George Holmquist with 100. Fiallo got the holeshot for the start of the race. The water conditions were starting to pick up and it was definitely going to be a challenge for all racers on the water. Holmquist took the lead over from Fiallo. As he approached the final turn buoy close to the shore, Holmquist hit the buoy and was docked points if he didn’t take the penalty buoy. Luckily for him he did take the penalty buoy and was able to hold onto the lead and gained 25 points for Round One. Fiallo came in second and garnered 20 points.
Next up was the first moto for the Pro racers. The overall points leader coming into the event was Eric ‘The Eagle” Francis. Francis was feeling pretty confident in his boat and would only have to place in the top three in two of his races for the weekend to solidify winning the championship for the year. His Broward Motorsports teammate, Chris MacClugage was aiming to catch up to Francis as he was currently in second place, followed by Brian Baldwin. As the first moto started, it would be the United Kingdom’s Phil Pope who took the holeshot and looked strong. It looked like he wanted to show the United States why Pope is the European series champion.
Unfortunately, starting fast and strong isn’t always the best course in an endurance race when it is more about pacing yourself. On the back straight, Pope came off his ski allowing MacClugage to take the lead. Half way through the moto, Macc also came off his ski close to the shore. Right behind him was Eric Francis. Francis, even with the possibility of giving points up to Macc, witnessed the dismount and stopped to pick MacClugage up prior to the safety marshals getting there, transporting him to his ski to continue on. It was a true act of sportsmanship for the two teammates. They finished the moto with MacClugage taking the win and Francis placing second. Brian Baldwin experienced some issues while out on the track and finish in the rear.
The rest of the day continued with the Sport/Spark race. The series welcomed Tory Snyder to the race scene and his parents Troy Snyder and Jennifer Senna Snyder looked on with pride. Winning the moto was Jason Lester followed by Jason Bellinzoni and Tory Snyder. Then the Pro Sprint Class followed. Things appeared to be going on without a hitch. Finally there was slight break in the action and Kristen Smoyer took to the air on her Flyboard for the crowd. The BMX team that performed jumps and tricks on the beach also entertained them. The fans were also supplied with refreshments from the series sponsor Rip It energy drinks. After the break was over, it was the Pros who again hit the water. This time though, the winds had picked up and there were some rollers out on the water. Again, it was Chris MacClugage who would take the win. Eric Francis finished in second place and sealed up the championship for the year.
The final moto of the day was the Amateur class. They definitely had to read the water conditions as they had seen what had happened with the Pros. The Amateurs hadn’t seen these types of conditions all year and it was definitely a challenge. Justin Taylor came away with the win just like he did in St. Cloud despite the conditions over Yaniel Fiallo. Scott Reeves took the win in the 200 Class. Everyone had a great time racing and was looking forward to the next day to wrap up the season.
The next day arrived with an early start. As is customary, the riders had their rider’s meeting where instructions and a review of the previous day were given. Afterwards, the Amateur racers launched their machines and prepared to race. The temperature had risen from the previous day and it definitely felt like typical Florida weather. Once the racers were lined up, the green flag was dropped but the moto was immediately red flagged due to a collision. The marshals quickly got the racers back to the start and again a start was made. The green flag was dropped and again, the race was red flagged due to numerous riders coming off their skis. The racers were marshaled to the start line once more. This time the green flag was dropped and racing was in full effect. Yaniel Fiallo took the win in his class.
After the Sport/Spark and Sprint races, it was time for the Pros to get on the water for their third race of the weekend. Brian Baldwin took the holeshot and he battled Chris MacClugage throughout the race. They went back and forth with the leader changing throughout, but it was Baldwin who got the win. Eric Francis didn’t finish the race because of a seat issue. This would not affect his championship as he had already won it from the day before. Mike Klippenstein came in third followed by Sophie Francis and Dennis Mack rounding out the top five for the moto.
Due to the complications of previous locations throughout the year, P1 Aqua X added a fourth moto to both the Amateur class and Pro class. Justin Taylor took the win in the final moto of the year for the Amateurs but it was Yaniel Fiallo who would get the overall top podium spot. In the Pro class, it was Eric Francis who would take the win in the final moto. Christian Daly and Brian Baldwin followed. Eric Francis was able to regain his crown after relinquishing it to Chris MacClugage the past two years and is now the number one racer for P1 Aqua X.
There were many ups and down for both the racers and series this year. Now with season over many are looking forward to next year and many are not. We shall see where the future takes them.
Oh boy! Here come the Black Friday sales. While the country is gearing up for Thanksgiving (or if you’re putting up Christmas decorations a month early, you heathen), most of the world is preparing for the madness of Black Friday. Huge discounts will be offered on existing merchandise taking up inventory all in an effort to clear the shelves to make room for next year’s products. Regardless of what you’re looking to buy, now is the time to whip out the ol’ check book and get writing.
And getting in on this action is industry giant Hydro-Turf. They just recently announced their own Black Friday sale – a whopping 25-percent off of all website orders – from now until Sunday, November 25th. Here’s what they wrote:
Hydro-Turf is having a Black Friday sale of 25% off all website orders! (Not including shipping) Visit www.Hydroturf.com Offer Expires Sunday 11/25/18 Rider: #HTathlete Abraham Hochstrasser – 2018 IFWA World Champion – Photo Jon Currier Photography
No doubt there’s a new traction mat, seat cover, handlepole cover or even a T-shirt that you’ve been eyeing for a while now. Well, this is your time to act! Personally, we’ve used our massive Hydro-Turf Hydration rolling gear bag religiously since first picking it up nearly 3 years ago. When we first picked it up we thought, “Man, there’s no way we’ll need something this big” but have filled it more often that we can count. It’s a heck of a piece of equipment, and it too is on sale now!
A report was recently published citing two 20-year-old jet skiers who had been riding in south Sydney on the Georges River began threatening a man on a boat at the Lugarno Marina. One of the riders slapped the boater on the back and then threatened him as they entered a restaurant. Police were soon called and the two jet skiers became belligerent when the officers tried to remove them from the eatery.
The men resisted and allegedly began pushing and hitting the cops. A few more officers arrived on scene and one of them tried to subdue the aggressive men with pepper spray. Paramedics were called to the scene to treat the men. Allegedly, the two were hostile and one spit on a female paramedic. The police intervened and grabbed them in order to transport them to St. George Hospital. Upon arrival, the hostilities continued! The two again began spitting and punching officers.
The pair now face multiple charges and were denied bail. Twenty-year-old Mourman Baradaaji from Revesby has four counts of assault on a police officer, intimidation, and resisting arrest.
His partner in crime, Mohamad Bazzi from Bankstown, is looking at assault charges, willfully obstructing officers, and resisting arrest.
Both men were making an appearance in front of the magistrate when this piece was originally published on 2GB 873AM. Talk show host, Ray Hadley hopes the magistrate does “the right thing.” Listen to his reaction on the linked page. It is priceless. The fight continues in OZ.
We are certain that over The Watercraft Journal’s 5 years of publishing, we’ve either lost, misplaced, outright destroyed or had fling off our faces no less than a dozen pairs of sunglasses. Heck, we’ve published half a dozen pairs of shades, goggles and goggle/sunglasses hybrids during said time. Eyewear, as it seems, is incredibly difficult to keep comfortably perched on our noses while performing hours of test riding. That’s why we were so pleased with WindRider’s newest addition to its massive catalog: the Polarized Floating Sunglasses.
No they’re not made out of bamboo or high-tech carbon fiber, or feature kitschy features or doodads. Nope. They’re lightweight, flexible and affordable – and yes, they do float, and without big chunks of foam glued to their sides either. In all honesty, we were pretty dang impressed. So much so that we gave the WindRider Floating Sunglasses a very praising review. Not only did they pass the ol’ budget test ($44.95), but they shined when it came to comfort, and most importantly, never moved a centimeter when we swiveled our head left to right while riding.
Our appraisal of the WindRiders was so high that we personally reached out to let them know how much we liked them; and that we really wanted to keep WindRider’s Polarized Sunglasses front-and-center on our bi-monthly YouTube show, “Long Haul.” They liked the idea too, and now have become our Official Sunglasses of “Long Haul”. You’ll be seeing a whole lot more of our WindRider sunglasses over the coming weeks and months, as well as first-hand reviews of some of their cold-weather riding gear, accessories and safety gear too – so stay tuned!
Sure, comparing a 1996 Sea-Doo XP up against it’s 2018 Spark counterpart might not sound like a really fair comparison (heck, much of the Spark’s hull design was lifted not from the XP but the HX, but that’s another story). But for the enthusiast of lightweight, fun and nimble runabouts, the two machines are equally iconic in their own right.
YouTube blogger Steve Vigus has produced several few very cool videos on restoring, modifying and just enjoying old school 2-stroke runabouts on his channel. We’ve enjoyed quite a few. But we felt this particular comparison of the two machines’ weights, horsepower and even seating arrangements was uniquely special.
Mike explains, “[A] Sea-Doo Spark product review…of sorts. I compare the 2018 Sea-Doo Spark to the 1996 Sea-Doo XP. These are two affordable jet skis from two completely different era. In its day, the XP was one of the fastest, best maneuvering Personal Watercraft (before they even called them PWCs) on the market. The Spark is one of the top entry-level jet skis, priced to make high performance affordable for new riders. Steve covers all the important specs: top speed, fuel consumption, horsepower, and available options and more.”
Recently, The Watercraft Journal had a chance to meet up with Mike Hodges, the National Sales Manager for Krash Industries, to discuss their soon-to-be-official distributorship model and RIVA Motorsports becoming a direct sales dealer for Krash. We were able to convince him to take part in our interview series, Seven Deadly Questions. So, without further ado, here they are …
The Watercraft Journal: Mike, please tell us a little about yourself.
Mike Hodges: I was hired through RIVA Motorsports back in September to be the National Sales Manager for Krash Industries, overseeing their soon to be official distributorship.
WCJ: Krash is growing like crazy, especially in the past year or two. Tell us how this all got started.
MH: Initially, Krash Industries was an aftermarket hull builder, starting back in 2008. Recognizing the frustration customers were going through trying to build complete freeride/freestyle craft using aftermarket hulls, the owner of Krash Industries, Nick Barton, decided he wanted to provide a complete, turn-key solution.
WCJ: The “ready-to-perform” Footrockets, 50cals and Predators, right?
MH: Right. Nick designed and manufactured everything required to make a complete, turn-key freeride/freestyle watercraft; engine, exhaust system, fuel and intake, pump, electrical system, everything! And, he did it with price-point in mind, for the customer. They launched the “RTP” (Ready To Perform) complete freeride/freestyle watercraft around 2014, powered by their KV997 engine.
Fast forwarding to 2019 they will offer one fiberglass freeride/freestyle stand-up, one freeride/recreation model stand-up and one freeride/recreational fiberglass sport class model, each retailing for only $12,599.00 (USD) through dealers. And, they will offer the one carbon fiber Foot Rocket freestyle stand-up model that retails for only $16,799.00 (USD) through dealers, which you already reported on.
WCJ: That’s really a killer price. How can people get their hands on one?
MH: Exactly! Typically it costs upwards of $20,000.00 or more to build a complete freeride/freestyle watercraft with an aftermarket hull. And that’s a fairly basic set up. Krash Industries will be like any of the other OEM brands, providing complete unit sales, parts and service a dealer network managed and supported by RIVA Motorsports. Customers will even be able to finance a Krash Industries freeride/freestyle watercraft through their dealer! Also, of note, Krash Industries is in the final stages of developing a direct-injection engine that will meet CARB regulations. It’s slated for release in 2020 models.
WCJ: That’s awesome! So what does that mean for the immediate future?
MH: We’re in the process of finalizing the details for the 2019 dealership program. I’m already contacting dealers and I will hit the road late Winter/early Spring 2019, visiting dealerships to introduce them to Krash Industries complete, turn-key freeride/freestyle watercraft and provide demos. I plan to hold “flash demos” for local customers as well.
WCJ: How do you think people will respond to this new RTP model?
MH: Our first event was the 2018 Blowsion World Finals where Krash Industries teamed up with RIVA Racing to display alongside them in Performance Alley. Krash put on demo rides as well at the race site. We were very busy all week and the buzz hasn’t died off! I’m receiving inquiries daily from customers and dealers are proactively reaching out to us.
WCJ: So, what’s next on the horizon for Krash?
MH: Our next event is the 2019 Daytona Freeride, happening in January. We will have all our pro team riders putting on a show, and we’ll be offering demo rides as well.
Remember when there was like half a dozen “reality TV” shows on custom motorcycle shops? How about all of the shows on classic cars and hot rod shops? Yup, there’s a lot of ’em out there. But how about custom performance watercraft shops? Yup, there’s pretty much nothing out there. That is until recently. The pilot episode of “Makin Waves” – where Wamilton Teixeira and his South Florida shop, Wamilton’s Customs, is the subject of a half-hour “reality TV” show.
Now viewable on Amazon Prime, the “Award Winning Reality TV Series” is about “Wamilton and his employees avoid disaster, or narrowly make the quickly approaching customer deadlines as his determination for the ultimate in watercraft drives him further toward perfection, testing performance and redesigning dimensions of a prototype in his quest to produce the ultimate of his very own custom creations, the Wammerjet.”
This first episode of Makin Waves (ie. “pilot”) focuses on introducing Wammer, the day-to-day trappings of owning a watercraft shop, his crew, friends and family, and the comings-and-goings of his high profile clientele. Additionally, Makin Waves gets us a great look at Wammer’s work in action while at the Pro Watercross World Championships in Naples, Florida, where Broward Motorsports’ own Sam Nehme claimed a championship title aboard Wammer’s new Sport GP design.
You can watch the trailer for Makin Waves’, below, and check out the debut episode here, on Amazon Prime Video, and add the season to your watchlist to get notified when more episodes appear. Enjoy!
Too often the one item in our arsenal that goes overlooked too often is our PWC trailer. Sure, a good set of trailer tires, wheel bearings and tail lights are musts, but more often than not, we typically don’t give a lot of thought to improving (or even maintaining) our ski trailers. And that’s gotta stop! Thankfully, our friends at BlackTip Jetsports have got the perfect – and super easy – upgrade that anyone can do!
It’s either happened to us or we’ve seen it first hand; you’re trying to walk the slippery center beam that runs between your two skis, or you’re stepping up onto the fender to climb aboard your runabout but the surface is slick, and down you go! Well, you no longer need to worry about a slip and fall with BlackTip Jetsports’ traction mat trailer kit priced at $24.95.
These precut packages offer you the grippy traction mat material to stick to your trailers fenders, catwalks and other areas you plan on stepping on. Don’t walk on slippery metal or aluminum surfaces again without the padded, traction of a BlackTip traction mat kit. They offer various sizes of traction mat material for better traction on your trailer; either 4- 19″x8″, 4- 7.25″x5″, or 4- 15″x1.25″; all backed with PSA (pressure sensitive adhesive) on the back.
Recently debuted at the 2018 IJSBA World Finals, the new fully carbon fiber stand-up is the latest hot ticket ski from Krash Industries. Dubbed the Foot Rocket, this is the new gossip around Krash town.
According to Krash Industries, this new ski is made from 100% carbon fiber. It weighs in at a slim 275 pounds and the power plant is good for 130 horsepower. At that power to weight ratio, we can only imagine how easy it will be to maneuver.
The previous version was called the ’50 cal’ and unlike the new ski’s carbon fiber hull and deck, the 50 cal was fiberglass. Just for comparison, the old 50 cal version weighed in at about 305 pounds according the team at Krash.
Considering the overall small size of the ski, that is some serious improvement. The Foot Rocket comes as a turn key package which means that all you need to do is add some pre-mixed fuel and you’ll be rippin’ barrel rolls with utter precision and ease.
Current pricing has been stated at $16,799 USD. Not cheap, but you definitely get a lot of performance with this little foot rocket.
