Erminio Iantosca was a man to be admired. The living embodiment of the American dream, Erminio immigrated to the United States from his birthplace in Naples, Italy in the mid-1960’s. Arriving in Boston, MA, there Erminio met his soon-to-be wife, Josephine and together, moved to Naples, Florida in 1973, after honeymooning in the coastal town a shortly before. Within two years, Erminio and Josephine opened Mama Mia’s Pizza – still in its original location on U.S. 41 in Moorings Plaza – 45 years later. Over its duration, Mama Mia’s has become a touchstone for the city; a local hang out, a family dining spot, a landmark.

Erminio and Josephine began a family too, three children — Kristina, Joseph and Erminio Jr. — who all helped put in long hours at the pizzeria. The youngest, Erminio Jr., took an interest in jet ski racing at an early age, and his father was all for it. With his support, Erminio Jr. has become one of the most recognized names in modern runabout racing. Not only was he the father of professional Sea-Doo racer Erminio Iantosca Jr., but also one of the most beloved personalities throughout the personal watercraft racing community. Effervescent, warm and always willing to share a laugh, Erminio Sr. became the supportive dad for many racers beyond his own.

This past April 1st, the Mama Mia’s Pizza Facebook page posted the following announcement:
“On Easter Sunday, the world has lost a truly special man. We are deeply saddened to say that Erminio Iantosca has passed. You know Erminio as the The Boss of Mama Mia’s Pizza for the last 43 years in Naples, FL. My Dad, our father, was hard working and dedicated his life to family, friends, and to everything he put his hands on. We want to celebrate his life and cherish all the love he spread to so many people throughout the years. While are hearts are heavy, we will stay strong and remember how Erminio has blessed us all. We “Thank you” for all your prayers, love and support – you mean a great deal to our family.”

Immediately, an outpouring of love, condolences and support came rushing in from across the globe. Not only was Erminio beloved for his son’s success as a racer, but because Erminio Sr. was legendary for being one of the friendliest, most welcoming faces at every race venue – or every time he greeted you from behind the counter at his pizzeria. We had the honor of visiting the Iantosca family at Mama Mia’s a handful of times, and will sorely miss Erminio’s smiling face. As per the article, the restaurant will continue to serve the people of Naples, as reported by a report in the Naples Daily News. As Kristina Iantosca said, “My dad didn’t bust his ass all these years for it to fold.”

Erminio’s service will be held this Sunday, April 8 from 2-6pm at Fullers Funeral Home on Pine Ridge Road in Naples, Florida.

According to a press release from the IJSBA, the 2018 Blowsion World Finals will take place September 29-October 7. The event will be held at Crazy Horse Campgrounds in Lake Havasu City, AZ. Admission is free to the 37th annual event.

The Blowsion World Finals is the most prestigious personal watercraft event in the world. It is invitation only and more than 750 competitors are in it to win it.

This event takes place near Columbus Day because more people can attend and have time to travel since it’s still considered a holiday and people are off work and out of school. Also, the European tour is wrapped up and those racers can attend the World Finals. Moreover, the weather is usually really nice in Arizona during this particular time frame.

In addition to the World Finals, catch some of the best freestyle skiers during the Pro Freestyle Expo. The expo will go down in the Bridgewater Channel and will be a blast to watch. Get there early because the area can become quite congested.

Many vendors will be on hand as well as beer stands. Arrive early so you can grab a good spot on the bleachers and catch all the action!
While admission is free, a parking fee of $10 a day is required October 3rd and 4th. Parking cost increases to $20 a day after the 4th. A $40 three day weekend pass is also available. Parking is cash only and a lot attendant will be on site from 8am to 5pm each day. A shuttle is available for rides to the event from the parking lot.

For more information, contact event organizer Jim Russel, DSM Events at 928.208.2252 or email [email protected]. Event dates are subject to change so check the IJSBA website for updates.

Here’s the original press release in its entirety:

Well, today is as good of a day as any to confirm and clarify the dates of the 2018 Blowsion World Finals: September 29-October 7. We have previously announced an end date of October 8 which was to publicly schedule a “makeup day” in the event weather interfered with our heavy competition schedule.

For those in the United States, it has always been easy to predict the dates of World Finals: it is the week before Columbus Day. We don’t know how much longer we will be able to call it Columbus Day (the line about lawyers often attributed to Shakespeare is certainly correct) but since it is still a recognized holiday this is the reference we use today. Having the event before Columbus Day gives students and many working folk a travel day to return home without extending vacation days beyond the 5 needed to attend the complete World Finals.

The end of September is generally regarded as a preferred time to hold World Finals as racing has concluded in most of the Europe and The Americas while it is pre-season for most of Asia. Daylight is just starting to decrease so there are solid periods of time to race around buoys. Finally, the weather is, statistically, predictably favorable during this time in Arizona. So, this is the time frame and location we intend to keep.

Be sure to join us, at Crazy Horse Campgrounds, in Lake Havasu City this year to see some new changes to the layout, a new way of presenting the trade show, and some great surprises from Blowsion. Stay tuned to ijsba.com for more information.

Many thought it could never be done; giving the political climate, it was believed that the days of Southern California surf racing were long gone. Yet, RPM Racing Enterprises’ own Ross Wallach has pulled off a miracle and announced recently that surf racing is coming to Orange County this coming April 14th and 15th in the first-annual Huntington Beach Moto Surf and TC Freeride Exhibition, or California State Surf Championship!

For well over a decade, RPM Racing Enterprises has remained the primary racing promoter for IJSBA Region 1’s “Best of The West” racing series, and this windfall is a major salute to Mr. Wallach’s commitment to this sport. This stand-alone event will entreat audiences to true surf racing and a freeride session featuring some of Southern California’s most talented riders. Vendors have already been vying for booth space and the expected turnout is believed to be significant.

Add to that Huntington Beach is California’s very own “Surf City” and the previous home to the annual G-Shock Surfing Championships as well as countless other surfing contests, and racers are certain to have their hands full in the big rollers breaking in the shadow of the famous Huntington Beach Pier. More details are soon to be revealed at RPM Racing Enterprises’ website.

Here’s the original press release from RPM Racing Enterprises:
RPM Racing Enterprises is proud to announce The Hot Products 2018 Huntington Beach Moto-Surf & Freeride Exhibition presented by Jettrim, Jettribe, Hydro-Turf, Bomber Eyewear, Jet Renu, Circuit Jet Sports, Kawasaki, IPD Graphics, Factory Zero, Rickter-RRP, T.C. Freeride, Goodman Properties Krash Industries, Works H20 Designs & ProRider Magazine.

After an almost 20 year hiatus, surf racing returns to Southern California on April 14 & 15 at the Huntington Beach Pier (south side)! This much anticipated event will feature 2 days of IJSBA sanctioned (International Jet Sports Boating Association) PWC racing with an overall awards, cash & prizes. Racers will descend on Huntington Beach for the inaugural event which will showcase the best stand up and runabout PWC racers in the country.

Billed as “motoX” on the water, surf racing is uniquely difficult as the ever changing surf conditions can be a great equalizer for even the fastest and most talented racers. The event will also feature a “Freeride Exhibition.” TC Freeride, Rickter-RRP & Krash Industries riders will be performing some of the best acrobatic tricks on the water.

Fans can get up close with the racers as the event is free to the public. You don’t want to miss out on visiting the vendor area, located at the base of the Huntington Beach Pier. Practice starts at 9:00 both days with racing at 10:00 am.

For all updates and information, please visit www.rpmracingent.com or call (310) 318-4012

Any jet skier worth their salt who has been to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, should be familiar with Body Beach. The famous riding spot has been a favorite testing shore, party spot and general hangout well before the first standup was even a twinkle in Clayton Jacobson’s eye. Accessible either by water or a winding dirt road off of Highway 95, Body Beach is also known as the place to be before and after each year’s IJSBA World Finals, as racers busily prepare before the event, and let off some steam afterwards.

But things weren’t too great this past Saturday night, as flames engulfed several acres surrounding the spot. According to a report by Havasu News, the fire began just before 10pm and spread about 6 1/2 acres, burning almost a dozen homeless camps found in the area. Gratefully, “all residents of the homeless camps on the beach were able to evacuate. There were no injuries reported, among fire officials or community members,” according to the report, which counted approximately 25 people, with close to 10 camps on the beach.

Thankfully, fast-acting crews had the blaze under control in 85 minutes; with Oatman Fire arriving first on the scene a little after 10pm. “We were getting back into town and happened to look over and see it,” said Oatman Fire Chief Gary Lambertson, a Lake Havasu City resident. “Our crew is all wildland, that’s what we do. We saw it and came over here. Nobody was here yet. Havasu came shortly behind us and we assisted where we could with them.” Lambertson said as flames reached 20 feet in the air, he and his crew helped evacuate some of the residents of the homeless camps.

Thus far, a cause for the fire has yet to be determined, with the Arizona Department of Forestry currently cleaning up the scene as of Sunday afternoon. As of this writing, images of the damage show damage stretching from Body Beach itself north, charring the hills surrounding. Gratefully, nobody was injured and with some help from Mother Nature, the plantlife can return quickly.

Spotting animals fording a lake or river isn’t all too rare. We’ve personally seen deer, coyotes and and an elk; it’s just a bit of nature that happens every so often. But once unusual experience by Jonah Cooper was thankfully caught on camera. According to Cooper and a report later published by ABC Eyewitness News, a young wallaby was seen jumping into the Noosa River in South East Queensland, Australia and “swimming in circles in a disorientated state.”

Seeing the distressed animal, “two well-meaning kayakers were attempting to save the wallaby, but couldn’t manage to both paddle and hold the animal at the same time.” Cooper jumped into action and speed off to meet the kayakers who had the wallaby by its tail, inverted. Cooper, came in close aboard a Sea-Doo GTS and recorded the whole interaction via his GoPro camera. Handing the young relative to the kangaroo by the tail, Cooper sped to shore.

According to Cooper, “the terrified wallaby thrashed in confusion as it was held up by its tail, even kicking one of the kayakers in the head,” continuing, “How the kayaker thought he was going to hold a wallaby and paddle to shore seemed to have eluded me.”

A heartwarming video posted on the NBN News website shows and tells the story of some extremely stoked special needs kids and the Jet Trek group. It’s cool to see many of the participants move from fear to elation after a fun ride.

The video is a piece from the annual Variety Jet Trek, which is a long distance PWC ride along hundreds of miles of Australia’s coastline. The ride is a massive fundraising event for Aussie kids in need, whether sick, disadvantaged, or have special needs in order to live. This was also the launch of a new program called “Sea of Smiles” from the children’s charity, Variety.

The Jet Trek riders and kids met in Port Macquarie so the children could catch a few rides with the riders on sit down personal watercraft. It was a rainy day, however that didn’t stop the event. Once the kids were equipped with PFD’s, they were placed on the skis with one or two experienced riders and taken out. Some of the children were scared when initially underway. Upon return, fist pumps, thumbs up, and laughter all around were seen and heard! A young lady named Kimberly even came back for a second ride because she was so excited.

115 skis were present this year. Throughout the years, Variety Jet Trek has raised 1.7 million dollars to help families in need! That’s an amazing accomplishment. The “Sea of Smiles” event was held on March 22 this year. Variety Jet Trek looks forward to continue raising funds to help kids reach their full potential. Good stuff! To watch the video click the link to NBN’s website HERE.

There’s something to be said about a company who rises to the challenge. Hydro-Turf is easily one of the personal watercraft industry’s most recognizable names, and it’s products of durable, comfortable and attraction traction mats, seat covers and more is often replicated but never replaced. That’s why Hydro-Turf is the supplier of two of the industry’s three OE manufacturers.

When the GP1800 was to be introduced, the demanded asked for specialty CNC-cut mats to be designed and produced. Hydro-Turf rose to the occasion and delivered for Yamaha Motor Corp. and was recently acknowledged for both this feat as well as maintaining a steady, reliable degree of professionalism over the years, and we at The Watercraft Journal cannot agree more!

For Hydro-Turf‘s accomplishments, president Arno Olbricht was invited out to Yamaha’s Georgia headquarters and honored with the Yamaha Motor Corp. USA 2017 Supplier Excellence Award. Here’s the original post about the announcement:

Hydro-Turf president Arno Olbricht traveled out to Georgia this week to attend the @yamahamotorusa vendor conference. Hydro-Turf is proud and grateful to have received the 2017 supplier excellence award! Did you know that Hydro-Turf provides all of the traction material for OEM manufacturers like Yamaha and Kawasaki? Durability and fulfillment that even the big guns can rely on. That’s why we are proud of our traction products. #hydroturf #devourthecompetition @yamahaboating #yamaha #vendoraward #supplierexcellenceaward #yamahamotorusa #traction #award #thankful