If you want to unleash the full potential from your Kawasaki SX-R 1500, RIVA Racing has the product for you. Their MaptunerX tuner bundle delivers instant plug-in horsepower with only a few clicks! Gone are the days of having to ship out your ECU for programming; leaving your jet ski down and useless for days at a time; the MaptunerX gives you the ability to tune your ski and hit the water in the same day.
The MaptunerX lets you easily switch between performance tunes and stock settings if you wish. It features a slick, high resolution, full color, touch screen display and there is no limit to the number of vehicles or tunes you can reflash with it! That means if you have a few SX-Rs in your fleet, you can use one tuner to flash every single one of them.
Simply purchase one additional tuning license for each vehicle that you would like to program; it’s that easy! Purchasing the tuner not only gives you the item itself but it also includes full access to RIVA’s world famous tuning library along with unmatched technical support. You can’t complain about that! Expanded service functions and data logging abilities are coming very soon too! Each bundle includes the MaptunerX, RIVA MaptunerX Kawasaki Tuning Licence and the programming cable. It’s currently on sale for $992.60 so act quick!
Note: For Competition Use Only. Product Not For Use On Pollution Controlled Vehicles.
Brian Sawer, a founding member of the Virginia Beach Wave Junkies, and a buddy went for a jet ski ride in Suffolk, VA. The men were underway and headed to the Merrimac Bridge Tunnel by 6:30pm. Both skis became plagued with several issues, including mechanical failures. The guys made the decision to physically pull their skis to a landing provided by a restaurant.
After swimming and fighting the current in the channel for six hours, the two men reached the restaurant where they tied down their skis. They left the water and walked to a convenience store. They reached the store at 1:30 am.
A kind soul let them use his cell phone to call for assistance. Little did they know, family members alerted the Coast Guard in regards to the missing men just after midnight. The USCG sent a helicopter and a boat on a search and rescue mission and located the jet skis.
Family members received calls from the men at 2:30 a.m. Sawyer said he regretted causing his family to worry. When interviewed by WAVY.com, Sawyer said, “We never panicked and we joked around with each other. We never felt we were in any danger.”
Fortunately, the guys were wearing life jackets when their skis malfunctioned. Sawyer has ridden jet skis since he was 8 years old and never goes out unprepared and that means also taking a friend. He will carry an additional item onboard: a cell phone. The men were checked out by medics and released. Sawyer suffered a rash from the chafing of his shorts on both legs. That’s nothing a little Gold Bond can’t fix.
The P1 AquaX Tour had their fourth round of their race series arrived into the beautiful city of Sarasota, Florida. This was the third year of the series coming into town to kick off the 4th of July festivities and as with the past two years, it was going to be an exciting weekend. This round would only have the Professional racers joining the boat series that would adorn Lido Beach. The entire weekend would sponsor a great cause the Suncoast Charities for Children.
The weekend started off with the AquaX riders kicking off the event with their first race, but first the riders briefing needed to be done. As many of the racers had raced Sarasota the previous years, it was mainly a time to go over some particulars. Sarasota is unique because the launch of the skis was a short distance from the actual race course and many racers were wondering if their skis would have enough gas to complete a moto. Due to this, it was determined by Race Director Lisa Barsby that instead of the normal 30 minute moto that it would be dropped down to a 25 minute moto, plus one lap. This would definitely allow all racers to complete the moto plus the parade laps and the traveling to the race course.
The riders launched their craft and headed out to the course and it was deemed that the course was ready to race. As the green flag dropped, the racers took off and it was, as in the past that Chris Macclugage took the hole shot. Chris started to gain a really nice lead and completed two laps but then his ski had mechanical issues causing him to stop racing. It turned out that his timing chain had snapped. The bad luck of Sarasota had come upon him for the second year in a row. This opened the door for the other racers to claim the top spot for the first moto.
Sea-Doo team rider Erminio Iantosca now took the lead on his Sea-Doo RXP and it was looking like a Sea-Doo was on the hunt for it’s first top spot for the year. Iantosca was chased by RIVA racer Brian Baldwin on his Yamaha GP1800 and then followed by Canadian rider Jay Edworthy, who was also on a Sea-Doo RXP. These three racers kept this up for the majority of the race. Suddenly, Baldwin was in the lead followed by Eric Lagopoulos and Cyrille Lemoine. These three finished the race in that order. The question that then emerged was what happened to the Sea-Doo riders? Did they break down or did they run out of gas?
Upon returning to the ramp, it was revealed that the race was timed an extra few minutes past the 25 minutes that was told to the riders in their briefing, which caused a lot of the Sea-Doo riders to run out of gas on the second to last and final laps. The race directors had to go back to their time keeping sheets to determine where each racer was at the 25-minute mark. After further review it was determined that Iantosca won the first moto followed by Baldwin and the Edworthy. This was absolutely the right call to make and the most fair.
With the first moto in the books, the racers prepped for the second moto later in the day. Unfortunately, this would not happen. While the racers were prepping and the powerboats were racing there was a marine hold for all racing due to wildlife on the course. That coupled with an incoming storm determined that racing would have to be put on hold until the next day and the second moto would be made up. The second day of racing was going to be a long one for all the racers – including the powerboats. At the briefing, it was discovered by the racers that they would only be competing in one moto instead of two due to the tight schedule and that the third moto scheduled would be made up in the next round in Islamorada, Florida.
The racers took to the course and it was Chris MacClugage who yet again, took the hole shot after getting his ski in order. Macc raced a flawless moto this time and it appeared that the gremlins that had plagued him in the past were definitely behind him. Eric Francis, who had gotten a DNF in the first moto, also looked like he had gotten past the mechanical issues of the first moto and was battling with Brian Baldwin. Marcus Jorgensen of Denmark who also had a DNF in the first moto started in the last race position for moto. Jorgensen traversed the field on the hunt for one of the top three positions. It came down to the white flag lap where Jorgensen passed Francis to take the second place finish. The final results would be MacClugage for the Moto 2 win followed by Jorgensen and Francis rounding out the top three.
The weekend was a success and the final results ended with RIVA racer Brian Baldwin coming out with the overall win, followed by Iantosca in second place garnering Sea-Doo’s first podium finish in the professional class for the year. The third spot on the podium was to be won by MacClugage. He tied French rider Cyrille Lemoine for the weekend, but due to Macc having a better finish in the last moto, the scoring deemed Macc the podium winner. The weekend was officially over after two races and the racers are now set to continue racing next month in Islamorada, Florida.
IJSBA (International Jet Sports Boating Association) has just announced the return of P1 AquaX to the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois for 2017. The event will take place the weekend of September 9-10, 2017 and will be a part of the IJSBA U.S. National Series.
Last year P1 AquaX made its debut appearance in the Windy City; but only as part of the Great Lakes Series and Pro Series. In addition to the Pro Series class for 2017, Chicago will also host P1 Aqua X’s North East Series as well as the IJSBA U.S. National Series according to the most recent postings from P1 AquaX.
This year’s National Championship events are expected to be some of the most exciting races considering the enormous energy put on a display by last year’s events.
If you plan to attend, be sure to check out some of the city’s rich history, breathtaking skyscraper views, and multi-cultural food offerings. Don’t forget to pick up a slice (or an entire pan) of the world famous deep dish pizza.
Specific race event information such as classes and other details are still being finalized so be sure to check the appropriate websites for further upcoming details.
Following a recent story covered by local KBTX news of Somerville, Texas, we got word of a PWC racing event that has provided a much-needed boost to the local economy and overall morale of local business owners.
The Texas H2O racing series held its round 3 and round 4 events the weekend of June 17-18 according to the local news outlet. This event which is actually one of the qualifiers for IJSBA World Finals, brought over 45 racing PWC’s to the scene as well as hundreds of spectators and fans.
Due to the massive influx of racing participants and spectators, the local marina, campground, and other businesses have been able to operate again after flooding activity in the surrounding area put a damper on the usage of the lake for the past couple years. This is obviously good news for everyone considering that racers have gained back a spectacular location for eventing, local businesses are supported, and the PWC scene gets positive attention.
As we have seen in recent years, the growth of PWC sales, and more recently with the introduction of budget-friendly models such as Sea Doo’s Spark and Yamaha’s EX series, we would bet our wives’ and daughters’ horses that the Somerville Lake, TX area has seen its fair share of demand for new units with the recent flood recessions. Hopefully 2017 continues on this positive, economy-boosting trend.
Waitaminute. It’s July? Already?! Yeah, that’s how we’re feeling right about now. We’re officially on the backside of the year, both domestic racing series are more than halfway complete (Pro Watercross National Tour and P1 AquaX – both of which, The Watercraft Journal continues as the only source of complete written recaps and full image galleries), summer vacation has about a month and a half left for most of the kids, and riding season for most of you working stiffs has just started to really pick up. Of course, we’re of the whole “glass half full” mentality around here, and we’ve got a lot to show for it:
For today’s episode of The Watercraft Journal By The Numbers, we wanted to do something slightly different. Because we’re in our fourth year of publishing, we wanted to illustrate that we are continually growing in readership unlike any other publication in our industry, year-after-year, month-after-month. Equally, as our audience continues to expand, so does our appeal to so many manufacturers in our industry. We average two new advertisers a month, companies who recognize the need to get their products and services in front of the broadest, most active audience in the world, and not just in social media activity – but actual adults who do their due diligence prior to buying. And that is what we offer.
January – June 2017
January – June 2016
What Does Half a Million Visits in a Year Mean?
Back in our paper publishing days at Personal Watercraft Illustrated, there was a mysterous metric that the publisher liked to throw around. The idea was that for every issue sold, two-to-three different people would see that copy – be it sitting on a coffee table or on the back of a toilet tank – and take a look. While it sounds preposterous to equate, the sales staff tried to convince potential advertisers to bank on this number. Unlike the inequatable projection used before, we know for certain how many people are coming to The Watercraft Journal in 2017: half a million. And as you can see, we’re up nearly 30-percent in visits since last year. That ain’t too shabby either.
January – June 2016
Total number readers: 210,413*
Total number of articles read: 343,359
Percentage of new readers: 64.5%
January – June 2017
Total number readers: 250,047*
Total number of articles read: 343,201
Percentage of new readers: 63.9%
*This number is considered equal to an individual sale of a single copy of a magazine.
Judge Them By Their Fruits
When it comes to other PWC outlets, it’s easy to get distracted by social media posts, Instagram shares and a whole lot of retweets, but when you look at what is served on the plate, you’ll see there’s not a lot of meat on the bone, as it were. While some are little more than glorified online stores, The Watercraft Journal is the only personal watercraft magazine truly laboring to provide useful product reviews, in-depth interviews, cutting-edge technology, and useful information to help you, the consumer, make the best, most educated decision with your hard-earned dollar. That’s why we don’t charge you. We’d rather have you spend that money with the companies who we accept as advertising sponsors.
News articles published in May 2017: 24
Feature articles published in May 2017: 13
Total feature word count: 12,889 words
News articles published in June 2017: 25
Feature articles published in June 2017: 12
Total feature word count: 9,106 words*
*When this number is translated to print publication standards equals a 102-page magazine. Please note that this number does not include an average of two uniquely-written news articles published daily.
More Content Than Ever Before The Watercraft Journal is striving to offer the personal watercraft enthusiast a diverse variety of content – sure, we offer the same industry leading event coverage, product evaluations, hands-on watercraft reviews, and more – but now we’re dishing out double doses of uniquely-created YouTube videos, as well as providing you with access to PWCTrader’s search engine of used and pre-owned personal watercraft as well as our own T-shirts and decals in our all-new store. If that’s not enough, we’re constantly flooding your Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram feeds, and your inbox with our weekly newsletters. If you’re not already following us, subscribed to our channels, or otherwise, you’re purposely ignoring us.
June Facebook likes: 23,054
Top Five countries: United States, Australia, United Kingdom, France, Canada
https://youtu.be/eaEMSKzqGAg
Time To Greet What You’ve Been Missing
So why do we even write these articles month after month? It’s purpose is truly two-fold: first, to introduce those companies to the radical rate of growth and current levels of success that The Watercraft Journal is experiencing; and second, to reaffirm to our current advertisers that we are not going anyway anytime soon. Websites pop up and vanish often, paper magazines find their funds lacking and overhead simply too burdensome and fold. For the past four years, we have done nothing but grow; both in readership and in advertiser support. The companies who partner with The Watercraft Journal and actively engage in an aggressive media campaign, find almost instantaneous results. Those who join but do little to nothing might see some marginal success, but nothing like the former. To help you reach a broader audience of would-be customers and spread the word about your brand, product and services, The Watercraft Journal must be a resource, a tool in building your brand. If you’re ready for that, email [email protected] about advertising your company in the single-most popular PWC magazine today.
[For today’s installment of “Join The Club,” The Watercraft Journal welcomes Les Partonof the Swamp Kings, from the Ladner/Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada. Les kept his recap pretty brief, but there’s quite a bit going on with the Swamp Kings, so if you’re in the area, make sure to check them out. -Ed]
“[The] riding club was founded approximately 1992 by now deceased Bill McLean, then-owner of Pacific Yamaha BMW and multi-time Canadian Motocross Champion. His legacy is remembered by three rides, ‘Big Billy Trail,’ ‘Big Billy Round ‘da World Ride’ (50 miles around Lulu Island/Richmond), and ‘The Super Big Billy 80-plus-mile Gulf Island Tour.’
“Swamp Kings [hosts a] 90 member Facebook secret group, a weekly TNR Thursday Night Ride held between April Fools and Halloween, and 50-miles of tidal race track trails (all rides meet at First Beach), weekend rides to Gulf Islands, Sunshine Coast, Howe Sound, up Fraser River to Pitt Lake, trailer to Harrison, etc. Occasional long range overnight trips. Newbies welcome. Stand-ups and 2-strokes work great in the swamp, but we recommend big 2-strokes or 4-strokes for long rides like Gulf crossings.”
If you’re a PWC riding club president, group and/or event organizer who regularly hosts rides and is looking for greater access to a larger audience of potential members, and would like to be featured in a segment of “Join The Club” please email 300-500 words about your group, a minimum of 3 high-resolution images, and hyperlinks to your social media pages to [email protected].
Last year, Yamaha surprised all with a one-two punch combination, by first retiring the lauded FZ series runabouts and replacing them with the lighter, better equipped and superior performing GP1800; and second by revealing it’s three-tiered EX series of Rec Lite runabouts. The EX models (EX, Sport and Deluxe) vary in coloring, accessories and other finer materials, but all ride on the same uniquely designed hull, and lightweight, narrow deck configuration. The result was a runabout not parallel to the Spark by comparison’s sake, but entirely it’s own.
That last note resonated with a few even within the walls of Yamaha, and the guys in the Australian office decided to do something about it. National Marine Marketing & Online Communications Coordinator for Yamaha Motor Australia, Mark Harman (who presumably holds the longest job title in the company) told The Watercraft Journal, “The idea behind the concept was to create a statement piece linking our historical past with the iconic 1993 WaveBlaster, with our all-new EX series. The WaveBlaster was heralded as one of the most exciting watercraft from the 1990’s.
“Since then, Yamaha’s personal watercraft have seen incremental evolutions accommodating the demand for features, equipment, stability, versatility and storage. This subsequently meant that the watercraft have grown in size to accommodate the shift towards rider demand. For 2017, Yamaha has put the ‘personal’ back in ‘personal watercraft’ with the introduction of the EX series. This new rec-lite series of WaveRunners are fun, playful and exciting. The EX pays homage to where it all started and shares key characteristics of the WaveBlaster of the 1990’s, whilst maintaining the versatility of rider demand with capacity for three riders, tow-sports, generous on-board storage and four-stroke efficiency from the award-winning TR-1 Marine Engine.”
“To further highlight the lineage, we’ve created the EX ‘Blaster concept, a one-off concept model created by Yamaha Motor Australia based on a 2017 grey-and-red EX Deluxe wrapped in the classic purple and orange 1993 ‘Blaster livery, and is destined to be shown around across Australia at major boat shows.” The EX ‘Blaster made its public debut at the Melbourne Boat Show to rave reviews. Although mechanically identical to the EX Sport, the appearance package had many inquiring whether the machine would be made available to the public. [It won’t.] In the coming weeks and months, the EX ‘Blaster concept will be shown at the Sydney and Brisbane boat shows in August (3-7, 25-27, respectively).
While not an identical recreation of the original WaveBlaster, the EX ‘Blaster concept shows us a clear glimpse at what “could be,” particularly when given the RIVA Racing Stage 1 treatment. Frankly, we applaud the concept and acknowledgement of the brand’s own history and hope to see more concepts and ideas like these in the future.
This offer is available across the entire line-up. That’s right; every single FX is on sale. These savings are huge! We’re not talking about $100 here. Think about all the things you could do with that extra money!
• Save $2000 off on FX HO
• Save $2000 off on FX Cruiser HO
• Save $2000 off on FX SVHO
• Save $2000 off on FX Cruiser SVHO
The flagship FX range offers a bit of something for everyone, whether it be the entry level best bang for your buck FX HO stickering at USD $13,199 (AUD $19,199) or the fully loaded supercharged FX Cruiser SVHO stickering at USD $15,999 (AUD $23,199), there is a ski for you! The FX lineup has been engineered to deliver the ultimate combination of raw power, high end luxury features and cruising comfort.
Contact your local participating Australian Yamaha WaveRunner retailer for details and to take advantage of Yamaha’s limited time offer.
If you’ve been looking at purchasing a Sea-Doo brand PWC, Cycle Springs Powersports has an offer to temp you and make your purchase even sweeter! From now until July 6th, 2017, they are offering a FREE 4 year warranty on ALL Sea-Doo Spark models.
The Sea-Doo Spark is the most affordable all-around use watercraft on the market and does a fantastic job at making you or your family’s dream of days on the water truly possible right now! If you are looking at a great PWC to get into the market and out onto the water, you can’t go wrong with a Spark.
The Spark is playful, agile and easy to ride. It’s so light that it can even be towed with a small car; no pick-up truck needed here. Pricing is very affordable and ranges from $5,299 to $7,499 USD with skis offering a little bit of something for everyone.
Now is the time. Head on down to Cycle Springs Powersports and bring home a killer Spark. Don’t let this deal float away, you won’t regret it.
Brian Sawer, a founding member of the 
