The new IJSBA International affiliate, Motonautica Mexico will hold its second round of its National Circuit by running the Usumacinta Canyon Nautical Challenge, April 22nd and 23rd. This race includes a river marathon, in which competitors will take on the challenging Class Four white water rapids both upstream and downstream. This race is not for the inexperienced nor the faint of heart as it requires a masterful skill level to take on the mean rapids of the Usumacinta River, located in the Mexican Jungle near the host city of Tenosique.

In spite of the river’s notorious reputation of “eating” boats, more than twenty-five riders have registered for the punishing marathon.  Riders are urged to arrive early so they can assess the conditions of the river and make some trial runs in order to find out exactly what they signed up for. A swift water rescue team will be on hand to take care of any incidents along the way.

A closed course race will take place the day before the marathon and it will not be nearly as sketchy as the river run. It will still be an awesome race for the riders, just a little safer and less wild. It is cool to see Motonautica Mexico stepping up to show the IJSBA what it has to offer in the realm of the jet ski sport as one of its international affiliates.

The third round sounds great as well. It takes place at Tesquesquitengo Lake in Morelos, Mexico on May 21st. The organizers have offered three package deals for international riders who want to race in the event. Each package includes a complimentary airline ticket, ground transportation, accommodations, fuel, and the use of a competitive stock PWC. If you are interested, e-mail Charles Large at: [email protected]

With the early Spring thaws, the first wild, unshaven Canadians have started emerging from beneath their beaver pelt blankets and begin their first instinctual migrations in search of Tim Horton’s Coffee. Ryan Dalli and the rest of the Jet X Powersports crew enjoyed no such winter hibernation as they were hard at work preparing for the upcoming racing season. To those familiar, Jet X maintains a fleet of formidable Sea-Doo Sparks, and this year is no different.

After a few months of wrenching, weather was cooperative enough to allow for some break-in time. “We tested the modified Spark Trixx yesterday,” Ryan told The Watercraft Journal. “We compared the Spark to a stock 60 and a 90-horsepower unit.” As both a service dealer and the head of an accomplished race team, Ryan has become an expert on the Rec Lite runabout. “[The] stock 60 we where able to see 42mph, [the] stock 90 we where able to see 48 mph. On the modified Trixx we where able to see 53/54 mph with increased throttle response and mid range.”

Of course, with any test, replicating the circumstances is imperative. Ryan explained, “We timed the modified Spark to see how [long] it would take to go for 1-2mph (idle speed) to 53/54mph – it took on average of 3 pulls, 8 seconds. The weather was 58 degrees and water was clear and calm. Water temp was around 45 degrees. For this test we used pump fuel ESSO 91 octane.” Ryan added, “[The] rider was Andrew Bezan (190lbs.). He races for us [Jet X] in Pro GP Sport.”

Achieving a 54 mph Spark (without serious engine mods) was accomplished by putting all of RIVA Racing’s Stage III kit to work (as well as a few other extras of Ryan’s personal choosing). The build included a RIVA Fresh Air intake, RIVA Intake manifold upgrade kit (ribbon removal), RIVA Waterbox and Rear exhaust kit, RIVA stainless steel wear ring, RIVA Intake grate with pump stuffer, Solas 12/14 impeller and RIVA’s MaptunerX ECM tuning which accounted for the 400 rpm gain over stock that it picked up. While all of the images below could be spun into a full-length technical article providing useful step-by-step instructions, Ryan’s own humility kept him from giving himself so much credit.

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Aquabike reported this story about professional jet skier, Stian Schjetlein, who is 25 and making a big name for himself all over the world while working hard to stay in top form. According to one his quotes, he is a fanatic when it comes to training, “For my off season and pre-season training I have been doing all kinds of stuff. I have been doing a lot of downhill alpine and telemark skiing, rock climbing, playing squash, basketball and tennis, as well as doing several other sports,” he said. “In addition to the huge variety of sports and activities I have been following a strict program from Olympiatoppen including strength, mobility and motor skills training.”

The Olympiatoppen is part of the Norwegian and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of sports. Schjetlein was a awarded a scholarship with Olympiatoppen and he was only the fifth motorsports athlete to receive the award. He views it as a huge honor and is very proud of his achievement. The organizations’ goal is to help the best become better and that is exactly what Schjetlein is striving for.

He began this season with a six day, twenty-six session boot camp in Spain with the rest of the Norwegian Motorsports Federation (NMF). Schjetlein continued his training with SAS Racing’s yearly pre-season camp on Lake Havasu during the month of February and has quite a big year planned. He has entered competitions all over the world and is also the head coach for Team Norway Junior Aquabike. The team consists of ten young riders ranging from ages 13-14 who train every week and also during the off season. He helps develop them into top aquabike riders.

As far as his 2017 season goes, look for him in a wildly colored Jettribe wetsuit and some new graphics on his ski. Schjetlein will continue to ride a ProForce Kawasaki ZXI 1100, however this pwc will be upgraded with new parts from Blowsion and Christopher Girello from Go Fast will be onboard as the new mechanic. He is the man who built the original engines when Schjetlein first began riding the Pro Force Kawasaki’s. Expect big things from the Norwegian this season!

That is right, here is your chance to win four jet skis and support a great cause. Read on for the lowdown and scoop on what you need to do to enter. Come on out for a good cause!

The annual Jetfest 2017 will be renamed the “2017 Blowsion Northeast John Dady Memorial PWC Rally.” The rally will be hosted by the Adirondack Jetski Club (AJC) an American Watercraft Association (AWA) official charter club. The event is in honor of the unexpected passing of John Dady. John was the owner and creator of Blowsion. His contributions to the industry will never go unrecognized as he has done so much for the watercraft community. Please come to support John’s beneficiaries and also the chance to win four unknown personal watercraft. (More information on this later to come)

To order your tickets for a chance to win one of these four skis and to support a great cause check out www.adkjetskiclub.org to purchase individual numbered memorial decals for $20.00. Online ticket sales will take place January 1, 2017 through June 1, 2017. You can also purchase the memorial decals on site the day of the rally as well. Winners need not be present to win but will be responsible for shipping cost.

The rally will take place in Mayfield, NY on the waters of the Great Sacandaga Lake June 17, 2017. All forms of skis are welcome, from stand ups to musclecraft cruisers. Run what you brung. Even if you don’t have a ski, it is broke, or your build isn’t complete yet, this is no reason to not join in on the fun. Come hang out on the Northampton Beach Campground where you will find vendors, food, entertainment, and of course awesome tricked out skis. This is a chance to ride with friends and family, where new friendship can be formed as well.

For more information on this event you can visit www.adkjtskiclub.org or check out the John Dady Memorial PWC Rally page on Facebook. Stay tuned here at the Watercraft Journal for more information on these four unveiled skis that will be raffled off.

The 2017 west coast race season kicks off this weekend in Lake Havasu, Arizona with the Gary Hart Memorial. This will be a great event as RPM Racing will be the event coordinator and they have proven that they can give the fans what they want to see. This will be the start to an extremely busy but exciting year of racing.

The events start Friday, April 7th with rider check in and registration. This will be open from 12-6 so make sure to swing by early to get their in time. Saturday is the big day because at 6:45am there will be a safety inspection of your equipment and your craft. There will also be time if you were not able to register. This will go until 8am as there will be a mandatory riders meeting that every rider MUST attend in order to race.

Concluding the meeting, there will be 45 minutes of closed course racing practice to warm up and dial in any last minute adjustments. The qualifying rounds will start at 9:30am and will go to 1pm. Then the freestyle portion of this event starts right after. But will only be for about half an hour. Then the final rounds for racing will begin and will go to 5pm. Sundays events will be the same in the morning but will hold races from 8:45am-2pm.  Following there will be a flyboard and freestyle competition then the racing awards ceremony.

These events take hours and hours of planning and do cost a lot of money so a huge shoutout goes to all of the companies who have stepped up and sponsored this event. The sponsors are Jettrim, JetLift, Hydro-Turf, Jet Renu, Hot Products, ProWatercraft Racing, Skat-Trak, Bomber Eyewear, C57 Racing Products, Oakley, Kawasaki, IPD Graphics, Works H2O Designs, JC Racing, 3D Design Concepts, ProRider Magazine

Entry Form: 2017 Jettribe Lake Havasu Open Entry Form This will be a great weekend that will be jam packed from dawn till dusk. If you are unable to make the event, there will be a livestream here www.surfrat.tv. For more information about camping, directions and anything else, check out the full schedule and information listed on the IJSBA website.

There are many things that go into a personal watercraft: parts, special components, and electronics. While we get frustrated when our watercraft won’t start, one of the many overlooked things that goes into riding is launching your craft. We see pictures and hear of stories of the infamous novice riders who take up multiple lanes at the launch in hopes that they can get their craft into the water. The constant up and down while others are waiting to launch can be a little frustrating. We admit that it can be hard as it is something most people do not regularly do.

Some launch ramps are maintained and nicely paved while other ones are in poor conditions. No matter where you launch, it can still be difficult. In this video below you will see four guys attempt to launch their Yamaha WaveRunner in what appears to be a non launchable boat launch. But after a little thinking they came up with the grand idea of letting the trailer down to the water with a rope attach from the trailer hitch to the trailer. While the video does not show the trailer being pulled back up to the tow vehicle, we can only imagine how that went.

It is truly amazing to see what people in our sport come up with, it allows for others to start brainstorming and come up with their own ideas. While we do not recommend this as a great way to launch and load your watercraft, if you don’t have any other option, this could very well work.

Many of you have probably heard or seen the news about the 2017 WaveDaze Freeride going on this weekend, April 7th-9th. This freeride will be at beautiful Virginia Beach and will showcase some of the best free riders know in this sport. Tigercraft has stepped it up this year and is the Title Sponsor. While this freerides main focus is the riders and how they ride, there is a jam packed schedule for the three day event.

Specials thanks goes out to Peabody’s Nightclub, South Jersey Freeriders and JetManiac as they will kick the event off Thursday, April 6th with a huge party. Good, drinks, free shuttle and a ‘80s cover band The Deloreans. This will be a great start to a eventful weekend.

Now comes the riding portion of the weekend. Hopefully everyone gets enough rest as they will be able to start practice at 9am. There will be a six-block-long freeriding zone that will allow for all riders to ride the challenging Virginia Beach surf.

Riders will wan a the practice they can get as there is more than $3,000 in prize money and guarantee on your money back for those who qualify through tenth place. Saturday will be the best day as there will be the Wicked Tricks competition that will leave the fans shocked and the riders wanted to up the competition. Be sure you have enough memory on your camera as there will be a ton of tricks you will want to capture.

Sunday will be a non-competition day that will have the freeride zone open and be a great day to have fun. Many of the riders will be sore and tired but there will still be some crazy tricks being pulled. Benefits from this years event will go directly to Spike’s K-9 Fund. This fund helps dogs that are working to provide them will the health and care they need during their service and after. The dog that will benefit from this years proceeds will be at the event with his owner and will showcase a K-9 bullet-proof vest.