Firefighters in Dubai are channeling their inner superheroes to fight fires with a high tech new tool; a flyboard! Dubai’s Civil Defence program has recently launched something they called “Project Dolphin.” Using a Zapata Racing Flyboard with water supplied from a specially-equipped jet ski, firefighters now have a whole new way to attack fires near bodies of water such as on bridges, creeks, canals or even boats and shoreline buildings.
The flyboard forces water at high pressure through the jet system in the board connected to the firefighters’ boots which propels them up into the air and allows them to reach virtually whatever they need to.
Director General of Dubai’s Civil Defence, Major General Rashid Thani Al Matrooshi, said “Project Dolphin” will shorten response times during peak traffic hours. During these peak hours, the city’s traffic can prevent emergency vehicles moving quickly through the city thus slowly response times.
The moments between the emergency 911 call and crews showing up on scene can be very critical as fire can spread quickly. If they can respond a lot quicker, it will allow them to start putting the fire out before it gets completely out of hand. As part of the “Project Dolphin” plan, they also intend to create floating fire stations to tackle blazes from the water.
For several years, the web series “She Shreds Mountain Adventures” has been producing awesomely entertaining and visually stimulating videos showcasing the ultimate women’s snowmobile clinic retreat in the world. According to She Shreds, “Six years ago, Julie-Ann Chapman created She Shreds being the first ‘all girls’ snowmobile clinic in the world, which has progressed and branched out from there. Julie-Ann and her team specializes in teaching women to progress their skills on their snowmobile and now we welcome men to join us for clinics and guided adventures as well! With a strong emphasis on backcountry safety, She Shreds provides one of the best snowmobile adventure learning experiences. She Shreds also provides avalanche safety courses in conjunction with the Canadian Avalanche Association.”
As the clinic has successfully managed to take their message online – primarily to YouTube – She Shreds Adventures was proud to announce their new “Pemby Life” series of web episodes (“webisodes”) as well as introduce their content partners. Of them is Truckboss Decks, the industry leader in all-weather, multi-purpose truck decks. Julie-Ann herself said, “What I like most about this deck is its slick look, and it’s so easy to load and unload sleds on that any girl can do it.” She continues, “This deck is the most well-thought-out deck on the market.” There’s already a few episodes of “Pemby Life” as well as four years’ worth of video to peruse, so if you’re one of the powersports enthusiasts loving the snow as much as you do the water right now, then this is for you!
The Petaluma River is located in the northern banks of the San Francisco Bay (San Pablo Bay), a river running through the California counties of Sonoma and Marin. The shallow banks and muddy streams are calm and idyllic, and not particularly the place for jet skiing. But don’t tell that to Harrison Maynard and his pals.
Published back on July 2, 2013, Harrison and his bud, Taylor are featured riding their vintage Kawasaki 550 JetSkis playing in the shallow, weeded trails of the Petaluma River. The short clip is chock full of wipeouts, lots of thick mud, and a great deal of laughs. The guys are having a good time threading through some winding tributaries off the main Petaluma River waterway and intentionally crashing in a few muddy areas. Skis and bodies are bouncing around, in and on the brown river water. The boys don’t have a care in the world. This is what having a good time looks like!
We can’t help but wonder about the condition of their PWC’s after running in mud, reeds, and whatever else is in that water. We imagine some serious clean up of both machines and dudes was necessary after this ride! Enjoy the clip HERE:
The search was on for a jet skier and his dog beginning January 15, 2017. Police and emergency services were looking for an overdue jet skier riding a black and red Sea-Doo with a dog aboard in the waters off Bundaberg.
The Sea-Doo was ridden by a 45 year old man from Townsville who had left the port at Bundaburg, Queensland around 2pm the day before. He did not show up at his destination of Lady Elliot Island with his dog Stubby. He and his dog Stubby, wearing a life jacket, were found Monday morning after spending the night on the open ocean. He was found Hervey Bay Magistrates Court next month after allegedly being found with drugs and explosives.
Police and emergency services found the missing man and his dog Stubby after they failed to arrive at Lady Elliott Island on Saturday. A Queensland Police media spokesmen confirmed the man was found by emergency services by detecting his EPIRB. They did not only find the man and his dog; when searching his backpack many illegal items were found as well.
“The man is charged with a number of offenses including two possessions of dangerous drugs, possession of utensils, and possession of explosives,” the spokesman said. He will face court proceedings in Hervey Bay Magistrates Court February 9th. The original story was published in OZPWC.
The first thing on the short list from the International Jet Sports Boating Association (IJSBA) is that the sport will be included in the 2018 Asian Games. The Games offer a lot of prestige and it is an honor for sanctioned PWC racing to be included in this event because Personal Watercraft racing is the first motorsport to be introduced in the Asian Games.
The second item on the IJSBA’s list is restructuring classes of the Ski classes. The IJSBA is planning to make two completely different ways for a PWC athlete to compete in their sanctioned events. The first way to get into events is by using the Original Equipment Manufacturer or OEM, in which the focus lies on stock skis and the Lites classes. Lites are huge in the racing industry so that category will stick around. The new Ski Stock Class is all about skis that are only tuned to a riders preference. They will pretty much come from showroom to the water. The Limited Class will slowly disappear and be replaced a Mod Lites division. These skis will have only slight modifications.
The issue of speed control has also been brought to the forefront of racing. This will help achieve track changes, like making more room for skis and less opportunity for possible collisions to be used as the only reason to slow down. The IJSBA is also taking into account the number of riders falling from skis and the more serious injuries that have occurred as a result of higher speeds. This is a tough one because many riders like to go as fast as they can so there has to be compromise.
The third item on the short list is a slight change for Runabouts and Sparks. The suggestion of utilizing aftermarket waterboxes was brought up for discussion in the Limited Class. This change would make it easier to work on the PWC. Another change is to allow a harder bottom on the Runabout 1100 Superstock.
The final item is an update on homologation. The IJSBA is currently awaiting manufacturing data to come in from Kawasaki on the new SX-R, the Yamaha EX Line, and the GP1800 machines. The approval of the boats is expected to occur before the Mark Hahn 300 on February 12. For more than a summary of the IJSBA update, check out this link.
One of freestyle’s young up-and-coming riders, Justin Sylvain has already made a huge splash into the freestyle world when he was showcased in a recent video on Youtube called: Days of Brap Episode 3. The video starts off with him fueling up his watercraft, dry firing it few times to make sure that everything is sounding good. Just by looking at him watercraft you can tell that he’s gonna pull of some pretty impressive tricks.
Justin does a few spins and tricks and then his buddies meet up with him in their boat and what comes next is not expected. Another wakeboard boat joins up with the original boat and they are about 10 feet apart so that Justin Sylvain can ride between them. He casually pulls a double backflip in the air and comes out of it like a champion. After that he decides that nothing will stop him so he spins over a guy on a paddle board along with more flips and spins before calling it a day.
This video is extremely cool as he is the second person to ever pull on double backflip with a 900cc motor and he is only 19-years-old! This shows that no matter what age, what your goals are in rider you can achieve anything you put your mind too.
Well, they did it. They finally did it. Remember when we first let you know of this 24-foot long by 12-foot wide, 3.5 to, 500-horsepower (powered by a pair of 250HP gas engines) Jet Taxi last year? Well, it’s real. Built by the Italian Jet Capsule Company, Luca Solla (CEO) and Pierpaolo Lazzarini (Chief Executive Designer), this contraption is like the interior of a yacht condensed into a bubble riding atop a giant runabout’s hull. The video below was first shared on the Florida Jet Ski page and simply doesn’t do the Jet Taxi justice, so after further research on the Jet Capsule website, were our eyes opened to whole new world of jet skis with loaded price tags: The yacht version can be yours for $150,000.
The Jet Capsule shown appears to be the party version, accommodating people inside and out. The machine has a top deck with a ladder leading the way up and it looks like a nice place to lay out and get some sun. A swim platform on the back is also a nice touch. The interior of some of those boats will blow you away! The Jet Capsules are manufactured in Italy and it took engineers only three years to come up with the 2016 models to sale. There are several different models and they come with the buyers choice of customization. The amount of room inside some of these bubble skis is unbelievable. The pictures make them appear enjoyable and maybe fun to have an intimate party aboard.
It is almost time for the 8th Annual Racetech Yamaha Jet Ski Fishing Classic! This event is considered the worlds biggest jet ski fishing competition. Families are welcome and it is a super competitive contest because top anglers from all over South Africa attend. Many new people and novice fishermen show up as well. This year’s event is being held in Ponta do Ouro, Southern Mozambique and it runs from February 22nd-February 25th. The contest will run on the three best days for fishing. A link to the entry form can be found here or you can email [email protected]. Slots are filling fast, so submit your entries so you can be a part of this grand event.
The guys are already having a good time around the competition launch site and are anxious to get out there for some good fishing and camaraderie. This family friendly event would love to have more participants to make it that much more fun! Stay updated through their Facebook page. It’s loaded with great pictures from past events and random fishing photos of the guys preparing for this years tournament.
Awesome prizes will be awarded to the winners. Check out this list of some of the prizes: Winches from Warne Winches, a Coverworx Jet Ski cover, fish-finders, tackle, cash, sunglasses, clothing, lures, holidays, and top of the line cooler boxes. One of the event sponsors even recommended getting larger goody bags! “You have to be in it to win it though so get those entries in. We are even running a series of lucky draws up to the day of registration, so the earlier you enter the better your chances,” wrote Brendon Nolan, the event’s coordinator.
With this new sponsor, it proves that the watercraft racing circuit is growing and tons of boaters who are loyal to Heyday Boats will see the watercross racing and may become fans. Heyday Wake Boats are known for three great qualities: WAKE, TUNES and CREW. These boats put out a huge wake which will definitely have some freestyle riders wanting to get some air.
Heyday Inboards president recently said, “This tour sponsorship gives us great visibility as we accelerate the awareness of the Heyday brand,” While this is a great business opportunity for Heyday Boats, it also is another way to get the personal watercross racing name made known. Boating and personal watercrafts go hand in hand as they are different in their own respects but have the same principle of getting out on the water and enjoying yourself. Heyday will have their wake boats on display for viewers to look at and feature demonstrations all visible on television. The Pro Watercross brings in a large crowd at every event and with the CBS Sports Network channel broadcasted for its national and world championships events, the crowd will be even larger.
There have been so many great companies that have chosen to spend their money to support Pro Watercross so if you are in the market for a new boat be sure to check out Heyday Wake Boats. Their new design, great prices and powerful engine will be sure to surprise you.
Recently, The Watercraft Journal had the pleasure of talking with Josh Bradwell over at California Freestyle. For those that don’t know California Freestyle, they are a full-service jet ski shop in Stockton, California. They are especially well known for building the Phantom hull.
Josh, like most of us, started riding on an old JS440 at the age of 14. Since then, he has been riding jet skis. At first, it was more of a weekend hobby like majority of the stand up enthusiasts. Josh was originally in the Harley Davidson “world.” He was a technician and worked in composites. Later on, he left and started his own composites company still specializing in Harley Davidsons. After Harley switched to using plastics over composites, he went all in the jet ski industry. He started working with Trendsetterz and helped build the original Backie Chans, then later on he actually broke off from Trendsetterz and created “California Freestyle.”
California Freestyle has hit it big with the Phantom, possibly one of the best looking hulls in the industry. The prices are also very “entry level” but, the quality is top notch. The Phantom is offered in four different options. Starting at $3500 is the glass Phantom, which will be the heaviest at 100-pounds. The other options are a $4,500 glass infused, $5,500 hybrid infused, $6,500 full carbon epoxy. The option to build an all out comp ski is on the table as well, but no price tag. All the hulls come with footholds, hood latches, scupper and hood. The typical turn around time has always been two weeks from payment. The nice thing Josh does is that they don’t require a deposit at first, but rather put your name on the list. When it is your turn, then you pay once the building starts. This prevents the long delays that some people have seemed to experience with many other hull builders.
The Phantom is primarily a flat water hull as It is very short and light. Not to mention, it is marketed as one as well. Josh described this hull as their “bread and butter.” However, Josh told The Watercraft Journal that there are a handful of guys on the East Coast and Canada who ride them in surf. California Freestyle offers a longer ride plate measuring six inches.
They also offer another hull that many people do not know about. The “Fix” is an aftermarket fixed steer ski. There have only been four produced. It was designed to be California Freestyle’s entrance into the surf hull game, but they kind of misread the market and hasn’t been much activity with the Fix hull. The Fix starts at $5,000 and comes with steering and everything else the Phantom would come with. Even though four hulls have been made, California Freestyle still offers the Fix if you would like to have one made.
When looking at the future and what Josh at California Freestyle will bring to the table in 2017, things are looking very bright. In terms of riders, Josh spoke about how many pros on other big name hulls were expressing interest in switching to the Phantom. Also, there is a 1200c motor from Engine Tech for a possible pro rider. On the amateur level, you should expect to see about four to five riders from Northern California on Phantoms.
Two names Josh said to look out for are Zach Zylstra and Curtis Riggins. Both of them are just young kids who have been riding only for eight months. They have progressed so quickly that they started pulling 540’s in only six months! Zach and Curtis are on the $6,500 Phantom hulls. As far as changes for the Phantoms, Josh said that the only changes will be on the ride plate and modifications to the hood to accommodate the larger motors. Be on the lookout for great things coming out of California Freestyle in the near future!
