Filmed by Guy Mac, a self-taught photographer and videographer, based in New Zealand who travels the world wide capturing amazing footage for a list of clients that’s sure to impress: Monster, RPM, DRAGON, Body Glove, Rip Curl, Catch Fishing New Zealand, Fishing World, Magic Seaweed, Damaged Goods Zine, Freerider MX, Yamaha, Sony, Downer Construction and New Zealand Wakeboarding just to name a few.
In a recent excursion featuring some freeriding WaveBlasters for “The Festival of Freeride TV” video for the New Zealand Festival of Freeride event held this past February 26th and 27th, Guy managed to capture the very painful demise of an estimated $3,000 quadcopter drone as one very airborne ‘Blaster managed to expertly knock it out of the sky and into the rolling surf below. Thankfully, the rider was unharmed.
The event, sponsored by Yamaha WaveRunners Australia and Thrust Innovations, welcomed some of the Southern Hemisphere’s most talented freeriders and featured some absolutely incredible action both in the waves and far, far above them. We look forward to seeing the final video recapping this year’s event, but until then, we’ve included both the footage from Guy showing the fate of the quadcopter and the recap from last year’s NZ Festival of Freeride:
Bored with the same old sit-down jet ski races held by the Federation in Sochi, three Russian personal watercraft riders got together and organized the first Jet Camp Festival. The founders of Jet Ski Camp did not think the festival would attract so many entrants and spectators during its first run on the Mzymta River. They couldn’t have been more wrong, the event generated such great success, that a second one was held in 2015. Almost 100 people competed in 2015 and one of them was a woman.She enjoyed participating and showed her mad skills during the event!
Andry Kuligin, David Dzhalagoniya, and Mirkhail Krivosheev are the masterminds behind Jet Camp. They were ready to witness high performance jet skiing in their area so they added a free style event for stand up operators. The organizers needed clean water and a wave which they found at the Mzymta River where the river meets the sea. Pro, Junior, and Amateur Divisions were available to those who wanted to enter the exciting competition.
This high energy event brought progressive riding and a great vibe to the area. Kuligin, Dzhalagoira, and Ershov got exactly what they wanted; a fun powerful event with highly skilled freestyle riders, and an all around improvement within the jet ski world of Russia. One of organizers noted that the 1996 Black Sea Cup contest laid the foundation for stand up jet ski competition. Without it, Jet Ski Camp may not have taken place. The event organizers envision holding the event a third year.
Check out all the action here. You will be glad you did.
The laser-etched plaque mounted to the engine’s powder coated-red valve cover read “Serial No. 09 of 25.” Reading it aloud, I couldn’t help but do so mimicking John Lennon’s cacophonous track on the eponymous White Album. “We’ve sold 15 of the 25 thus far,” RIVA Racing’s Marcos Smith revealed, his voice echoing off of the high ceilings of RIVA’s Research & Development Center only a couple of blocks north of the Pompano Beach, Florida headquarters. “We build a handful at a time once enough orders come in. In saves time in both assembly and testing.”
In addition to a bevy of performance and handling additions to the Limited Edition units, RIVA sends out nearly two dozen components to be anodized and powder coated to match the custom livery. Equally, RIVA took great effort to carefully recreate a graphics kit that would match both styling and font of the factory FZR graphics, making the package look all the more authentic. Even the red stitching in the custom-sown seat cover follows the graphics’ pattern.
Although the FZ series Yamahas have already earned their stripes on the closed course, RIVA Racing ups the ante with a RIVA FZR/FZS Performance Ride Plate, FZ SVHO Stainless Intake Grate (and RIVA FZ SVHO Pump Seal Kit), and a pair of Pro Series sponsons, which the 5-position sponsons’ billet inserts have also been anodized red as well. Lastly, a new Solas Yamaha 160mm Concord 13/20 Impeller churns the water into usable thrust. “We had five or six guys from Solas here not too long ago, taking notes and spending a day at the test lake,” Smith added. “Those guys are seriously hardcore about this stuff.”
This not only increases the FZR’s 1.8-liter SVHO 4-cylinder output to an aforementioned dyno-tested 350 horsepower (90 horsepower above the stock 260 horsepower at 7,500rpm), but runs a GPS and radar-proven sustained-not-peak 80mph at 8,300rpm (that is, with 1/3 tank of fuel, trim in neutral, sea-level elevation, air temp 80-degrees F, according to RIVA Racing). Interestingly enough, when it came time for us to test the #9 FZR 350, we did so with far more impressive results:
At RIVA’s private lakeside testing grounds, with air temps hovering at 82-degrees F, and nearly a full tank of 93 octane, we surpassed the conservative 80-mile-per-hour mark, to an impressive 83mph at slightly above the same RPM. Humidity was low for early March, so our barometric pressure had us at near sea-level conditions. Likewise, RIVA’s R&D team measured nearly 4gs of g-force at full throttle acceleration, hitting its top speed in just over 3-seconds.
Trimmed down, the Limited Edition FZR 350 is brutally precise, almost punishing anyone daring enough to mount it. The cornering force produced by this FZR on the human body will peel anyone less than a professional athlete from the grip of the Velcro-like seat. I found that trimming the nose down was really the only way to ride it with any modicum of success, as even in the neutral position, it created so much boost that it would dislodge itself from the water’s surface when its throttle was pulled back to its stop.
Unlike the factory 310-horsepower Kawasaki, the FZR 350 doesn’t split the air with a banshee-like shriek, but rather whooshes in an airy whistle. That is, until the big RIVA/HKS blow-off valve pulls open. Even from across the lake, the ear-splitting hiss of the BOV rippled over the water, telegraphing when the rider had backed out of the throttle. The combination of so much power and incision-like handling is overwhelming and makes riding the RIVA Racing FZR 350 Limited Edition less cooperative (man and machine working together) and more adversarial (man vs. machine).
Exhausted after my third bout with the 350 that day, laying prostrate on the cool, wet cement, I tried to come to terms with the first dealership-available jet ski to have beaten me so badly. Priced at $25,000, the sum of the Limited Edition FZR 350 is worth every dime when you consider its many parts: IJSBA Open class performance (in both speed and handling) on a surprisingly stock ski, a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind aesthetics package, an already-assembled race-ready craft that is cleaner and better built than most race craft, and the assistance of RIVA’s technical department.
While there are several World Championship-winning racers more than happy to build you a runabout that might weigh slightly less, go a hair faster or handle just a little sharper, the cleanliness of the build, the reliability (ie. longevity) of such a machine, and the surmounting cost (upwards of $50,000), the RIVA Racing 350 Limited Edition is by far the single-most impressive offering on the market today.
Peak speed isn’t the same as sustained top speed, so don’t let your friends bragging about how fast their new runabouts get you all confused. Today’s new 300-horsepower Sea-Doo RXP-X, RXT-X and GTX Limited all hit an impressive 71-72mph. But do so for a split second before the GPS-monitored speedometer dips back down to near-68mph (that is, for the US-tuned models).
RIVA Racing’s awesome new Speed Control Override Module (SCOM) not only removes the GPS-controlled speed limiter, thus increasing the top speed of the otherwise 100-percent stock ECU, it also retains all of the original dash functions, and even allows the system to start in “Sport Mode.” And what else does it do? How about delivers a sustained and consistent 75mph top speed on all 2016 RXP-X, RXT-X and GTX 300 models.
Oh yeah, and it’s less than $200. That alone should blow your mind considering what it used to take to push a brand new runabout to 75 mph just a few years ago.
Below, we’ve included RIVA Racing’s latest video about the SCOM, highlighting its features, its ease of installation and most importantly, the real-time speed numbers and radar graphs illustrating the differences between peak top speed, sustained top speed and the RIVA Speed Control Override Module. And you can always go to RIVA Racing’s own website to get all of the information on this amazing piece of performance hardware.
While Sea-Doo’s engineers have worked the new Rotax ACE 300 engine to never require supercharger building ever again (that’s a heck of a claim), many are still enjoying their 4-tec powered 215/255/260 Sea-Doos, all with the knowledge that a rebuild is not too far around the corner.
Well, if the time is nearing for your Sea-Doo to go in for yet another round of service, it might be time to step up to a whole new level of performance: Fresh from PWC Muscle, the all new RIVA XXX-Charger is a complete supercharger assembly featuring a sophisticated, lightweight 140mm Vortech impeller that is precision balanced to deliver smooth operation, a billet spacer, machined front and rear housings and RIVA Heavy Duty Clutch Washers.
The increased interior volume produces impressive performance gains delivering 14psi @ 8,100rpm and 15.5psi @ 8,500rpm. And each XXX-Charger is hand assembled in-house using a Genuine BRP shaft, bearings and hardware. It installs as quickly as taking out the OEM supercharger, and doesn’t require any additional parts or modifications to go right to work. It does require a RIVA Pro-Series ECU, RIVA Pro-Series Fuel Injectors (50lb) and RIVA Fuel Pressure Regulator Kit to achieve the correct calibration.
It’s official! The 12th Annual Mark Hahn Memorial Havasu 300 is in the books and it was nothing shy of exciting just like its predecessors before it! Over 50 teams of riders and their pit crews and families come from all over the world to race the “World’s Longest PWC Endurance race” and to honor it’s namesake, Mark Hahn. The race may be chaotic but it brings together long lost friends while making new ones along the way.
The event welcomed many familiar faces, some of them weren’t behind the bars of a jet ski like everyone has been used to, rather, they were helping other racers in the pits. Chris MacClugage being one of the most popular and notable riders was holding up in #64’s pit of Chad Zeman. MacClugage said, “I’m finding it’s more fun and rewarding to help a rider than ride the race.” MacClugage has helped Zeman train since around April for this exhausting enduro.
Zeman, 24, is new to the scene of racing, only starting last year. When asked why the Mark Hahn for only your second race and why Ironman, he stated, “I’ve been more of an endurance athlete, distance runner. I’ve done a couple triathlons. I don’t have the skills to hold my own on a short course yet, but when I read about the Mark Hahn 300, it really sparked my interest. Even though I’d never seen it before, I decided to give it a go.” Zeman’s persistence got him second overall in ski and put him first in Ironman!
As is often with the Mark Hahn, weather and water conditions dictated the flow of the event. Clear skies, warm 80-degree temperatures and glassy water made for an ideal day on the water, if not a wide-open drag race. With it being so smooth many Open class-built skis couldn’t handle the hours of wide-open throttle, and eventually let go. So much so, that several Manufacturer Stock boats filled the Top 10 spots at the end of the day.
Riders and crews battled the usual: broken parts, not enough fuel and rider exhaustion throughout the day. Spectators were enthralled with the “Le Mans-like” race they were viewing. First-time Hahn spectator Greg Cobb said, “It’s amazing that skis and the riders can hold full throttle for that long! I definitely plan to run a stand up in it next year. I can already see how much work its going to be and I plan to start training for it right away.”
First place overall went to the team of Jean Baptiste Botti and Jean Bruno Pastorello making them multi-back-to-back runabout winners. Aaron Geweke and Kody Copenhaver took the ski class for a win and took their victory lap with a splashdown at the end. John Bonakouski (sp) put up a crisp hundred dollars to the first stand up to cross the finish, Peter Yauri took that prize and didn’t look back.
Another first-timer, Rusty Wilson had this to say about the event, “I thought the event was well organized and has developed a history for itself as a true stand alone event. It gives participants an opportunity to see old friends and start those skis that might have been sitting all winter. Some riders came from places where their lakes are still frozen!
“The racing was safe and looked to be fun for both the riders and pit crews. It’s definitely a platform of racing where the rider gets the trophy but the support crew deserves the win because if you don’t have a solid crew behind you as a rider your chances of finishing are slim and your chances of a win would be impossible.”
From every angle and everything overheard, this again, was an amazing and gratifying event that we hope continues for years and years to come. Big thanks go to Mike Follmer, Jim Russell of DSM and Ross Wallach of RPM Racing for hosting and organizing yet another stellar endurance race.
12 Annual Mark Hahn Memorial Havasu 300 Top 10 results: 1. Jean Bruno Pastrello/Jean Baptiste Botti, Kawasaki Ultra; 2. Sara Smith/Jon Ford, Kawasaki Ultra; 3. Filipe Truta/Carlos Truta, Kawasaki Ultra; 4. Aqsa Aswar, Yamaha SVHO: 5. Paul Pham/Cassius Sanders, Kawasaki Ultra; 6. Brian Baldwin/Mike Klippenstein, Yamaha SVHO; 7. Lee Phan/Tony Hoa, Yamaha SVHO; 8. Aero Aswar, Yamaha SVHO; 9. Santiago Kuan Jr/Fadi Sacre, Yamaha FXHO; 10. Tyler White/Doug White, Kawasaki Ultra
Information for this piece was pulled from a story published in August 2002 for the Reader’s Digest “Everyday Heroes” series on “Killer Waves,” a day that would become known as 100′ Wednesday at Mavericks. Shawn Alladio was the featured subject for this particular story because of her heroic efforts to keep herself and her partner, Jonathon Cahill, from getting crushed and killed by the massive mountains of Mavericks. She is also the best in the business.
Alladio answered the call to work water rescue for the Mavericks Surf Contest at Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay,California. Cahill came along to train with her because he wanted to be a watercraft instructor and what better place to learn than Mavericks?
The surf contest began Wednesday morning with waves cresting 20 feet high as the guys were paddling out through the rocks. When the waves grew to 60 feet and more, surfers began turning toward the safety of the beach, leaving Alladio and Cahill alone in the mutant waves that blackened the horizon. After making several rescues near the inside, Alladio made the decision to motor outside for one last check in case anyone was still out there.
It was then that she and Cahill were met with the biggest waves they had ever seen. Both ski operators remained calm even though adrenaline was coursing through their bodies as they faced 60-to-100 foot waves while maneuvering their skis. Everything in their bodies told them to run the other way, instead both pilots faced the waves. Alladio instinctively knew that she and Cahill had no choice but to open up their throttles and blast over the incoming giants. Fear would not stand in the way of good decision making so instinct took over as Allidio screamed for Cahil to go!
By this time, the two riders were a quarter mile offshore and could not see land. Both of them had to keep pushing farther out to sea if they wanted to survive. Much to his credit, Cahill followed Alladios lead and they made it up and over the monstrous waves and then the ocean went quiet. Both riders stopped momentarily to let out primal screams and then rode to the safety of the shore.
Chances are, if you’re a manufacturer, a dealership or a custom shop within this niche industry, you’ve read the writing on the wall. Traditional print advertising yields little to zero result as so few would-be new customers subscribe to paper magazines. So you turned to Facebook (it’s free after all – well, to start that is), and that’s been good. Here’s the problem though, unless you’re aggressively pursuing, cultivating and feeding that Facebook/Twitter/Snapchat/Instagram/Google+/Pinterest account, your reach will run out. It’s the law of diminishing returns. So where to turn? The days of “build it and they will come” are gone. Today, we need to build it and take it to them. If you’re looking for fresh faces, you need to go to where the people are.
So where is that? Your best, easiest and most reliable source in this industry is The Watercraft Journal. No other outlet reliably produces more content, welcomes more new and returning PWC enthusiasts, and delivers more confidently on its obligations than any other magazine, forum or media outlet. Producing fresh, entertaining and informative magazine-quality articles each and every day, The Watercraft Journal has escalated to become the single-most popular personal watercraft magazine in North America (and is quickly zoning in on Australia) in just two short years. With nearly 1,000 articles published thus far, The Watercraft Journal also wields one of the largest catalogs of professionally-written “evergreen” PWC content on the Internet today.
You want your company to grow, to reach new and returning customers and a third-party resource to advocate and present your products. We at The Watercraft Journal want to continue to cultivate and support this intimate, niche industry and all those companies within it. This is a partnership ready to happen. Already over 20 companies have come to support The Watercraft Journal, and in return have been rewarded with high impact digital advertising, up-to-the-minute time-sensitive news posts, and intelligent and enjoyable feature-length content, all of which to direct its 200,000 annual readers to their storefronts. Let The Watercraft Journal be your partner and resource in helping grow your brand today. And here’s why:
February 2016
Consistent Growth Consistently
Steady growth is something that few companies in and out of this industry have been able to maintain for weeks or months at a time. Yet, when a digital publication can do it, it’s almost miraculous. Above and below you will see how how February’s performance numbers stack up against January’s (which are compared below). And more importantly it will be illustrated how consistently this title continues to draw in new and return readership month after month. It’s uncanny growth for such a publication when considering the industry, but not so much when you weigh it against the level, professionalism and consistency of the websites, blogs and magazines being produced and presented today. When you do that, it all makes much more sense.
January 2016
Total number unique readers: 24,221*
Total number of articles read: 57,448
Percentage of new readers: 60%
February 2016
Total number unique readers: 20,622*
Total number of articles read: 45, 465
Percentage of new readers: 61.54%
*This number is considered equal to an individual sale of a single copy of a magazine.
When Quality Is Just as Important as Quantity
It’s important to note that in this day of immediacy that there is a reliable source for top quality, professionally-written magazine content that is published each and every single weekday. Pending a national holiday, you won’t see a day go by without new and uniquely-written articles from The Watercraft Journal. Providing coverage from the entirety of the personal watercraft industry – be it touring, fishing, racing, freestyle/freeride, or do-it-yourself tech – we bring the enthusiast the widest array of coverage possible. And we produce more sustainable content than any other publication, be them print or memory-sapping downloadable PDFs – both of which we don’t do.
News articles published in January 2015: 25
Feature articles published in January 2015: 12
Total feature word count: 11,040 words*
News articles published in February: 30
Feature articles published in February: 7
Total feature word count: 5,264 words*
*When this number is translated to print publication standards equals a 78-page magazine. Please note that this number does not include an average of two uniquely-written news articles published daily.
Putting the Word Out To The World
As we’ve said before, The Watercraft Journal doesn’t require any sort of download, or paid subscriptions or even a password to log in and access our industry-leading content. What that has done is make us the single-most popular outlet for PWC news, reviews, tech and coverage in North America. We’re the first source that people check (we know, we have the data to prove it). And with our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and weekly newsletters, we bring our content directly to them. No waiting around for updates. No checking the mailbox. If they’ve got a computer, a laptop, tablet, smartphone or Apple Watch, they can read The Watercraft Journal
February Facebook likes: 15,195
Top Five countries: United States, Australia, France, Canada, United Kingdom
Changing Seasons, Changing Gears
Although February showed a slight change in content allocation, continued and measured growth was the name of the game with The Watercraft Journal. As we close up the last lingering weeks of winter, we’ve been amazed with the continuing growth of readership, regardless of the weather outside. In fact, The Watercraft Journal continued growing during this past winter (January and February) enough to eclipse last year’s April and May. That’s really saying something, and an incredible indication of the power of this audience. So again, if looking to grow your clientele, reach a broader audience of would-be customers and spread the word about your brand, product and services, let The Watercraft Journal be your resource and email [email protected] about advertising your company in the single-most popular PWC magazine today.
Purchasing from a dealership doesn’t have to be an uncomfortable process, but unfortunately, many seem to feel that way. Pushy salesmen, mountains of paperwork, overpriced service all seem to be synonymous with the dealership experience – but again, that doesn’t need to be the case. And Cycle Springs Powersports in Clearwater, Florida, is proving that fact again and again. This family-owned franchise dealership has risen to the top of not only the highly competitive Florida market, but to the nation as a whole, selling literally hundreds of personal watercraft from all three major manufacturers a month!
Started by Noel Hughes and Marty Skapik out of a small garage in 1989 on the Dunedin Causway, their dedication and commitment to maximizing the customer’s purchasing and service experience has helped to grow Cycle Springs into premier dealer on Florida’s west (gulf) coast.
In addition to selling the latest watercraft from Yamaha, Kawaski, and Sea-Doo, Cycle Springs offers parts and service for the aforementioned as well as Polaris, Quadski and Flyboard. In fact, Cycle Springs also produces many of its own performance parts, which are not only available through their online store, but also through Western Power Sports (WPS) and other outlets.
Moreover, Cycle Springs includes in the sale of ever single watercraft they sell, free pop-up cleats and spray-in engine oil fogger kits to better preserve the engine’s longevity. Combining that with Cycle Springs‘ Lifetime Engine Warranty, Money Back Guarantee and 50% Pre-paid Maintenance Plans, there’s no dealer offering a richer, more complete buying experience. They even take every new customer down to the water to show them how to properly launch and dock their ski, its unique features and proper riding techniques.
Undoubtedly, many of you saw the viral video swirling around social media feeds a year ago of an all-black GP-class Yamaha FZR with a turbocharged SVHO engine and open exhaust claiming to be a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engine swap (which it clearly wasn’t). Unlike the fake video, we’ve seen our fair share of unusual engine swaps, from turbocharged Spark motors wedged into lightweight Krash Industries’ freeride skis to supercharged Yamaha SVHO powerplants shoehorned into turn-of-the-21st-century GPR hulls. But, the four-stroke powering this mid-2000’s Sea-Doo GTX has got to be the most unusual yet.
What you’re looking at is a Malaysian-built ’03 Sea-Doo GTX that has lost its 185-horsepower 4-tec 3-cylinder Rotax outfitted with a Toyota 4A-GE “Blacktop” 20V 4-cylinder. The engine is well-known among engine tuners as being groundbreaking in several aspects: first produced in 1995 (through 1998), the 4A-GE 20V was one of the first production 5-valve engines in history, as well as featuring four 45mm throttle bodies. Recognized by its black top, the 4A-GE employed Toyota’s Variable Valve Timing (VVT) system worth an advertised 160–165 horsepower at 7,800 rpm and 120 ft·lbs at 5,600 rpm.
Although rated at 165hp, the 1.6L, many believed the fifth-generation 4A-GE engine produced closer to 200 horsepower (naturally aspirated) due to its high compression ratio (11:1). Now the engine that has become the darling for the drift scene really doesn’t make sense in a Sea-Doo when it makes arguably the same power at the stock 4-tec, and tuned supercharged Rotax plants can crank out three or four times that kind of power, but hey, it’s Monday, so we don’t care.
