Although 2-and-3 seater personal watercraft runabouts have been around since the late 1980s, adding a rescue sled for watercraft rescue is a fairly new concept. Because PWC are mostly used for recreational use around lakes, rivers and oceans, and manufacturers have expanded the original recreational use of PWC to include racing and towing for water sports (such as wakeboarding, wakeskating, tubing), tow rescue and tow surf by use of a tow board is something that is only a decade or two old (although big surf pioneer Randy Laine was doing it waaay earlier, but that’s a whole other story).
Through the use of a tow board, PWCs have gained additional traction with big game fishing and scuba diving/divers, in addition to dive rescue and reef exploration. Rescue sleds, such as those from High Surf Accessories (HSA), have opened up personal watercraft to a whole new world of use. In terms of swiftwater rescue, HSA states, “There is no such thing as too much power, just too much throttle. In fact, high horsepower makes navigation in a water current safer for all involved. ‘Slow is pro’ in swift water navigation especially with an attached tow board, and the ability to cautiously navigate fast currents, large waves and difficult gradients is paramount.
“The RWC’s low draft means less underwater obstruction contact and the ability to operate at lower water levels than outboard engines without decreasing performance. Obstructions become more difficult to identify during downstream navigation, and operators in the standard PWC standing position can identify obstructions easier and earlier than other watercraft. The combination of low draft and no exposed prop also allows PWC to maneuver closer to obstructions for search or rescue operations.”
The Hidden Trails Pro Watercross tour wrapped up their National Championships in “Hip, Historic, Almost Heaven,” Charleston, WV. Each tour stop brought added points for each racer as the compete for the Pro Watercross National Championship that would be decided this weekend in August. During the tour series, attrition on machine and racer took its toll and it came down to this National Championship race held on the beautiful banks of the Kanawha River in Charleston, WV.
The weather conditions and the City of Charleston were all accommodating to the weekends motos including a weekend of fun events which brought hundreds of spectators to the venue and help fire up the racers to perform well in front of the crowd. There was also excitement in the race pits as the cameras were rolling and recording segments for the upcoming CBS Sports segment scheduled to air in October.
The weekend also was filled with emotion as Rob Greenwald (sponsored by RIVA and Yamaha Factory Racing), received an award for his retirement after 23 years of racing of which, 20 of those years with the Pro Watercross National Tour and winning Runabout N/A Spec class. Rob holding back the tears, stating he was “Open a new chapter in my life” and made everyone in the crowd feel a little emotional.
The point standings for the Pro Ski GP class were very close. The top points leader up to Round 5 at St. George UT., was Chris MacClugage on his Monster-sponsored Pro Ski, until Macc strained his back while in Doncaster, England, and opted to bow out of the point series to rest up for the Pro Watercross World Championship in Naples, FL in late September.
With Macc out of the points running, there was an open door for Dustin Motzouris on his Kommander sponsored ski, Brock Austin from Bountiful Utah and his Shark Energy sponsored boat, and David Redinger on his Monster and Kommander sponsored ski. The race battles turned out to be also the podium standings as Dustin Motzouris took first overall, Brock Austin taking second, and rounding the Top 3 of the tour points was David Redinger.
The Pro Ski Stock class had plenty of racers and as usual, and Pro Watercross Race Director, Cliff Roy, made the track a challenging, but enabled plenty of opportunities for some clean passing. In the end, Rob Flores on his #88 Yamaha-sponsored ski took first overall for the tour with Mike Wendricks taking second and Chris MacClugage with his Monster Energy sponsored ski taking third.
The runabout classes had battles of their own, but in the end, Abdullah Al-Fadhel out of Kuwait City, Kuwait sponsored by Dean’s Team, Factory Yamaha, and KSR Racing, took the overall Triple Crown first place finishes for the series tour in the Pro-Am Runabout Open, Pro-Am Runabout Super Stock, and Pro-Am Runabout Stock classes. Rounding the fields with Pro-Am Runabout Open was Erminio Iantasca on his Sea-Doo taking second overall and Troy Synder in third.
In the Pro-Am Runabout Super Stock class, Travis Zielasko grabbed a double crown for second overall for the Pro-Am Runabout Super Stock and the Pro-Am Runabout Stock class. Jeff Dyckowski took third overall for the series for the Pro-Am Runabout Super Stock and Troy Snyder walking away third overall in the Pro-Am Runabout Stock class as well.
Billy Dearman from Madison, MS. ironmanned the win for the Pro-Am Runabout Box Stock, taking a first overall in points for the year closely followed by Factory Yamaha-sponsored rider Robert Greenwald and Chriss Saxon from Orange Beach MS.
The Sport GP class had a great number of riders this tour year which surprised many people as this class continues to build in ridership. Overall Kelly Smith on his Fly Racing and Team Faith sponsored boat would take 1st overall for the tour with the ironman, Billy Dearman taking second and Sam Nehme third. We should be seeing more action of the Sport GP class as it sees a revival in the sport.
The crowds were in awe as the Pro Freestyle champions performed this weekend but in the end, Jason Stoyer “The Destroyer” from Clearwater, FL. was crowned the 2015 tour Pro Freestyle champion, second overall but surely not least was Jeremy Parr from Red Oak, TX.
Finally, it was an amazing sweep from possibly the hardest working women’s rider on the tour, Bibi Carmouche, who entered more classes than many would think possible and came out the National Champion in Women’s Ski Limited, Am Ski Limited and Am Ski Open, and even finishing mid-pack in the hyper-competitive Pro Ski GP class.
Bibi stated, “Racing [Pro Ski GP] was definitely one of the hardest things I have done but the progress I saw from my first race to my last is what it’s all about. I have learned so much racing with these guys and I can’t wait to continue growing as a rider and see where it takes me.”
This year’s announcing brought back Dawn Dawson, but unfortunately Mikey Young was absent this year as he was announcing another race and helping promote the Pro Watercross World Championships in Norway. Jason Stoyer assisted on announcing for the weekend and brought a great, colorful commentary on the races. AJ Handler and the Pro Watercross tour staff worked diligently to make the weekend memorable for everyone. Live-streaming the event was Rick Ignacio with an estimated 2000 viewers watching all the action throughout the weekend.
The racing year is not over and the excitement continues with the week long racing for Pro Watercross’ World Championship in Naples, FL. The event will be the first World Championship race for Pro Watercross and racers from around the world are expected to participate. The event site is also the hometown for Sea-Doo-sponsored rider Erminio Iantosca and Monster-sponsored rider Chris MacCluggage, so this should be a very memorable event for their local hometown families.
The Pro Watecross racers, sponsors, fans, and local Naples businesses are all excited for the upcoming Pro Watercross World Championship held September 19 to September 27. Hotels are quickly filling up as the dates draw closer to this historic event. This surely will be a milestone event for Pro Watercross and sport overall. See you in Naples Florida for the Pro Watercross World Championships!
Lake Michigan welcomed the 18th annual Grand Tour to Benefit Leader Dogs for the Blind with flat water and friendly, blue skies. Zipping along on glass after tagging the Mighty Mac with wet handprints, the perfect start lulled us all into thinking it might be an easy ride. The Lake had other plans for one rider.
We met six Leader Dog puppies and their handlers at lunch in Charlevoix. It’s hard to imagine these cuddly, cute, smart, fun puppies are being groomed to be working dogs. We pulled in to Clinch Marina ahead of schedule at the end of Day 1.
Flags waved in the south breeze as we left Traverse City at dawn on Day 2 and a few miles later met Land Support at Northport for our first radio check-in. We rode back out of the protected harbor into stiff winds and unforgiving choppy waves.
“We keep each other in sight through ride marshals,” said Mike LaBelle, Leader of the on-water portion of the Tour. “Two riders lead, two on each side, and three in the back, making a square. ‘Farmer Bob’ was in the back, and saw Nick fall off his ski.”
Nick told the rest of the story, “The waves were built up pretty good. I remember a glimpse of the black hull very close to my face as I fell. I popped up, tried to swim back to my ski and felt a sharp pain in my left foot. I rolled over and saw my foot pointing the wrong way.
“When Farmer Bob got close, I told him my ankle was broken. He helped me get on the back deck of his ski. Fred and Jerry (two other rear marshals) got on the radio. We all idled to shore and I rolled off the ski and sat at the edge of the water, keeping my feet in to keep my ankle cold. Fred phoned Land Support while Jerry hooked my ski to his.”
“There were people at a house on shore, one was a nurse. She talked to me while decisions were made about getting me to the hospital. The EMT’s helped get me to the ambulance. When I got to the hospital, Mark Hastings (Land Support) was already there, and stayed with me the whole time.”
“In many ways, the system worked,” Mike said. “The rear marshals were ready to help Nick; one stayed with him, while two others worked to contact help and take care of his ski. Our Land Support team is invaluable in any situation, but especially because they can be wherever needed quickly. What Nick didn’t know was that our recently checked radios were out of range.”
“The group rode out after the radio check,” Mike continued. “The waves were too tough for a lot of head-turning to check on those behind, which is why we have three rear marshals, they ride in a line and look forward. Once around the point, we noticed Nick and the rear marshals were missing. We waited, thinking they were riding slower in the heavy waves. Cell phones backed up the radios, bringing the news. Tom and I rode back to meet up with them, leaving the rest of the group in the care of two other ride marshals.”
Eventually, our group reunited, and we rode on. Weather reports at our Frankfort lunch stop showed rain coming. The waves and chop were around 3-to-5 feet as we left; the low pressure system “pulling up” the lake, like an angry puppeteer with marionette strings making waves. We rode in steady rain to Ludington, where Land Support was waiting to help us re-fuel the skis for Day 3. We laughed at each other as we tied-up, peeled ourselves off our seats and started the slow, jerky walk to the hotel shuttle, legs and arms shaking.
Nick refused pain meds and went to dinner with us, foot casted, crutching through the rainy streets of Ludington. We met another Leader Dog puppy raiser, happy to share her beautiful German shepherd with us; reminding us of why we ride.
Saturday’s winds were shifting ESE to SW, 8-to-12mph, gusting up to 20mph; with waves increasing in size and intensity as the day progressed. Finally, with about ten miles left, the lake relented, and the rest of the ride was relatively smooth. Our group sighed collectively as they saw the red lighthouse at the entrance to Lake Macatawa and Holland.
At our final dinner Saturday evening, another puppy raiser told her story of how grieving the loss of an older dog lead them to become puppy raisers, knowing their dogs go on to help others. We cheered at the check presentation, $13,400 going to Leader Dogs, for a Grand Tour grand total of $310,000 over 18 years.
Nick said he’s ready to ride again next year, and after about four months of rehab, he’ll ‘start training.’ Join him, and the rest of us, August 11-13, 2016 for the 19th annual Grand Tour. www.grandtour.org, www.leaderdogs.org, and find us in the Grand Tour group on Facebook.
Coinciding with the IJSBA World Finals in Lake Havasu, AZ, BRP will be hosting their fifth annual Sea-Doo Ultimate Owner’s Ride. The ride will take place on Saturday, October 10, 2015 and will go from 8am until 2pm (PST). Any and all Sea-Doo watercraft riders are welcome to join the BRP event staff for a day of fun on the water.
The trip will begin in Lake Havasu, AZ and will go up the Colorado River through scenic Topock Gorge, then to Pirate Cove Resort in Tobock, CA. This is definitely a trip to add to the bucket list if you are a Sea-Doo enthusiast. You will have a great time riding and meeting new friends who are just as passionate about Sea-Doo as you are.
What all is included with signing up for this exclusive event? Besides winding through miles of scenic trails, you will get a first hand look at some of the 2016 Sea-Doo models, enjoy a delicious lunch at Pirate Cove Resort on BRP, and you will also have the chance to win some of the coolest riding gear Sea-Doo has to offer.
Registration is open now, so go ahead and get signed up! You can find more info on the Sea-Doo Facebook page under the “events” tab. Sign up is $10, and all proceeds will go to the Junior Star PWC racing program, which helps up and coming racers get their racing careers started at an early age. This is an event you won’t want to miss!
It’s always a good Monday when you’ve got new advertisers to announce! With August half way through, all of us at The Watercraft Journal are very excited to welcome aftermarket parts retailer PWC Muscle to our ever-growing family of advertisers. Offering customers the “absolute best price with uncompromising customer service,” the online performance outlet parallels The Watercraft Journal‘s own goals of providing enthusiasts the utmost in useful, informative and entertaining content – through it’s own series of YouTube videos and “how to” technical articles!
Moreover, PWC Muscle excels at customer satisfaction, through Live Chat, Twitter, Facebook, their toll-free number, and incredibly fast email communication. And if you somehow can’t get a hold of the PWC Muscle crew for advice, the company maintains two online communities: SeaDooForum.com and PWCExtreme.com where you can ask questions, network and connect with other riders. As PWC Muscle swears, “we are there for you so you can keep having fun, and you can get a hold of us when you need it.”
Originally, SeaDooForum.com was created in 2006 in Tampa, FL., with SeaDooWarehouse.com – their OEM parts store – starting two years later. In 2010, PWC Muscle was created to support the demands of the forum members. And since 2012, PWC Muscle has proudly sponsored racers who’ve competed in AquaX, Hydrocross, and the IJSBA World Finals. PWC Muscle carries a wide variety of performance and recreational products from Hydro-Turf traction mats, Jettribe riding gear, apparel, tools and more, not to mention a comprehensive Supercharger Rebuild Service that keeps hundreds of Sea-Doo’s running each year!
While we at The Watercraft Journal are proud to announce PWC Muscle as our newest advertiser, PWC Muscle has two announcements of their own: First, PWC Muscle is offering FREE shipping and no sales tax on orders over $200, and if that wasn’t enough, now as one of the few dealers for V-Tech in the United States, PWC Muscle now offers high performance tunes for your PWC, including the Sea-Doo Spark!
Well, there is definitely no shortage of new standups coming out of Australia these days. While all of us here at The Watercraft Journal were breaking our necks to get a better look at Les Cooke’s Sea-Doo Centre-built SDC Trak 903 standup (that recently debuted at 2015 Jetcross World Cup in Doncaster, UK), another impressively innovative clean-running standup wowed crowds on the other side of the globe, namely the 600cc twin-rotor Wasserjet at the Sydney International Boat Show.
As reported by OZPWC.com, “The innovative 180hp supercharged WasserJet rotary was a surprise reveal at the Sydney International Boat Show in Sydney from [July 30th-through-Aug 3rd, 2015]. It was the first time the supercharged version of the twin rotary has been seen fitted to a stock SuperJet hull.”
Neither a conventional 2- or 4-stroke, the WasserJet’s Wankel engines are “charge cooled.” This means that the engines uses the intake air for cooling and lubrication of its internals, as there is no crankcase oil to slosh around. The rotary design only touts four moving parts, making the engine extremely light and “giving it a huge power to weight ratio, which exceeds that of a conventional 2-stroke engine,” OZPWC.com continued. “Another advantage is that due to the long timings and high exhaust temperature, any oil entering the combustion chamber burns almost without residue.”
Best of all, Wankel engines produce incredibly low emissions, as low as 1% of comparable 2-stroke engines and more like the levels of a modern 4-stroke. Below we’ve included a video of Matt Daley from Jetsports Australia walking us through some specs on the new engine.
As the prime riding season carries on, so does the wave of innovation pouring out of the braintrust at RIVA Racing. Only this week did RIVA formally announce the release of their all-new RIVA Racing Handlebar Extensions for all 4-Tec, iBR and Spark Sea-Doo models. With all of the technology that Sea-Doo pours into their runabouts, many performance enthusiasts and racers have struggled with either adapting new aftermarket bars to their iBR-equipped setup, or simply changing out the hand grips to a pair of modern ODI grips.
RIVA’s race development team was quickly put to the task and came up with a pair of precision-machined extensions hewn from 6063 billet aluminum and anodized black (with a laser-etched RIVA Racing logo) to prevent corrosion. The new extensions allow for the installation of standard 130mm length ODI grips to your original stock handlebars.
These mount securely to ends of your Sea-Doo’s original handlebars via a proprietary machined-locking feature. Because Sea-Doo’s Spark uses a different handlebar from the rest of the 4-Tec models, RIVA offers two different part numbers (RS24130-BES and RS24100-BES, respectively). The standard 4-tec handlebar extensions also fit all 2-stroke OEM handlebars as well. And of course, RIVA offers a wide variety of different ODI grips to best fit your needs and desired look.
While August isn’t even half way over, we’re already gearing up for the end of summer. Why would we want summer to stop, you might ask? Not because we’re over the sunny days on the water and spending our days in shorts and our favorite pair of flipflops, that’s for sure! No, what the end of summer means is the introduction of next year’s fresh batch of personal watercraft models. And this year is going to be a duesy – particularly with Sea-Doo introducing the much-anticipated 300-plus-horsepower X-series runabouts.
Yes, you read that right. “The buyer of an eligible model will receive a 12-month BRP Limited Warranty,” states Sea-Doo’s announcement. “Plus a 12-month B.E.S.T. extended service contract subject to a $50 deductible on each repair. Exception for Florida residents who will receive the 24-month BRP Limited Warranty.” This is paired with an awesome $250 savings on select new and unused 2015 models (and prior) Sparks as well. (Obviously, the rebate amount depends on the model purchased and while quantities last.) But we’ve got some bad news for our international friends: this offer is only valid in the good ol’ USA.
Well, another great year for the Grayland Open is in the books! It was a pretty crazy weekend filled with excitement good times and a little bit of crazy Northwest weather!
The weekend kicked off on Thursday with crews of volunteers setting up the event and getting our staging area looking good for the production crew that flew up from Athletes in Motion Sports Television to film the event for ESPN, Comcast Sports Network, Untamed Sports and MavTV. This is the first year that the Grayland Open has had television coverage and we were excited to showcase the sport through the event coverage.
The event set up turned out great as we blocked off a large area filled with vendors, security, riders and a staging area for awards and photos. The Bogwater Brewery would be one of our main sponsors and provided a great venue for us to camp, eat and hang out for the entire weekend at their place of business.
We kicked off Friday morning with some more people showing up to hang out get acquainted and a really great turn out of riders to discuss tricks with the pros and go out and ride most of the day in the sunny weather for the rider clinic. I personally had my first opportunity to ride a Tigercraft Aquabot thanks to my friend Pete McAfee. What a fun ski, in fact I only brought it back to shore because I had burned through a tank of fuel and the fire breathing 1000cc DASA needed to be fed.
We had a really fun day of freeride and training and by the end of the day everyone was pretty pumped to start the competition on Saturday. With all the new faces and young riders that were at the clinic, even the pros were pumped to see who would come out on top in the Rookie and Amateur classes.
The next morning was hectic as we registered riders, set up the tournament and got in place to get things under way for the Masters, Rookie and Amateur classes. As we burned through some heats there were some riders that stood out for their style and amplitude. Chris Grace and Cameron White both riding for Krash Industries on their Predators were sending some nice aerials whiles also staying busy in the waves. Brian Beurassa and James Juvet were hanging out some big tricks including flips and rolls with variation in some tough conditions.
Rookie class rider Sean Starr would impress the judges consistently with his surfer style slashes and big can re-entries and nose stabs; 13-year-old west coast surf rider, Joe Smith out of Crescent City, California impressed everyone with his strong riding skills at such a young age. Brook Gronemeyer, also a young rider out of Courtenay, British Columbia was impressive on his 550 all weekend until he basically broke it in half.
As we moved in to midday on Saturday, the clouds rolled in and the wind and rain began. That’s that Northwest weather. Kudos to all the riders, to Mark Gomez announcing, Nick Barton judging and Nick Foster Logistics in the tower for pushing through the rough patch of weather that we had that day. I don’t think it could have been worse but we charged through it and got the heats finished that needed to get done.
The Rookie and Amateur semi finals/finals, sitdown class, Pro class and Pro Jam were held over until Sunday. That night we all headed back to the Bogwater Brewery for some live reggae rock music by Big Blue Van and had a great time under the big tent. Lifetime memories were made for sure that evening.
Sunday morning, the sun came out and everyone was in good spirits as the crowds grew for the final day of competition. We cranked up the music and went to work impressing the crowds with the best riders of the weekend. Our top Amateur and Rookie riders took advantage of some much better weather and surf condition and really went for it to find their places on the podium. Chris Grace and James Juvet would be the final heat in the Amateur class and they both let it all hang out with all they had in there arsenal. Chris was the victor throwing Madonna flips, rolls and showing some great surf ability.
In the Pro class, we had Abraham Ho absolutely sending it and showing everyone why he is one of the top freeriders in the world. Randy Lawlor did what the Lawlors do and sent it into orbit again and again throughout his heats, making tough work for his opponents. Christian Young, who has come back to competition after a little break, is looking better than ever. Christian was looking buttery smooth with every trick throwing some of the most technical tricks in the book during his heats. Guillermo Casas was looking great on a borrowed ski competing against all the top riders in the US and abroad.
In the Sitdown class, Zack Bright was killing it on his Krash Industries Reaper and gave the younger riders a taste of what the top pro riders in the world can throw down. Zack also had some nice barrel roll re-entries, monster flips with variation and No Can Do’s during his heats in the stand up class. Gomez busted out some superflips, double-can superflips and just about every other trick in the book to barely edge out Zack in the final round by just one point!
We finished all the heats and went straight in to the Pro Jam, which is a 15 minute session with the Top 8 riders of the weekend to just go out and huck it! No pressure, no head-to-head, just go out and go as big as you can to impress the judges. As Tanner Thomas called it on the mic, “This is the firework show.”
There were three or four guys flipping from the same wave. So many things going on all over the place at the same time that we could not keep up with calling all the tricks. It was the highlight of the riding for the weekend for sure! Christian Young came out on top by unanimous decision from the judges for thrusting his Thrust Innovations-built Superfreak into the clouds. I actually thought he might make it rain again.
It was really awesome to see a whole bunch of new faces this year. We had 47 competitors in total, which is the most we have ever had. We had riders from all over the country, as well as a few from outside our borders. A special thanks to James Juvett for making the drive all the way across the country from New York to compete! I’m sure you’ve made the rest of the Rag Tag Freeriders proud.
Another big thank you goes out to all of our sponsors for continuing to make this event special for the riders by making it possible and sending them home with some great prizes every year. Thank you to our top sponsors this year: Morgan Industries, Liquid Militia, Blowsion, Bogwater Brewery and Krash Industries.
A very special thank you also goes out to the people that really stepped up this year to organize the event. Chris Tiffany and his family of the Bogwater Brewery and Chris Farrell and his family of Farrell Fab went the extra mile this year by co-organizing with me all year in the planning and execution of the event. These guys spent countless hours and personal money to really build this year up.
The Grayland Open would not have been so well done this year without their help as well as many others that volunteered their time and efforts to help grow the sport and create an awesome event for the up and coming riders to compete at and gain some much deserved recognition for their talents. Awesome event this year! We’ll get the dates out and the you tube link up for the television production as soon as it’s ready. See you next year!
All of us have wanted to tour Europe at least once, but how would you feel about doing so via Sea-Doo? This time last year, Finland’s Risto Piispa was doing exactly that, as he was attempting to set the Guinness World Record for the longest unsupported open ocean journey by aquabike (ie. jet ski). Piispa left from Helsinki to the Spanish city of Ceuta in Morocco (North Africa), totaling an impressive 3,074 km (1,659.8 nautical miles; 1,910 miles), as he circumvented all of Western Europe.
But Piispa wasn’t content with his ocean travels, he also journeyed 1,746 km (1,084 miles; 942.6 nautical miles) on inland waters throughout mainland Europe, which is also impressive particularly considering that the miles did not count towards the record’s final mileage! Aboard his Sea-Doo RXT 260, Piispa racked up a staggering 4,820 km (2,602.5 nautical miles; 2,995 miles), earning himself the nickname “Sea-Doo Man.”
Although Piispa is celebrating his world record, things were looking bleak back in 2008 when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He told SURinEnglish, “This changed my life. I decided you should always try to fulfill your dreams because one day it might be too late.”Piispa’s doctors have cleared him of lingering cancer cells, and is expected to live a long, healthy life.
His journey was recorded through Piispa’s navigation system and camera, documenting all the places and people he encountered – even the times he fell off. Inspired by his son, Piispa embarked on this long journey to raise funds for a Finnish children’s hospital in Helsinki that was, as documented by the Guinness World Records’ blog, in need of refurbishment and new medical equipment. He also kept followers regularly updated through his Facebook page.
