We’ve had quite a bit of news coming in from our friends at Hydro-Turf lately. Although this latest bit of info isn’t exactly focused on personal watercraft, it’s just too cool not to share: Because of the high durability against the harsh marine environment and applied pressures, Hydro-Turf matting (and quite a bit of it) was used to line the recovery cradle for the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
Not sure what we’re talking about? That’s OK, many still are. After the current American presidential administration effectively reduced the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) into a redundant surveillance outlet for data gathering, the task of exploring the outer reaches of our universe was unceremoniously handed over to the private sector.
Former PayPal creator and Tesla Automotive chairman Elon Musk sought to do what was only possible by seemingly limitless-funded government agencies: put a man in orbit. On May 25, 2012, SpaceX made history when its Dragon spacecraft became the first privately developed spacecraft in history to successfully attach to the International Space Station.
It took four days, from May 22 to May 26, for the Dragon to be launched via SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, to orbit the Earth as it traveled toward the International Space Station, and eventually berthed to the International Space Station. After spending six days attached to the ISS, the Dragon returned to Earth, carrying a load of cargo for NASA.
In the video below, you’ll notice the Hydro-Turf matting lining the cradle during recovery of the spacecraft at 2:10. Enjoy:
This past weekend was the first annual Coquina Beach Freeride. Coquina Beach is a beautiful spot located on the southern tip of Anna Maria Island near Tampa Bay, Florida. It was the first freeride on the west coast of Florida and was hosted and organized by Cody Taylor.
The event was held at Coquina Beach park in Manatee County. There is a boat ramp for launching larger skis and a beach launch as well. From the launch there was riding on the protected bayside waters.
From there it is a short ride out the pass between Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key for riding in the Gulf of Mexico. There are shoals on each side of the pass that offer surf riding when the conditions are right.
It was a great turn out for the first year with over 50 skis on Saturday. The weather was postcard perfect and water was super clear.
Riders came from all over Florida including a group of east coast surf riders from the Daytona Beach (including Nick Foederer of the Daytona Freeride with Carter Brackett, Ken Cupo), and a group from southeast Florida from Thrust Innovations (with Joju Frankel and Edward Dale Graham) as well as lots of local area riders.
The lineup of skis was as diverse as their riders, which included Sea-Doo Sparks, WaveBlasters, Kawasaki SX-Rs, SuperJets, FX-1, and many aftermarket hulls including Superfreaks, Rickters, Backie Chan, and others.
Event sponsors included Riva Racing, JetManiac, Thrust Innovations, ESI powersports, Westside Powersports, Blowsion, Liquid Militia, Extreme throttle, and Carter B designs.
The event raffle was held Saturday evening poolside at the event hotel Tortuga Inn and Beach Resort. Sponsors donated some great freeride parts and swag. Nearly a thousand dollars was raised and donated to the charity Cancer Foundation: Angels for Lila Ruiz; a little girl who suffers from megacystis microcolon intestinal hypoperistalsis syndrome, a condition that has Lila going back and forth to the hospital to see specialists, racking up significant medical costs.
The host hotel was located within easy walking distance to some great beachside restaurants and bars for after riding unwinding and partying. This event was a good time and offers a new summer freeride for the west coast of Florida.
We went with Hydro-Turf’s pink-and-black two-tone mats as well as a custom silver-and-pink Cruiser seat cover. Because of HT’s high volume, turnaround between our initial order to arrival was about a week.
Despite a price tag dancing around $11,000-$13,000, Yamaha’s FX High Output Cruiser is one of the most popular full-sized naturally-aspirated runabouts on the water today. Equipped with cruise control, manual trim control, a No Wake mode and plenty of other comforts, the Cruiser manages to be both sporty and economical, while being just a lot of fun.
The problem is that with only two available color combinations (double that of similarly-equipped competitors), the Yamahas tend to be a little conservative in their styling cues. That’s why many are turning to find new ways to personalize their newest toys. While there’s no shortage of performance goodies to eke out some much desired miles per hour from their machine, giving your ski a unique look to match your personal taste is still a rare art form.
To give this ’14 Yamaha FX HO Cruiser a bit of personal flair, we reached out to IPD Graphics and Hydro-Turf. Many will recognize IPD as a major vinyl graphics sponsor for a collection of top notch PWC racers around the globe, including Jimmy Wilson, Tommy Bonacci and Bibi Carmouche.
The ease of removal of the factory traction mats depends on age and weathering. Because our ski was so new, the adhesive-backed factory mats peeled off effortlessly.Prior to gluing the mats in place, first clean the surface of any residual adhesive. Then place the mats in the desired area and mark your corners.Hydro-Turf makes installing their mat kits incredibly easy with their adhesive-backed mats. It’s as easy as peel-and-stick.Likewise, the gunwale mats are just as easy to install. Just make sure to place them on straight the first time.
Of course, Hydro-Turf needs little to no introduction, but as the title sponsor for the Pro Watercross Tour, major traction mat supplier for Kawasaki, Yamaha and BRP as well as boat builders around the globe, they’re no stranger to providing unique and durable materials.
Ordering from both companies was as easy as a couple of emails. Both IPD and Hydro-Turf provide high resolution color swatches to compare to your desired combination. Because we wanted a little retro action, we opted for a hot pink, silver and black combination. With only a new graphics kit, seat covers and traction mats, we were surprised at how dramatic the change was – and we think you will too.
Here we’ll show you a complete step-by-step process how we transformed this “plain Jane” FX HO into a cool, customized ski that grabs everyone’s eye – and how quickly you too can do this. (Altogether, it took us about four hours of work.)
We suggest applying some weight (although it’s not mandatory) to get the mats to adhere evenly across the surface.Next, we went about removing the factory graphics. We left the adhesive-backed chrome “Yamaha” emblems as we thought they provided a nice touch, but opted to replace all the vinyl decals.Because the IPD Graphics kit we chose wasn’t covering a lot of space, we didn’t have to chase bubbles and wrinkles as much as kit that cover larger surfaces.The IPD Graphics kit is not cut at the seams for the hood or other fairing panels. You will have to do this yourself. This is why it is best to apply your vinyl decals wet (using a spray bottle filled with water is best), so you can slide them around.
Admittedly, applying new graphics to a personal watercraft can be tricky (just refer to our previous article on custom graphics kits). Thankfully, the IPD Graphics kit for the FX HO was nowhere as complicated, nor required much effort to contour over complex corners and convex curves.
Rather, we opted for a rather simple kit that merely highlighted the angular lines of the Yamaha’s fairings. Many kits cover a large amount of surface area, and thereby require a lot of bubble and wrinkle chasing. The hardest part of our IPD kit was knowing where to place every stripe, and doing so in straight, equally spaced lines.
Also, pay close attention not to accidentally discard your instruction card. IPD includes a glossy instruction card that forwards you to a web address. This website will show you how to instal your kit, where to place your stripes and how to trim around edges and splits in panels.
Although we would’ve preferred a regular printed-out instruction sheet, rather than running back and forth to our computer, the online format did provide a lot of good information.
We found the most difficult part being simply getting the individual stripes parallel to one another. Be patient and don’t rush the installation or you’ll find mistakes that are all but impossible to fix.With the decals still a little wet but tacky, we slowly ran a putty scraper over what few bubbles and wrinkles we could find. Don’t press down too hard or you’ll “burn” the vinyl or stretch out the decal.Disassembling the Yamaha’s Cruiser seat is very easy when you’re not modifying the seat foam. Simply remove all of the factory-applied staples from underneath the seat. We let the foam air out for a few hours as we installed the graphics kit, and then went about installing the new Hydro-Turf seat cover.The only tools needed are a decent upholstery staple gun. We also suggest using a spray adhesive to shoot on the foam around the tighter corners of the Cruiser seat.With only a few hours’ worth of effort, we turned this bone-stock ’14 Yamaha FX HO Cruiser into a cool customized machine that is both unique and eye-catching.
A couple handholds in a lightweight hood. A Hydro-Turf chin pad. A custom air brushed paint job. Yup. All signs of a cool freeride ski. But what was unexpected for this couple taking their skis out to the surf was the company they would share. Leaving out of the breakwater in San Diego, the two freeriders – equipped with helmet-mounted GoPros – were joined by a pod of dolphins including a couple babies.
As reported by San Diego-affiliate CBS 8, “A San Diego couple out to jet ski in the bay Sunday got the surprise of a lifetime. The pair came across a large pod of dolphins who traveled and played in the jet ski’s wake. In the video, you can see the dolphins swimming directly below the jet ski and the couple tells us one of the more playful baby dolphins even jumped out of the water.”
But as ventured to compete in this fantastic event, we were permitted to race alongside Kawasaki’s perennial guru of go-fast testing and development, multi-time World Champion Minoru Kanamori. The units Kawasaki proved us to race were identical bone-stock 2014 Kawasaki Ultra 310R JetSkis, qualifying us for inclusion in the lauded Manufacturer’s Stock class – requiring zero modifications other than traction mats, seat covers and handlebars.
Below, we’ve included an incredible point-of-view video of Kanamori’s effort on July 20th. Kanamori did his best to give chase to Warner’s Monster Energy turbo-powered Kawasaki.
Although Kanamori held tightly onto second place for most of the race (including an impromptu fuel stop), Kanamori was bested by KC Heidler in the final moments, leaving Kanamori to claim third place overall and first in the Manf. Stock Class.
Here’s what the caption has to say:
“Kawasaki swept the entire top ten of the Long Beach to Catalina and Back Offshore National Championships, with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Craig Warner winning for a historic 5th time on the Jet Ski Ultra 310R and Kawasaki’s Minoru Kanamori taking third place overall and first in the stock class. Watch some of Kanamori’s run in this GoPro video.”
Spending a couple of days with Yamaha’s Scott “Hollywood” Watkins has a way of getting standup skis on your mind. That’s how this week started for us at The Watercraft Journal, so when we stumbled across this restored vintage reel from Kawasaki’s “Good Times Theater,” we had to share it for this edition of Flashback Friday.
According to the video’s description, “This is one segment from the restored video player ‘Kawasaki Good Times Theater.’ The Good Times Theater video players were used at Kawasaki dealerships in the 1970’s for customer viewing on the showrooms. This restored video features great Kawasaki moments from the mid to late 1970’s. Audio quality on the restored video is fair, but clearly understandable. This is a great piece of Motorcycle History. Hope you enjoy it.”
This was just one of several promotional videos that helped introduce boaters and powersports enthusiasts to the all-new 400cc Kawasaki JetSki. A completely unique and innovative machine, the JetSki was unlike anything seen before, and by 1975, Kawasaki truly owned the water all the way until 1988 when both Sea-Doo and Yamaha introduced their sitdown entries.
It wasn’t more than a couple of weeks ago that we were driving through sunny Southern California’s Inland Empire. What was once acreage of farmland only decades earlier, has become a seemingly endless sea of stucco-walled suburban housing tracts and pristine business complexes. Nestled in a quiet corner of one such industrial parks rests the home of Renu Cleaners, LLC.
Greeted at the front door by Managing Partner, Nanette Moreno, the headquarters for the industry’s first dedicated personal watercraft cleaning system is expectedly immaculate. Jet Renu is only a division of the larger aforementioned Renu Cleaners, LLC that also provides top quality cleaning, restoration and protectant chemicals, sealers and waxes for the automotive aftermarket, the boating and marine industry as well as the whole of the powersports industries.
Celebrating its first year in production (as of this past June), Jet Renu has made a big splash in the PWC industry. Nanette explained that she was charged with launching a new product line, and as a personal watercraft enthusiast looked into reaching out to key persons within regional racing to help develop the new product.
“I first reached out to Ross Wallach (of RPM Racing Enterprises), who quickly took me under his wing,” Nanette told The Watercraft Journal. “He’s been instrumental in introducing us to some great people, especially the Disney family. We absolutely love them!”
Brent and Kyle Disney are two Junior Ski racers participating in the Jettribe West Coast Nationals PWC Series, who are consistently racking up points and hardware with each stop of the tour.
“We really pride ourselves on working with good people,” she continued. “It’s more important to us that the people associated with our product are positive, kind and friendly. We’d rather have great people on our team than the biggest names.”
As Jet Renu continues to gain traction in the PWC market, particularly through a new storefront in mega-retailer Amazon.com, the larger parent company wields over 23 years of experience with “product research and development as well as an advanced background in Marine reconditioning, sales and customer service,” according to Nanette, and husband Jim.
Although the facility is spacious, Nanette joked that they’re nearing maximum capacity with the demand for outgoing product, ” We will continue to develop new products for the market as well as our ‘vigilance to maintaining our ever changing environment.'”
According to the company’s official press release, “As our growth continues to move forward into the marine reconditioning aftermarket, are resources will be devoted to ensure we are the most service orientated and innovative company in the industry.”
As for the future, Nanette is increasing optimistic. “We’ll be at the World Finals again this year. We had so much fun last year with our ‘wheel of fortune’ prize giveaways, so we’ll be doing it again. We never miss one of Ross’ events either and just love the riders and racers that we support. We’re so happy with the new friends we’ve made in the sport.”
Being a company handling the development, bottling and distribution of chemicals and cleaners in California, all eyes are on Jet Renu to abide by the state’s ever-constricting environmental laws. “We are certified ‘green’ company,” Nanette beamed. “We manufacture all of our products in strict adherence to state regulatory laws. We even have 24-hours to collect rain water runoff from our building and get it tested by a state-approved lab. We’ve never missed one yet.”
So what is The Global AquaMoto GP Championships, you ask? It’s a race that every PWC has a class to race in. According to event coordinator, Chris “Fish” Fischetti, “This is what our sport has been missing for years, and it is time to get back to where the racing, excitement and fun that our sport originated from.”
Scheduled for September 26-28, 2014, AquaMoto has also changed the skill level of racers: The all-new Beginner Class (B Class) is aimed for new or less-experienced racers. New additions to the The Global AquaMoto GP Championships include the Aqua Moto Timed Track, which Fish calls “a lot like slalom, just with more turns), and is open to all classes and levels of riders.
Likewise, the Aqua Moto continues to be the only event where standard close course racing is restricted to only Vintage Ski, and all other Ski Classes, Sport and X2 classes.
A second new event is the Long Course Race, dubbed the “King of Body Beach Super Course.” This will be a dead engine LeMans-style start. Every skill level of rider will race together in each division to determine the King of Body Beach. It will feature a simplified buoy long course track with a very long first turn to space out all the racers. This will allow runabout racers to ride safe at speed on a larger track. Best of all, every kind of PWC can be the King of Body Beach.
Finally, the “Flow Moto” or freestyle event will pin rider against rider in an elimination-style format where they’ll be judged on speed, style and tricks. The last two meet Rail to Rail in a final. But that’s not all! AquaMoto is proud to announce a huge name in the freestyle industry advising on event aspects of the Freestyle Flow moto: Eric Malone!
As Fish explained to The Watercraft Journal, “This is an awesome way to put a spotlight on PWC racing back on the main stage with the Action Sports Market. AquaMoto – Safety comes first, new insurance, new starting gate, new race and track design, and some awesome post race parties.
“We are seeking support to make this race successful and help steer the ‘coolest water sport’ in a positive direction. I have amassed the industry’s greatest talent and knowledge for an event that will showcase our sport!”
If you didn’t already have 10,000 different reasons to attend the annual IJSBA World Finals, one in particular was the ever-present Jettrim Vintage Museum booth. The large pavilion was home to some of the sport’s most iconic standup skis, including some of the best examples of classic racing machinery, posters, advertisements, and banners. Pulled from Jettrim president Gary Hart’s own private collection, the museum was always a sight to behold.
Unfortunately, due to extraneous circumstances, Gary’s vault of vintage skis won’t be made available to the public. But fear not! Scott Frazier and all of the IJSBA are on the case. To get the whole story, you have to start with a post recently published on Gary and Kelly Hart’s Facebook wall that stated:
Hi folks, We are unable to do the Jettrim Vintage Museum this year, but Scott Fraizer, the director of the IJSBA is going to do one for us. This is the letter Scott sent us [see below]. Please respond to him if you are interested in helping. – Gary and Kelly
The original note/press release published by Scott read as follows:
IJSBA is pleased to announce that the Jettrim Vintage Ski Museum will return for 2014 albeit as a community managed exhibit.
Due to circumstances beyond their control, Jettrim cannot organize the museum for 2014. However, IJSBA will continue to provide the tent space and access for the community to bring their vintage watercraft and other collectible items from their own personal collections.
This museum would not have been possible if it were not for all of the hard work of Jettrim’s Gary Hart, a pioneer in the sport of PWC Racing products and a hall of fame inductee. IJSBA will continue to honor their contributions to the booth by giving them the same full sponsorship and endorsement credits that they have earned over the years. Jettrim is expected to produce the museum, again, in 2015.
If you would like to bring your vintage watercraft and collectibles, please email: [email protected]
The 2014 Jettrim Vintage Ski Museum will be the center fixture of the tradeshow portion of the 2014 Jettribe World Finals. The museum is slated to be open from Friday October 10 through Sunday, October 12.
We’ve had the same gear bag for the last five or six years. It’s held up pretty good. The zippers haven’t broken, the waterproof liner hasn’t torn and it doesn’t reek of mildew. The one major problem is that it’s just too dang small.
Cramming a vest into it and a pair of water shoes eats up all of the room, leaving little space for much else. If we pack a helmet? Forget it, you might as well bring another bag. Our bag, like so many, is really a nicely outfitted duffel, when in reality, want we find ourselves needing is a true full-sized gear bag.
Unfortunately, the slim pickings are slim when it comes to such an item. Slippery makes a decent bag, but again, it’s very limited on space. Now JetPilot’s Wake Wheelie bag is nice, but priced at $130 retail. Space is still a little tight when packing vests, gloves and booties for the whole family, but the rollers and rigid back is more up our alley.
That is why we gravitated towards Hydro-Turf’s Hydration Roller Bag. It’s voluminous, sturdy and surprisingly affordable (more on that in a little bit).
Stitched together from heavy-duty nylon, the Hydration Roller Bag weighs in at an impressive 29”x17”x14” tall. That’s some serious real estate to fill. Likewise, the bag features large wheels with sealed bearings that glide along smoothly, and can be pulled along by a molded handle grip.
Additionally, three thick nylon skids on the bottom provide some added rigidity and durability not found in many other bags. Heavy duty zippers seal the main area and full-width front pouch as well.
Our first use of the bag was possibly the best way imaginable: We loaded it with our old gear bag and a backpack and checked it on a cross-country flight. At the terminal the bag arrived safely, unscathed and no worse for wear.
The following week we loaded up the bag in the bed of our truck and headed to the lake with enough riding gear for two. Yes, it’s big and most of the time, you likely won’t need to fill it to the brim, but that’s not the point. It’s about having the space to fill in a bag that’ll hold up to the rigors of the outdoors.
Normally, the Hydro-Turf Hydration Roller Bag retails for $80, which is a great deal as it stands. But, because Hydro-Turf is friggin’ awesome they are offering a special deal to all you loyal readers of The Watercraft Journal: If you type in the code “CODE-TWJ” in the comment section at the end of the ordering process, you will not only get the Hydration Roller Bag for $50 (that’s a $30 savings) but you’ll also earn a 15% discount on all mats, seat covers and sheets of Hydro-Turf! (this cannot be combined with any other discounts.)
The discount won’t show up in your total, but will be applied by Hydro-Turf when the order is processed and the card is billed.
Again, we can’t say what a major offer this is. If you’re looking for an awesome gear bag, or even to score on some discount Hydro-Turf matting or seat covers, now is your chance! (Don’t say we don’t do nuthin’ for ya!)
Below, we’ve included an incredible point-of-view video of Kanamori’s effort on July 20th. Kanamori did his best to give chase to Warner’s Monster Energy turbo-powered Kawasaki.
“We really pride ourselves on working with good people,” she continued. “It’s more important to us that the people associated with our product are positive, kind and friendly. We’d rather have great people on our team than the biggest names.”
Cramming a vest into it and a pair of water shoes eats up all of the room, leaving little space for much else. If we pack a helmet? Forget it, you might as well bring another bag. Our bag, like so many, is really a nicely outfitted duffel, when in reality, want we find ourselves needing is a true full-sized gear bag.
