In the ever-growing world of super trick freestyle and surf riding skis the name Tiger Craft can’t be ignored. Tiger Craft has made a name for themselves by designing and producing exceptionally strong and lightweight hull designs for Yamaha SuperJet-based, freestyle standup skis. Proof that this company really is run by watercraft enthusiasts is apparent as they announce their plans to revive the surf riding legend-the Yamaha WaveBlaster. The name of this new project is the “Viper.”
When Yamaha produced the WaveBlaster twenty-plus years ago it did not take long for people to notice how well the watercraft did in the surf. Tiger Craft announced that these new Vipers will be based on the old ‘Blasters, but every part will be new, redesigned, and vastly improved.
In Tiger Craft’s designs they have enhanced the hull design by using their proven surf rocker design, shortened the rear end of the ski by three inches, increased water flow in the pump, upgraded seat mounting to a motocross style seat, improved air intake design and general strength of the entire hull and motor mounts. They even made it possible to run a fuel tank, water box, and exhaust from a SuperJet that will improve the center of gravity and overall handling of the watercraft.
This is not the first time that a company has released plans to make some sort of new age ‘Blaster, but in Tiger Craft’s own words, “We can say without a doubt that this is one ‘Blaster hull you will see this year.”
Austria’s favorite son Kevin Reiterer had a big announcement that might’ve slipped under your radar; he stated in a Facebook post, “It’s official. I started a team with Jonna Borgström and Daniel Svae Andersen. Two of many great people I have met over the past year!”
In a press released issued yesterday, Reiterer gushed over his teammates’ performance, saying:
An amazing race to start of with a new Team. Kev-Racing is a group of dedicated people with love for a sport and a will to achieve their dreams and most of all enjoy the way to get there. The Jetcross tour race was a great success for the Team and Kevin. With a first and a second place finish in Ski Elite, despite a swim in the second moto, and another top 3 finish of Jonna Borgstrom in the Ladies class the Team left a huge mark in the racing series. Despite, Daniel Andersen, was a podium contender in Ski Amateur he could not finish the last moto.”
It has been an amazing weekend- I love to go to my limits! To perform well at that race, you just have to go to your limits. I am happy with my results and I could experience my weakest mental point in the last moto,” says the young Austrian. He is impressed by his Team mates performance and they are all working now hard for the second race of the championship in July (5-7 Switzerland www.free4style.com) for the greatest race of all time with more than 20,000 spectators watching the SWATCH free4style event.
He also provided this professionally-produced video recap of the Kev-Racing Team at the first stop of the Jetcross Tour:
Becoming a personal watercraft owner and operator is a little more complicated than it seems at first glace. Basic watercraft maintenance is not only an issue, but owners have to remember to be up to date on registration, have the proper safety equipment, a well-maintained trailer, and know how to properly tow a loaded trailer, among other things. With all that needs to be done before heading off to the water it makes sense to make a check list, but what needs to be on the pre lake checklist? Luckily Sea-Doo has reached out to watercraft owners both new and experienced with their “How To” video series.
Sea-Doo released the first of eleven “How To” videos this month and will continue to release one each week throughout the summer. The first video “Getting Started” walks viewers through the personal watercraft buying experience. The video is well made and entertaining: which is good for those of us with short attention spans. The video teaches the importance of basic dealer relationships and getting to know local laws. Like the title entails it is a comprehensive look at getting ready to get behind the throttle of a new watercraft.
The second video outlines basic safety gear and equipment necessary for a good experience in the water. From basics such as fire extinguishers and speed limits to becoming comfortable with equipment; from quality wet suits and pfd’s to lanyards and other tinkets. This video covers everything just short of sunscreen application. Trust me, you will be ready to go.
Sea-Doo then comes out with a follow up video that every watercraft owner should see. It outlines basic guidelines of towing a trailer and driving safely. Watching a video is no substitute for getting out and practicing driving with a trailer but Sea-Doo gives clear guidelines on how to do some of the more tricky maneuvers such as backing down launch ramps. These guidelines will help keep drivers on route to fun and not on the side of the road with your trailer detached in the middle of the freeway.
Sea-Doo will continue posting the useful videos on their YouTube channel throughout the summer. Whether you are looking into purchasing your first personal watercraft or if you’ve been an owner for years, and want to brush up on proper techniques, these videos will prove to be very useful. Keep your eyes peeled for further videos to come each week; they shouldn’t be missed.
[Let me preface this by saying that I don’t drink alcohol, and equally feel that it has never been my place to impose my personal reasons for not doing so on others. My values are mine and such decisions should be left to the individual to make. Nor is this the dais to evaluate whether alcohol consumption is ethical, moral or even sanitary. Rather, I will be commenting on the sensitive subject of appropriateness, particularly as I view it. This is an editorial, and therefore my opinion. So take it for you will.]
What today’s world of constant and generally unearned emotional affirmation has done for our youth has taught them that if everyone is “special,” then none of us are. Schools and self-described educators have done a fantastic job of distributing participation awards, gold stars for attendance and equally milquetoast accolades to the underachievers equally as the achievers, effectively dissuading any motivation for excellence. When each of us are extraordinary, we are all indeed ordinary.
Partial blame (or credit, depending how you view it) can be attributed to the various forms of social media we subscribe to. Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, Instagram and Tumblr accounts have converted its users into self-promoting marketers. We are our own press agents, publicizing the details of our lives in glorious splendor, using kitschy photo filters, bitstrips, pokes, updates and check-ins to detail our lives to the world.
This overt lack of privacy is self-inflicted, making the outrage over our own government’s intrusion on our lives so absurdly hypocritical. If privacy was truly such a treasured asset, why would you be publishing your life before billions of eyes? Whether we choose to believe it, we are being watched. Not just via the most sophisticated information-gathering algorithms on the planet, but to all of those whom we’ve allowed access, who follow us, “Like” our posts and hashtag our daily doings.
Over the course of this Memorial Day weekend, the few social media outlets that I follow have been adrift in blurred selfies and grainy candids of partying. Across the nation, persons are enjoying themselves on beaches and shorelines. Enjoying time off with a few libations is expected for most adults, particularly over the holiday, but it’s when drinking is being photographed in association with personal watercraft that I have a problem.
Fact: drinking while riding a PWC is a criminal offense. It’s called Boating Under the Influence (BUI) and penalties can include large fines, suspension or revocation of boat operator privileges, and jail time. According to the USCG report, “In 2013, the Coast Guard counted 4,062 accidents that involved 560 deaths, 2,620 injuries, and approximately $39 million dollars of damage to property as a result of recreational boating accidents.”
Considering that personal watercraft accounted for 18-percent of these accidents, the report concludes stating that “Alcohol use is the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents; where the primary cause was known, it was listed as the leading factor in 16% of deaths.”
Yet, many are in flagrant disregard of this, posting photos from behind the handlebars, on the beach, lounging around the sandbar and mingling around the launch ramp with drinks in hand. While drinking while riding is no less egregious whether there’s a photograph of it or not, it’s the popularization of it that is so abhorrent.
Even as intimate as it may be, many persons within this industry wield significant followings, many of them underage. When professional riders post pictures like these, what does it communicate to the budding youth rider who aspires to be a professional racer, freestylist or freerider? What behaviors are being advocated to an impressionable teenager?
Many of these riders are sponsored by companies; companies who have wagered quite a bit of money on them to properly and professionally represent their reputable brand. Is this how they want to be represented? A rider is accountable for not only their own actions but how they effect their sponsors, not just on the water, but in the pits and with everything they choose to publish online.
Remember what happened to Olympic medalist Michael Phelps in February 2009, when publication of a photograph of Phelps smoking marijuana got out? Phelps not only lost Kellogg as a major sponsor but was slapped with a fine and suspension from the USA Swimming team for three months.
In professional sports, actions have consequences. What would happen if photographs of Dale Earnhart Jr. drinking a beer behind the wheel were to surface? Whether he was at the track or not, Junior would be stripped of millions of dollars’ worth of sponsorships, not to mention suspension from racing competitively for several races (if not longer).
Yet, no such penalties are found in jet ski racing. Why not? If the sport wants to be taken seriously – and bring in significantly larger outside sponsorships, we need to be held to equal standards of professionalism.
But I fear we have a long way to go. Some of our own magazines go so far as to publicize heavy drinking as part of the typical and therefore desirable “lifestyle,” masquerading photos of partying and reports of fighting, destruction of private property and even arrests as “event coverage.” Not only is this woefully unprofessional for any industry periodical to publish, but a worse reflection of the companies who advertise with them, because their doing so condones such articles.
It is my stance that evidence of impaired boating should be grounds for immediate suspension from professional competition and the possible disqualification from the current national championship, not to mention the stripping of sponsorships. Boating Under the Influence isn’t like losing your temper and swearing at a course official. Drinking and driving anything motorized kills people.
I am wholly aware that this is a very unpopular position to take, and infractions and exceptions to this can be found throughout all of professional sporting. I don’t look forward to the nasty emails and posts this editorial will get, but that does not detract from the necessity to eliminate all forms of impaired boating. Keep your drinking in check and keep it away from the water and away from the throttle of anything.
More often, we keep hearing how personal watercraft are being employed in good work, all of which is useful in preserving the rights of personal watercraft enthusiasts to enjoy their craft in waterways around the globe. Yesterday, we were made aware of Pacific Palms lifeguard Lennon Fisher, who has used his PWC to save seven lives in less than two years.
Most recently, Fisher saved one of three rock fishermen swept into treacherous seas last week. Fisher, one of several surf lifesavers connected to the Surf Life Saving NSW Lower North Coast Branch, was alerted last Wednesday of three men from Goulburn that swept from the rocks into the ocean by described a “freak wave.”
The rock platform near the Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse at Seal Rocks is a popular fishing sport. All four fishermen were swept into the water, with the fourth being the only one to swim back to the beach. Fisher and fellow lifeguard, John Gray immediately scrambled, Fisher launching a club jet ski from Boat Beach while Gray remained ashore as backup.
When Fisher arrived, he soon saw the lone man pacing up and down a rock platform. In an interview with Great Lakes Advocate, he recalled, “One guy was on the rocks, running up and down screaming and pointing in the other direction and it was then that I saw this other man clinging to rocks.”
“The man was stripped down to his undies and I realized he couldn’t physically move so I got in the water and I was able to push him up onto the ski. Then I had the drama of trying to get myself back on the ski without rolling it.”
Fisher drove the man to safety back to Boat Beach where Gray was waiting. The man pacing the rocks was air lifted by a Westpac Rescue Helicopter. He concluded, “When we got back to the beach I thought there was only one guy in the water and we had saved him but then we found out about the other man missing (Peter Oberg) so it was pretty heartbreaking to find out there’s still someone out there.”
Pacific Palms Surf Club president Kel McCredie praised Fisher saying it had been the seventh life he had saved in the past two years. “That’s the highest on the list for rescues,” McCredie said. “And they’ve all been on jet skis.”
With all of the high-intensity racing, surf jumping and general hardcore action we’ve been covering lately, we’ve been feeling…well, a little exhausted! So we thought we’d unwind and take in a little video browsing on YouTube when we came across this awesome video from a couple years back.
Filmed and edited by self-described hip hop artist/wakeboarder/action sports enthusiast Collin Gee, this quick jaunt through the painted canyons of Lake Powell makes us want to pack up and head out to the Arizona/Utah border lake for a little desert session. Filmed with a GoPro HD Hero with one of GoPole’s “The bobber” mounts, we got into the groove of the bluesy tunes from musician Jake Andrews as Gee and pals careened through the canals.
Dated July 2011, Gee writes, “I am not into sit-down jetskis, I love stand up jetskis way more, but on Lake Powell sit-down jetski is so fun! My friends in the video [are] Brooke Quigley, Kyle McGroary, Eddie Valdez, Joel Hilliard, Kyle Schmidt, Jeff Hartman, Tino Santori and Ryan Bezemek.” We would also like to note that Gee and friends are briefly filmed riding without proper life vests, and at no time does The Watercraft Journal condone such action as we always want to promote safe riding.
At Kiptopeke State Park, we didn’t let some rain or wind keep us from going out for a ride.
Yesterday morning, my friend Rob and I towed our rigged up jet skis from Poquoson, Virginia to Kiptopeke State Park and dropped in at the Concrete Ships of the Eastern Shore.
It hurts paying the $16 toll each way, plus the $8 ramp fee and about $20 round trip for gas. That’s $60 before I even touch the water! But on the positive side, I did not have to run across the bay in fog, rain, or 2-to-3 foot chop and I only burned two gallons on my jet ski.
We fished a couple miles off of the ships in light-to-medium rain and 40 degree temps. The 10-15 mile per hour southwest winds gave us a steady drift for eeling.
Although we did encounter some other fishermen, we were the only ones to brave the weather aboard a pair of PWC.After battling this big striped bass, I was able to net him and drag him aboard.
It was very slow fishing, but as luck would have it, a big striped bass took off with one of the eels that I had in right next to my ski. He gave me a nice run for my money, turning my ski around twice before getting close enough for me to grab him with the net. Thankfully, he was solidly hooked in the upper lip.
With the bass on board, we stayed out another hour and a half, hoping for another fish for Rob but it was simply not meant to be.
We weren’t the only ones out as we saw one lone kayaker on the lee side of the ships looking for a big one. There were also several boats around the area, but as per usual, we were the only ones fishing from a pair of jet skis.
A trip to the scales would reveal this big striped bass to weigh in at 42.5 pounds, my largest catch of the season.Later that night, my catch made for quite the delicious meal of striper steaks, fresh greens and biscuits.
Back on land, I weighed the striped bass I caught at Bull Island Outdoors in Poquoson; amazingly, it went 42.5 pounds, my largest catch this season!
Looking back, my new record catch was well worth a couple hours on the water on my jet ski in the rain. Back at home, I had everything cleaned up and put away by dark. For dinner, I pan seared some thick striper steaks in herb garlic marinade for dinner. Not a bad way to end the day.
Not exactly the way to sum up an already difficult weekend, Liquid Militia rider Juan Rada came home from racing in Expert Runabout Stock class this past weekend at the Hydro-Turf Pro Watercross tour stop in Panama City Beach, FL only to find that his complete rig, UTV and bike were missing!
We hope that some eagle-eyed reader of The Watercraft Journal will spot this combo somewhere soon and alert the police. There’s quite a bit of money, time, blood, sweat and tears poured into Juan’s travel rig.
Below we’ve included the original alert as posted by Shawn Alladio:
Please Help us! Screen shot these pics and re post it please on your pages, help us to find the truck, trailer, Jetski and ATV. These were stolen at the race this weekend. Our LiquidMilitia team rider Juan Rada’s rig was stolen last night in Miami, Florida. If you see this rig call the police and help solve this crime. They stole everything you see in the pic. Please help with finding and stopping thieves like this who prey on hard working folks and ruin dreams and lives! Any information is important! Keep a watch friends! Our Team Riders were left stranded and need our help! We appreciate the Miami Dade Law Enforcement community and we’re counting on you to find these thieves! Thanks LE’s!
Watch Craigslist, dealerships be alert, any news you hear about quick sales or these items that may look similar in another color! Check with DMV to check HIN and VIN #’s before you buy. Stay alert and vigilant!
Theft occurred at 11580 N.W. 105 St, Miami FL Case #PD140520183767 Ph: 305-471-2800 Date Reported: 5-20-14
OK, before we get all sorts of emails and instant messages razzing us about what on earth we’re doing publishing a Ford Bronco on a personal watercraft magazine, just hear us out: How would you like to pilot this twin turbo Nelson Racing engine producing over 1600 horsepower across 1001 feet of water?
Well, owner and fabricator Icelandic Champion Gudbjørn Grimsson has just set the World Record for hydroplaning a four-wheeled vehicle last week and it’s awesome. According to Grimsson, “The car has a Ford 428 engine with twin turbo that can deliver up to 1640 horsepower. [It runs] Ford’s big C6 transmission [with] 9″ Ford axles front and rear.”
Of course, calling it a Bronco is a misnomer as much of the truck has been reworked, reconfigured, reinforced and re-engineered. The Volcano Race Team member shattered the record at the Formula Offroad NEZ-championship in Skien, Norway this year. While skimming a 4×4 over the water doesn’t exactly make it a personal watercraft, it does tickle one’s sides to imagine how far Grimsson could’ve gone had he had more water to cross.
For those on the beach this weekend, there was no escaping the big red-and-white Yamaha tent that housed Troy Snyder, Brian Baldwin and the Aswar brothers, Aero and Aqsa. United under the Yamaha banner, all four riders are part of Dean Charrier’s legendary “Dean’s Team,” which enjoys the perks of a very close relationship with RIVA Racing.
We snuck this shot of Troy Snyder’s ski using the yet-to-be-released offset RIVA Racing bars.
Reports state that the partnership is part sponsorship and part research and development, as the Dean’s Team riders provide the part’s developer irreplaceable first-hand input in addition to pushing each component to its very limit. With many of Yamaha’s marketing team on hand, as well as a guest engineer from Japan and the effervescent Scott “Hollywood” Watkins, all eyes were on the water.
It was leaked to The Watercraft Journal that while individual setups varied from rider to rider, all of the Dean’s Team FZRs touted some secret RIVA Racing hardware, including preproduction adjustable sponsons and a whole new, low-slung billet steering system. We spied at Snyder’s Judge Motorsports’ tuned FZR and eyed a very unique billet offset that pushed the bars forward on the new stainless neck.
But what was most intriguing was word of the skis running the new RIVA/Vipec V88R3 ECU. The next generation in engine controller software, the RIVA/Vipec is expected to offer significantly sharper throttle response, mapping capabilities and engine knock prevention (among many more features that are soon to be released to the public in the next coming weeks).
When Yamaha produced the WaveBlaster twenty-plus years ago it did not take long for people to notice how well the watercraft did in the surf. Tiger Craft announced that these new Vipers will be based on the old ‘Blasters, but every part will be new, redesigned, and vastly improved.
Not exactly the way to sum up an already difficult weekend, Liquid Militia rider Juan Rada came home from racing in Expert Runabout Stock class this past weekend at the 
