Xerophobic
04-24-2007, 09:04 AM
Till next years race that is!
We rolled back into town last nite about 1 am, tired and sore but satisfied to return with an undamaged boat and all our fellow racers safe.
If you have never been exposed to this type of racing you really need to see the Salmon river up close to apreciate it. Idaho water is huge and didn't dissappoint this year. I copied my post from our site but some stats for you first:
19 boats started the race :)
11 boats finished the last leg :confused:
3 boats sunk or partially sunk :eek:
1 boat remains MIA :(
Well another year in Idaho come and gone.
The River of No Return certainly did not disappoint!
Of course first and foremost everyone was safe and sound on Sunday afternoon after an exciting and eventful weekend of racing.
Highlights of the weekend would certainly involve more than one sunken boat and several out of water experiences.
Jesse L, of jetboatracing.com fame, for some reason wanted to watch Dave Provost "do it with his wife" Dave was driving Jesse''s winged boat "wocket" when it suffered a freak flip in Time Zone and ended upside down and sinking. Dave surfaced pretty quick apparently but Lynn took something like 45 second to get to the surface. Thank god they were both ok. Ive yet to see video of this but the still photo's painted enough of a picture. Scary stuff indeed! Jesse's boat was recovered with barely a mark on it.
"Revelation", a newcomer from CA, hit a rock hard just above time zone and despite looking ok(while paddling) when we passed them, partially sunk near shore. We just had a good look at the boat on the trailer and Dwain has some work to do to get back in the water but is a great bloke and I'm sure will be back soon.
Thunderstruck proved that beginners luck only lasts one year and only completed one full leg. They were certainly on the way to the usual photo shoot weekend but suffered some mechanical problems and were parked on the bank at the end of leg 2.
SJ suffered more casualties with Weaver dropping out due to a broken trim tab and other unknown mechanical and viagrical difficulties. I guess Gary was suffering from Miknobaches more than we initially thought! As usual great to see him and Gary you are truly an inspiration to all of us (70 yrs old, class 4 rapids in a 15 foot boat )
Newcomers from Colorado suffered the biggest loss of the weekend and the toughest initiation into the Salmon river. We just returned from a search and rescue trip looking for their SJ which was lost just downstream of tight squeeze. We certainly are glad the couple are safe and wish them all the best in recovering their boat. We certainly do not want these long distance travelers to have a first and last race in one weekend. The location of the "#17 Xtreme" boat is unknown at this time
Karey Crawford showed up with his brand new SJ and a comment on the transom directed at showing up last years SJ winner Richard Grant. Karey proved to be almost as photogenic as Richard and with the help of his "new" navigator "TS" (a story only worthy to tell when we have the video to post)they put on quite a show. I'm sure we'll have many pictures of Karey over the next while. Sadly the one run I managed to get a helmet cam on his boat he decided to find a BIG rock in Time Zone and hit hard enough to turn the camera off. Karey finished the leg yelling something to the effect of "you're never putting a camera on my boat again!!" Incidentally Karey racing voids any factory warranties on your "new" boat, thanks for coming out!
Team Liquifire showed up with 2 matching boats, just to add to the days confusion, and of course they also had the same numbers. Knowing who and which team boat ended up on the bank or bouncing off rocks was tough. Dwain L did decide at one point he didn't like Time Zone anymore and decided he would rather be on dry land. Luckily he managed to end up back in the water and running without killing any anxious spectators.
2007 Idaho Cup winner this year was a relative newcomer and stated in the race program they "just wanted to finish the race and bring the boat home in one piece" Well done guys you also brought home the most coveted trophy in all of whitewater racing!
As usual Gary Labrum and co brought the whole family to the race and had a great run. Sadly Gary and Duane lost an electric fuel pump on the last leg and it cost them the class title.
Dale and I proved that bow canards are not "quite" Salmon proof and we removed one on leg 3 and the other on leg 6, one downstream and one upstream. Mental note: fill wings with foam for flotation. Other than that I think we again proved the extreme reliability and simplicity of a crate ZZ4 and despite not placing did pretty good for a 4 yr old race engine. Roll bar footage to follow.
There are many more stories to tell and pictures video to post. For now we need to go get some food and do a little more drinking.
Special thanks as always go out to Rich and Kim Friend and everyone that makes this race happen. Riggins truly is a special place for jet boat racers and I cannot imagine a jet boat season which doesn't include a trip to the Salmon. The way this little town gets behind this race and welcomes us with open arms is truly admirable. You all should be extremely proud of what you do for racing and as I've said before you make it so terrible easy to want to return.
Its true what they say
CANADA LOVES RIGGINS!!
Cheers
We rolled back into town last nite about 1 am, tired and sore but satisfied to return with an undamaged boat and all our fellow racers safe.
If you have never been exposed to this type of racing you really need to see the Salmon river up close to apreciate it. Idaho water is huge and didn't dissappoint this year. I copied my post from our site but some stats for you first:
19 boats started the race :)
11 boats finished the last leg :confused:
3 boats sunk or partially sunk :eek:
1 boat remains MIA :(
Well another year in Idaho come and gone.
The River of No Return certainly did not disappoint!
Of course first and foremost everyone was safe and sound on Sunday afternoon after an exciting and eventful weekend of racing.
Highlights of the weekend would certainly involve more than one sunken boat and several out of water experiences.
Jesse L, of jetboatracing.com fame, for some reason wanted to watch Dave Provost "do it with his wife" Dave was driving Jesse''s winged boat "wocket" when it suffered a freak flip in Time Zone and ended upside down and sinking. Dave surfaced pretty quick apparently but Lynn took something like 45 second to get to the surface. Thank god they were both ok. Ive yet to see video of this but the still photo's painted enough of a picture. Scary stuff indeed! Jesse's boat was recovered with barely a mark on it.
"Revelation", a newcomer from CA, hit a rock hard just above time zone and despite looking ok(while paddling) when we passed them, partially sunk near shore. We just had a good look at the boat on the trailer and Dwain has some work to do to get back in the water but is a great bloke and I'm sure will be back soon.
Thunderstruck proved that beginners luck only lasts one year and only completed one full leg. They were certainly on the way to the usual photo shoot weekend but suffered some mechanical problems and were parked on the bank at the end of leg 2.
SJ suffered more casualties with Weaver dropping out due to a broken trim tab and other unknown mechanical and viagrical difficulties. I guess Gary was suffering from Miknobaches more than we initially thought! As usual great to see him and Gary you are truly an inspiration to all of us (70 yrs old, class 4 rapids in a 15 foot boat )
Newcomers from Colorado suffered the biggest loss of the weekend and the toughest initiation into the Salmon river. We just returned from a search and rescue trip looking for their SJ which was lost just downstream of tight squeeze. We certainly are glad the couple are safe and wish them all the best in recovering their boat. We certainly do not want these long distance travelers to have a first and last race in one weekend. The location of the "#17 Xtreme" boat is unknown at this time
Karey Crawford showed up with his brand new SJ and a comment on the transom directed at showing up last years SJ winner Richard Grant. Karey proved to be almost as photogenic as Richard and with the help of his "new" navigator "TS" (a story only worthy to tell when we have the video to post)they put on quite a show. I'm sure we'll have many pictures of Karey over the next while. Sadly the one run I managed to get a helmet cam on his boat he decided to find a BIG rock in Time Zone and hit hard enough to turn the camera off. Karey finished the leg yelling something to the effect of "you're never putting a camera on my boat again!!" Incidentally Karey racing voids any factory warranties on your "new" boat, thanks for coming out!
Team Liquifire showed up with 2 matching boats, just to add to the days confusion, and of course they also had the same numbers. Knowing who and which team boat ended up on the bank or bouncing off rocks was tough. Dwain L did decide at one point he didn't like Time Zone anymore and decided he would rather be on dry land. Luckily he managed to end up back in the water and running without killing any anxious spectators.
2007 Idaho Cup winner this year was a relative newcomer and stated in the race program they "just wanted to finish the race and bring the boat home in one piece" Well done guys you also brought home the most coveted trophy in all of whitewater racing!
As usual Gary Labrum and co brought the whole family to the race and had a great run. Sadly Gary and Duane lost an electric fuel pump on the last leg and it cost them the class title.
Dale and I proved that bow canards are not "quite" Salmon proof and we removed one on leg 3 and the other on leg 6, one downstream and one upstream. Mental note: fill wings with foam for flotation. Other than that I think we again proved the extreme reliability and simplicity of a crate ZZ4 and despite not placing did pretty good for a 4 yr old race engine. Roll bar footage to follow.
There are many more stories to tell and pictures video to post. For now we need to go get some food and do a little more drinking.
Special thanks as always go out to Rich and Kim Friend and everyone that makes this race happen. Riggins truly is a special place for jet boat racers and I cannot imagine a jet boat season which doesn't include a trip to the Salmon. The way this little town gets behind this race and welcomes us with open arms is truly admirable. You all should be extremely proud of what you do for racing and as I've said before you make it so terrible easy to want to return.
Its true what they say
CANADA LOVES RIGGINS!!
Cheers