story behind the story, after the jetboat race pt2

With a whiff of gas fumes and mile long plume of spray, the jet-boaters roared past, some only 10ft from the shore where we were tied up.

It was fabulously loud and exciting.

My heart was racing, my camera zoomed in and tracking, my feet balanced on the bow of the jet-boat which slightly rocked as the racers flew by.

Having waited so long for this, I was having so much fun!

The jet-boats flew by, gunning the throttle at speeds over 100mph and approaching 140mph. Defying gravity with barely a few feet of hull touching the water still, most of the boat wasn't in the water. Skimming the surface and zipping around floating logs, it was a deft display of steel nerves and practiced grace.

Some of them were having troubles because the cross-wind wasn't helping. Some of the boats were reared up like they were popping a wheelie and others were low in the water -- I wouldn't know why, but guessed that they'd sucked up something that wouldn't spit out the back very easily.

After all 30 boats had flown by and then turned around and raced back to the finish, starting staggered one minute apart, we left too.

My camera was starting to die as the batteries hadn't been charged in a while, but I was more than happy.

The boat's skipper stopped to talk to some friends who were parked on the bank watching the race. They had beers for the passengers but I still had to write my article and he still had to steer home.

We were almost home and there was a log jam of boats trying to get up the one boat launch. So the skipper asked if I'd like to see how high the river had gone on the other side of the peninsula.

In retrospect this should have foreshadowed my troubles to fording the car along the road. I was game and off we went, the boat bouncing off some incredibly high peaks and valleys I didn't think were possible outside of ocean waves. Like 4-5ft swells. It was still fun.

We got to the bridge and I'm like can you touch it? He was like sure why not? I asked if he could hold it and he eased the throttle, let go the wheel and stood on tip-toes. Still was 4inches short, but it was supposed to be 4-6ft lower. Incredible amount of rain. This was the photo that appeared on the cover of Whitecourt Star, my first issue of printing.... WOOT.

We got back and parted ways with much thanks. The skipper was more than happy just show off a beautiful way to get around on the hidden water-highway of Alberta.

Got in my car after I had packed up my camera and downloaded my photos. I followed the last trucks and jet-boat trailers back to town.

And then I got to where the road ended and 2ft of water began. The water had crested a few hours before. Good to know now.

There were two 1/4ton trucks and a car stalled and dragged back out on the side of the road. This was a very bad sign of attempting to drive through it.

So I backed out of the way of the trucks and someone gave me a ride back across so I could find someone to tow me across.

The newspaper publisher had told me to call her if I needed any help. This would qualify as help needed. The waters were still rising.

She said not to worry the other reporter almost got trapped out there too the day before in his SUV. It wasn't much in the morning.

The fact that those huge trucks were up to their running boards and past the axles said I was going to be waiting for a while to find someone to drive.

No problem, she'd call and ask her brother. He phoned to say he'd be there in 15 minutes. I'm guessing he'd just got off work. No matter, I needed help and he was happy to lend a hand.

He got there and got to work, pulling out a tow rope. He asked which city I was from. Half-teasingly he pointed out that only a city boy would try to get across that in a little car and not have a truck. Fair point....

After a few tries we got through and I'm happy to report my car-doors are water-tight. Lesson learned that water that is up to my knee is a bad idea to drive through. No doubt, but what I didn't know was that water will over-flow onto roads when it's raining bad enough, hard enough.

Was mightily glad that someone was wiling to come own and help me out on short notice. AMA would have taken hours to send a tow-truck. It was a quiet statement of how neighbours look after each other. I was totally grateful and left a Timmy's card with my publisher as a token of thanks.

It was a wild and wet long day. My car got the under-side washed. I met some very down-to-river people and got a glimpse of how the camaraderie extended to random strangers and friends alike.

Story behind the jet-boat story - part 1

The story behind the jet-boat article that appeared in both Whitecourt and Grand Prairie was that my car nearly served as a boat. If I had tried to ford the river that used to be a road, I would have sucked water into my engine.

It would have worked if I was in a jet-boat but not so good for a car.

First things first. I got to the boat launch at 8a.m. caught the last support boat going out. It was over-cast and the river was full of size-able logs and choppy waves.

Wasn't too worrisome except for the owner of the 20ft boat swearing about the amount of debris he was sucking into his jet intake as we stalled three or four times. We drifted backwards on the 20km/hr river current as another guy kicked at the propulsion grate to clear debris.

Noticing my white knuckle grip on the rail, the cap't asked if it was my first time on a jet-boat. I've been on destroyers, submarines (moored to the dock), schooners and ferries in rougher weather. Not a river jet-boat though.

That was something different. It was only going 40mph but felt like so much more. Especially with the logs whipping past and the waves buffeting up at the prow.

Could have sworn the skipper was having almost fun dodging around drifting logs and the other guy and I were holding on for dear life in the back.

He radio'd we'd arrived and that the photographer from the newspaper might need new boxers as he had brown-shorts. I protested it wasn't too bad to amiable laughter. We were in position along the race-course to assist in case a boat got into trouble. Biggest thing was to raise a yellow or red flag to warn other racers to slow down or to stop and wait until the troubled boat had been dragged off the course.

The cap't and his navigator sat up on the bow and got ready to clock times of boats passing and keep watch. We waited for 45 minutes to find out the race was delayed until the weather got better and the debris stopped coming so rapidly. One boat had sunk in those conditions the day before, skidding out of control and hitting the river bank.

Did a few interviews with the race marshal and some of the race leaders and got them talking about their boats and crew supports. It was really neat talking to true gentlemen sailors who graciously answered my beginner questions and calmly explained about spinning out at 100mph.

Slammed back some yummy deep fried chicken nuggets, fries and gravy from the concession and got back to the jet-boat. Had to help push the boat out because I was wearing boots and hopped aboard.

My second ride was a bit smoother as they had re-mapped the race for the other river that was less wild and debris-free. We sat and waited for the race to start.

We heard jet-boats engines might roar before we saw them.

To be continued...

Canadian Jet-boaters sweep the International Competition on home rivers

By Philip Rushton

Whitecourt Reporter

Stick a T58 helicopter engine with 1350 horse-power in an sleek aluminum hulled boat and this isn't grandfather's fishing row-boat.

Grande Prairie racer, Gord Humphrey keeps his 23ft long jet-boat named Un-natural Disaster under control and hit speeds of over 130mph.

"It's a lot safer that you think," said Humphrey, World Champion in the unlimited class. "It's very solid in the water."

Jet-boat racers are part mechanic, part pilot, part pure lucky.

"Mentally, lots of seat time and multiple races will help keep sharp because it's easy to lose an edge.

With all that power, safety is still number one priority in the sport.

"It's a fine line between in control and out of control, depending on conditions," said Jim Greber, winner of the CX class.

With canard wings on the prow, an pair of electrically controlled short wings which act like airplane ailerons to give the jet-boat slight lift or downward force.

With a stock 525 HP GMC aluminum block, Greber can throttle his jet-boat up to 100mph in seconds.

"Once you giv'er, you're flying and you can feel quite a bit of G-force on a corner," said Greber who comes from Fort St. John.

“In the turns, it can go from 90 to 0 in seconds,” Greber said, “it bothers the heck out of me when it happened yesterday, then you're at the mercy of the river.”

At speed there are a lot of maintenance of gearbox, pumps, mounts and engine blocks or turbines.

"What happens to the boat is fairly violent so the most reliable part is the turbine," Humphrey said.

Though there are only a driver and navigator on board, Greber pointed out that he couldn't race without a dedicated support crew which launches and retrieves, repairs, and takes care of everything else that goes on behind the scenes.

“There was a lot of preparation and lot of luck at the end of day and it was on our side today,” said Humphrey. 

With cresting river conditions and debris from the storms during the last week, the course changes hourly according to Humphrey.

With only 13 boats dropping out in a field of 49, it was a marathon effort of 500 miles from Fort Assiniboine to Whitecourt. Nobody was injured so it was a good race.

In the overall standings, Canadians Gord Humphrey at 4:15:53, Dale Whiteside at 4:21:05, and Darren Weaver 4:43:25 won the competition hands down.

Humphrey won in the Unlimited class, Darren Weaver won in the A class, Colby Davis won in the B class, and Tim Greber won in the CX class.

“It's exhilarating and being able to race with friends, it's definitely worth it,” said Greber.

With competitors from all over North America and New Zealand, where Lord William Hamilton invented the water-jet for a river-boat, a sense of camaraderie develops during the race season.

“It was a good event, despite all the issues with weather and high water levels,” said Richard Grant, Whitecourt River-boat Club president and co-coordinator of the event.

“The whole race is volunteer run with donated time, service and sponsorship,” said Grant.

There were less in the crowds watching but still 1,500 were estimated to be watching from river bluffs and campsites along the route, but all had a good time.

“It's one of those things in life if you ever get the chance to ride in those boats, the acceleration is second to none,” said Humphrey. 

Next year's international championship race will be in Idaho.