North Island Champs 2012 At Rotorua
The two day event at Lake Rotoma in Rotorua last weekend saw a good turnout of all classes of watercraft to compete in the event combo of Round 2, Round 3 and the North Island Champs. The two hosting clubs, Eastern Bays and Wellington, combined the two rounds to save on expenses, and most agreed the result was a great success. The weather for the Saturday was like a gift from the sun gods and racing was hard and fast. Check out the pics in our "photos" page. Congrats to the winners of all classes.
Fishing Vid For Newbies
** Please view Ski M.D notes below for additional safety items.
This awesome little video has some good content but we are adding caution to a few items from personal experience;
Never carry flares on a jetski, I have seen them go off bouncing in storage to the loss of a nice 1999 Seadoo GTX. We suggest a rescue streamer of course available at Ski M.D.
Seadoo craft have closed water cooling systems and therefore no salt water in the engine BUT the exhaust manifold, waterbox and intercoolers on supercharged models all use salt water to cool so you better flush and use Mac's or pay the price of neglect.
Carry an anchor but wrap it up tight and secure it to something or it will smash your storage to bits while in transit.
Fuel economy of the chosen craft is questionable compared to the oppositions offerings (Yamaha FXHO and Kawasaki LX with superior storage and fuel consumption) and all the electric brakes bits and bobs may leave you, as he states, digging out that anchor! Choose a craft, new or used with care and gather all the info you can before spending your money!
The one big one and in the case of being rescued once all that emergency kit has done its job is a "Emergency hose pincher" or a "Main waterline shut off tap" as the situation will go from bad to worse if your craft is towed in due to a failure at sea only to also find you have filled your engine with water while towing it back. Thats a double :-(
Watch our website for more PWC bits and pieces as we dig them up for your information.
Keep an eye on these little videos as the fishing side of jetski usage is sure exciting and gaining popularity in monumental leaps and bounds. Awesome in my books.
Ski MD Annual Review Of 2011
Firstly, Happy New Year from Cathie and Kevin at Ski MD. Our annual "report" is slightly delayed from it's normal New Year's Eve publication on the website due to our in-house debate on what to write. From our emersion in the PWC world, especially as an independent operator, we hear many interesting things from the various dealers/manufactures all over NZ who we deal with on a daily basis, and from around the world, with much of it unrepeatable. Last year one Canadian watercraft manufacturer sicked their legal team on to us with threats of some big time legal action after some bit of info on our web site was not what they wanted consumers to know! All things taken in to consideration, we will try and give a snap shot of the year that was and hope you find it a little interesting and not too watered down!
Last year's report started with "Well on the way out of the financial crisis of 2009..." and yet it has been a mixed bag for many in the marine industry in 2011 and some shops have teetered on the edge of keeping their operation going. One of the largest shops in Australia, Gold Coast Seadoo, closed it's doors last year after having been a massive operation in previous times, selling PWCs in numbers to match the entire national sales of NZ. As we face bleak weather to start the summer it may be another rocky road into 2012 for many, and again threatening to reduce the available experience in the industry. Bad news was total overall sales of new PWC in NZ was down on last year, a reflection on the economy and us all exersizing some restraint on the old hire purchase I guess.
The top three PWC brands had mixed success in new PWC sales this year;
Kawasaki enjoyed having the world’s first 300 HP production jetski which sports an amazing rough water hull and has power to burn. This new model performed well in short course in enduro racing this year. Kawasaki also saw the end of production of the SXR pole ski, which is where it all started. As the ever tightening grip of the green brigade has eliminated the two stroke engine as we know it with the restriction of emissions laws.
Best thing about Kawaski: 300 hp Worst thing: Not enough dealers.
Yamaha, while suffering production issues due to Japan's earthquake and subsequent tsunami, sold bumper numbers of its craft in NZ and an end-of- year promo saw the stores emptied. Yamaha enjoy a strong team of advocates with Jetski Fishings Andrew Hill riding their brand as well as the recent teaming up with Jeremy Burfoot, jetski world record holder and adventure rider.
Best thing about Yamaha: Reliability Worst thing: Those squirters when your reversing.
Sea doo carried on this year with fluctuating pricing, cashbacks and warranty offers for it's line up of craft. Auckland gained a fourth dealership which was a first rumoured to be a replacement for one due to close but they all went into Christmas with doors wide open. ( this dilutes the depth of experience within the official Auckland dealer network to a mere 3.25 years average per dealership! Tauranga have near twelve years and Christchuch well in to the second decade,18 years with the Sea doo brand and pumping product out the door in a "shaky" economy....awesome effort! )
Thus said, Sea doo appears to be the hardest value to track with the constant moving of new prices, Who knows a safe purchase or trade in price on this brand. Certainly a change from what the brand and its owners have enjoyed while it was under prior distribution arrangements in NZ.
Best thing about Sea Doo: The brakes Worst thing: Premature obsolescence of parts.
Cool stuff;
Jetski fishing competitions turned out to be the biggest PWC event this year with over 70 entries at the last "King of Jetski Fishing" event. This fishing medium continues strong growth despite economic times with new forums, videos, supportive fishing shops, magazine articles and we eagerly await manufacturers and especially fishing technology equipment to catch up.
TAG Racing got backed by Yamaha New Zealand and brought the blue brand back to the forefront of PWC racing with three riders competing at the nationals and investment fronted to ensure the brand returns to the pointy end of competition this season.
Retro-racing looks to be the "new" thing with lots of older ski's (pre-95) being dragged out and fixed up for some low-buck racing, showing the depth of skill of the rider rather than an endless pocket of racing funds. The South Island club saw the first line up of a "pre-95" class at the local club racing with a good mix of Blasters, Raiders and X2's.
2011 will always be remembered for the events in Canterbury, and the jetski industry had it's own event-filled year; The NZ Nationals were a couple of weeks away from being held in Christchurch when the February earthquake hit and the entire event was cancelled - and then moved to Rotorua where many of the South Islanders came to compete and made a great weekend of it. The Christchurch shops, including the new 'Jetworx' shop, rose up out of the silt and liquefaction to see bumper sales going into Christmas with extra stock (new and used) being shipped down from Auckland to fill the high demand for jetski's. Maybe some EQC cheques being redeemed for assets not made of concrete?
South Island based website NZ Jetskis, made a fantastic contribution in 2011 in raising the profile of the sport and recreational riding side the jetskiing, gaining publication of photos and write ups in the local press. Great effort Grant, the sport needs guys like you.
Early last year, Jeremy Burfoot, set a new world record for the furthest distance recorded in 24 hours on a PWC. This amazing triumph was done with the help of a small team of people including Makz Gear in Tauranga. Towards the end of the year, there has been an interesting change of manufacturer for Jeremy as he teams up with Yamaha to attempt his next 2 world records in just a matter of weeks. Yet another amazing New Zealander putting PWCs in high profile around the world.
For us a Ski M.D, we have had a good business year with growth each month, new Rad4Racing products sold around the world, and a continued move towards our goals. 2011 was a year of 'turbo's' and Yamaha's for us. Many know that we have come from many years of repeated modifications to the Seadoo models and going to another brand has been incredibly interesting... and valuable knowledge is being accrued constantly and this info is used to further improve service regime of all craft we service. Often we are reading the factory service schedules and throwing them out the door as New Zealand conditions and salt water usage require servicing well in extent of what the minimal check lists for log book servicing instruct and as we all know, Kiwi's like to keep there toys in service and with resale value well in extent of the factory warranty periods.
Going into 2012, we can't wait to see further developments in the new craft. We already know of some exciting news from Kawasaki and Yamaha which will see further growth of their sales late 2012. Closer to home, there are more changes in the air for Ski M.D; 2012 will mark a whole new chapter and lead us into another new and pioneering phase of PWC support in NZ.
As always, these comments above are our own personal opinions and expressions which do not, in any way, reflect those opinions of any manufacturing companies or their representatives. Thank you for reading.
Burfoot Teams Up With Yamaha For More World Records
Late last year Jeremy Burfoot announced his new partnership with Yamaha NZ and a date for an attempt at breaking two more Guinness records. Jeremy is known for his 28 day ride around NZ, his attempt to ride from London to Australia and last year his record ride to beat the highest distance ridden on a PWC in 24 hours.
On Tuesday 7th February 2012 at 7am on Lake Karapiro, Jeremy will attempt to break two more Guinness records - the highest distance travelled in 6 hours and the highest distance travelled in 10 hours. Yamaha have provided Jeremy with two new VXR - their new 1800cc naturally aspirated model in a 'VX'hull - gaining popularity for being extraordinarily quick without the fuel consumption or expenses of a super-charged craft.
Plenty of media attention is expected for the February record and spaces are still available for sponsorship/signage on the craft. The motivation behind Jeremy's madness is raising health awareness and support for the Melanoma Foundation in the battle to fight skin cancer.
Best Annual Surf Race Cancelled Due To Rena
Announcement from the Tauranga Jet Sport Association - January 13th;
"Due to the demise with the wreck of the Rena, the oil trajectories, debris in the water all along the coastline and the fact that Harrisons Cut is a designated container recovery point, we have been advised today by the Harbour Master, Maritime NZ and EBOP not to proceed with this event (Round 4 of the North Is. Summer Series). They said that for navigational safety issues and the changing nature of the incident there are no guarantees for the next 3-4 months that the coastline will be usable for our event. We trust everyone knows that this was inevitable and beyond our control. Gutting there will be no surf round this year, and no Harrisons Cut for the rest of summer."
Plans are underway to possibly have Round 4 at another venue/date. More information will be posted as it comes to hand.
Bridge To Bridge 2011
What an exciting weekend - the classic build up to this event envolved late nights in the workshop and at the river tuning - still without enough time after literally a year of preparation. This is what racing is all about - pushing the limits to the max. Final times are up and while the overall win was down by more than a minute and a half from Ski M.D's record last year, the overall winner on the day belongs to JFK's on their Seadoo RXP - congratulations and enjoy the title of owning the fastest jetski in NZ for this years event.
Special congratulations to all who took part and most of you achieved awesome placings and had a fantastic experience! Tony Greene ( Ski M.D. ) came 2nd overall on his 2008 RXP, Ryno Grimbeck who had a fantastic race on his custom painted RXP, Andrew Green ( Ski M.D. ) on his 2011 VXR in the N/A class cleaned up some of the Kawasaki 300X's!!, Phillip Green who came 2nd in the naturally aspirated class on his GP1200R. There were a few battles on the Waikato this year. Our elation for the day was seeing 89.9 MPH on the GPS from the Yamaha SHO Cruiser, upstream, minutes before our engine called time out with internal gremlins, which gives some encouragement to continue to strive for bigger and better things next year even though it was an expensive day at the river. See you all next year!!
Special thanks to Jason Wiggan from Taupo who as usual makes the trip to do the pre race checks on all the ski's and is a valuable member of the Ski M.D. team.
Keep Up With The New Stuff
If you haven't done so already, put a 'LIKE' on the Ski M.D Face Book page and get first look at the new gear, accessories and parts which arrive weekly. Also reminders about events and all general jetski stuff. https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Ski-MD-Personal-Watercraft/107312877672
264 Pages Of PWC Parts
The latest parts/accessories catalogue is available from the shop or viewing online - displaying 264 pages of the most popular jetski parts and accessories available world wide. This catalogue is essential viewing if you love to modify your jet ski or have an older ski that just needs a bit of a make-over. The first 67 pages are dedicated to late model 4 strokes (Kawa/Yam/SD) and all the latest or most common 'go faster' parts. The catalogue is available in store now for viewing or view in the comfort of your home http://www.hotproductsusa.com/Catalog.cfm
Send your selected part number/s for pricing to orders@skimd.co.nz Orders are arriving every few weeks so we can now offer fantastic service for PWC parts in NZ.
Kawasaki 300HP In Production - Check This Out!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi4ejb1Y2BQ&feature=related
The first of the Kawasaki 300X's are now on the water dominating the race scene and proving very successful as a jetski fishing platform. View the photos of the 300X in action at the recent racing around the North Island on our 'Photos' page.
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