Riding Shotgun: Touring around... Catching Ultra air!
By Charlie
O
(From the third weekend in June of 2003)
Myself
and two friends of mine like to jetski. We each have our own really top
notch ski's this year and have pushed the limit of where we take the boats
compared to most others in our area. We never see other skis out on the
coast of NE Lower peninsula of Michigan. Everyone rides inland lakes and look at
us like we are nuts when we tell them we ride on Lake Huron. Wimps. Never
anybody to race in the big lake. The forthcoming Mackinac trip should change
that.
My friend Brian, riding on his Kawasaki 1200 STX-R, me on my Ultra
150, the worlds fastest production personal watercraft, toured around together
80 miles round trip on Saturday and 55 more miles today. Saturday we launched at
Rockport, north of Alpena and went into Presque Isle harbor on Lake Huron and
checked out the Antique Wooden boat show. We also found some real isolated
sand dunes in Thompson's Harbor State Park on our way up to Rogers City. Between
all that and jumping wakes of 4 different freighters in otherwise relatively
calm waters it was a nice, beautiful, easy riding day.
Today, different
story, we had my buddy Tommy on his XP with us as well and when we first went
out from Alpena into the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary we knew it was
not going to be an easy touring type of day. Oh no, today was for much hardier
souls as the 8 to 12 foot rollers were for hi-flying hijincs of the first
order. The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary got it's title because of
all the shipwrecks in the bay. It is said to have the largest
concentration of shipwrecks anywhere in the globe. The winds in Thunder
Bay have been measured at over 100 miles an hour. Those winds combined
with the limestone shoals of Thunder Bay have given the place a unique history
in mariners lore. We were out to make a bit of our own personal history
that day. The wind was coming in from the southeast and the waves were just
rolling right.
In the water
In the air
On the throttle
Off the
throttle
Off your feet
Thump your seat...
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Having traveled 15 miles SE along the coast directly into the waves, we made it all the way to Negwegon State Park. 8 miles of undeveleped shoreline, no camping. Stopped, stretched and checked out the beach. Rested, we rode back to Alpena. Going with the wind into the backs of the waves on the ski creates perfect conditions for what are known as "peelers." Peelers are waves that crash over the top of the boat and peel your attire off and your eyes open. We were facing some of biggest, baddest, ugliest peelers of my life that day. Massive peelers, I was peeled, goggles gone, wetsuit rolled right up my arms and legs, at least 20 times. Upon getting back into Alpena, we refueled our skis and fed ourselves some lunch. Then we went back out in perfect jumping conditions. We stayed a little closer to Alpena on our second trip out but kept ourselves occupied with massive leaps into the air off of perfect jumping waves for the rest of the afternoon. I still managed to put about 55 miles on the ski today. I am getting tanned really dark! I ate gallons of water in the face and down the wetsuit today. I am anxious for this weekends ride to Mackinac.