OUTLAW EAGLE MANUFACTURING

[Xerophobic]

Just arrived in Riggins. Weather is beautiful, not a cloud in the sky. As soon as we get checked in we'll head down to the pits and get some testing in. We'll keep you posted.

River is definitely lower than last year and should prove a bigger challenge with more rocks showing.

We're hearing 21 boats already which is great.

Good luck everyone and be safe

Cheers

[Xerophobic]

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

[MISSBHAVEN]

James- Thanks for the update. I was anxiously awaiting some news. It sounds like an action packed weekend, thankfully everyone is ok! I look forward to seeing the pictures and video, especially of Karey nailing that rock.

[Bald Man]

Thanks for the update James.
Sounds like that is one nasty stretch of river.
Glad nobody was hurt but sheity that boats were lost.
An very smart old guy once told me "very few races are won by charging into big rapids, but many are lost there".

[padgett114]

James who ended up winning the race and do you have all the standings. Things are very quite on Jesse's website.

[Rapidchaser]

Glad to here everyone is safe!
Baldy, Pagett114,
Could you guys use a bigger font when you post? All I see is things moving around on the left of my screen

[padgett114]

Just read tell you go blind.

[Bald Man]

[Dano]

[HIGH AND DRY]

Hahaha Xero you shouldn't have to worry to much about the wings on the boat. Last time i saw one was slightly bent anyway.

And if you saying the engine finally went i am not shocked.....from the wear it took in Peace it was about time. To bad though.

[Yellowhammer]

Hey Xero,

How did your hotrod perform? I have heard that you ran your new 19ft tunnel in Riggins. Were your times competitive with the #19 boat or the #7 boat? Just seeing if I need to buy a tunnel yet.....

Glad to hear everyone was safe. It seems finding info about this race has been pretty tough.......

[RPM]

Heh Merv why don't you make a cam change in your vortec engine and come up for the worlds , be nice to get a few more boats running in C haven't heard of too many yet . With a early race and a high water lookin year could be rough and tumble on a few legs ( nothing like the Idaho Cup , glad to hear everyone ok there is that SJ still missing ?) you never know what could happen if your boat is working good and goes the distance .

[HIGH AND DRY]

[Xerophobic]

Yes we ran the 140 lightweight 21 tunnel that ran last year on the Canadian circuit without paint. The engine is a bone stock ZZ4 which hasn't been opened up in 4 years. Its the same engine that won this race last year.
I'd be very curious to see what that hull would do with a US rules FX motor. I think the result would have been very different indeed. We certainly did not notice a huge difference in times even on runs we thought were cleaner than others. I'd have to see the sheets but I would guess our times were all within 10-15 seconds of each other.

Before I forget I'd like to also thank the Western Whitewater Association for providing the safety boats as they always do. Also the dive teams and EMS crew. They make it possible to run this race and be safe doing so. They did a great job and gave us all peace of mind to do what we do. Thanks guys you don't get nearly enough recognition.

I gotta sort through a big list of emails.

More to follow.

Cheers

p.s. we did NOT blow the ZZ4, its still running just fine altho we are wondering how down on power it is. Its spent a good portion of that 4 years of use at WOT

[gary weaver]

Spell check

#####
MINOBACHES MI NOB ACHES
MINOBACHES, japanese #####


Please, only 68, let me play for a couple more years.

Great to see all of you, you Canadians are a special bunch
and a great addition to the U.S. races.
Working on the worlds schedule, hope to make it.

The little red boat is going back to the beauty shop.his next week.

gw