Closet Extremist

For lack of motivation...

my kingdom was lost...or something. What's been going on? A lot of the same. Went out and spent Saturday on the lake with Mom, Dad, Sister, and Brother in Law. Just chillin' mostly. Had some fun on the "personal watercraft" though. Shortly after I arrived, the Step-Neice demanded that I go out and ride their Waverunners with her. We went up the lake apiece, and jumped a few wakes, but upon our return to the cove where the houseboats were anchored, it was time to do some doughnuts. Those machines are so "slick-hulled" that all you have to do is get them up on aplane, and then just jerk the hadlebars all the way to one side, and the machine will just break loose, and do a sliding 180 on top of the water. If you're not careful, it will roll over on you, which I did a couple of times (If I get copies of the pictures from my sister, I'll post'em.). At any rate, BIG FUN.

Later in the day, my sister and the iece decided that they would go for a ride up the lake. I eased on over to Mom and Dad's boat, and asked if I could take out the Sea-Doo, and got permission. Now this machine is something else entirely. It's quite a bit faster than the other ones (20mph or so), is a three-passenger design, and about ten years newer. This thing can easily pull me on water skis. Nice machine. 'Chelle and Nicole got a sizeable head-start on me, but I gained that back in no time.

Another fun thing about the Sea-Doo is its hull design. It's got a more pronounced "Vee" to it, so it's more stable in the water, but it has some ridges in the front that throw water out to the sides. This is excellent for splashing people who are riding other watercraft that do not have this effect. I sidled up between the other two, and just rode there for a few minutes before temptation got the better of me. I pulled out in front of my Sister, whipped the machine toward her, then away, and then laughed like a loon when I saw the wall of water cover her and her Waverunner. That was fun. Time to get Nicole!

Unfortunately she'd witnessed the aforementioned drenching and decided that she didn't want any, so she just turned away from my approach in gradually decending circles before I gave it up as a bad job. Not to be deterred, I hung back, waiting for an opportunity. As we headed back to the cove, ouor formation was roughly the form of a \. Nicole was in the lead at the upper left. 'Chelle was in the middle, and I was pulling drogue at the lower right. Since the machine I was on is much faster than the other two, I decided to pounce. Before Nicole knew what had happenned, I had snuck up on her left, and managed to catch a nice little wake when I made my move. She was inundated with the water from the side of my "Ski", and I was once again giggling like a man without his Lithium.

when we got back into the cove, I decided that I was going to try and do a "180" with the big machine. Why Not? It was fun on the little ones, it should be just as fun on the big one. The first time I tried, I got up to about the same speed as I did on the smaller ones, and cut the thing to the left. All I got was a firaly spe3edy circle out of the deal. This won't DO. After a few more tiy's, I came upon the perfect combination: After applying about 3/4 power, get the machine up on plane. Once planed out, let it back to just above 1/2 throttle, turn about halfway to the right, then cut all the way to the left. The thing is so stable, that even as it is spinning out, I felt completely in control of it. I did about twenty "180'S" before I decided to call it quits.

I'd like to get that same sentation from another medium. Unfortunatley the only other place I've felt that "In Control, But not so much so" was on a motorcycle, and that's just before I wrecked it.

Dammit! I want another Scooter! IF not for anything wlse, than to remind me that I'm alive.

Posted by Johnny - Oh at July 12, 2005 12:17 AM | TrackBack