Again I found myself in the land of the long white cloud, this time
for nearly 4 weeks, two of which were devoted to work! And the rest,
JET BOATING of course! The plan was to join the Canterbury Branch of
the NZJBA on their West Coast Adventure trip and then spend the following
week putting around Christchurch and the famous ‘Waimak’ river. 5 Days
of rugged west coast jet boating was planned (grade 2 to3 water) with
the promise of much skinny water for new and old boaters alike!
There was a variety of boats present including:Alloy Rivercraft/P76,
Glass Impala/P76, Alloy Rivercraft/Buick V6, Alloy 141 Hamilton/4.1
Ford, Glass 17ft Impala/ Ford 302, Alloy Alexcraft/Holden Ecotec V6,
Alloy 151 Hamilton/350 Chev, Alloy 152 Hamilton/P76, Glass 17ft Impala/Ford
351, Glass J31 Hamilton/4.2 Chrysler Charger, Alloy 13ft/Nissan 2.0,
Steel 15ft (30 years old!!)/302 Ford, Alloy 152 Hamilton/350 Chev, Alloy
151 Hamilton/Rover 3.5, Alloy BEL/327 Chev, Alloy 141 Hamilton/350 Chev.
Above, my ride for the five days "Quattro" 17ft Impala, high and dry,
again!!!
Day 1
The afternoon was spent preparing ourselves and the boat for the days
ahead, we set off to cross the south island from east to west, Christchurch
to Greymouth via Arthur’s pass. After cooking the brakes through the
pass (we had to engage ‘park’ as we simply could not stop completely
with both feet on the brakes and the handbrake!!) and allowing them
to cool we finally made it to the rugged west coast. Weather conditions
can be challenging at the best of times (it is either raining or about
too!) and we were pleased to see good weather for the following day
approaching.
Day 2
The weather was perfect (Kiwi definition: ‘some’ blue sky and about
14 degrees) and we boated around the lake, very spectacular, as we were
surrounded by some very steep country. All boats were deemed reliable
and running and we were ready for the days and many rivers ahead.
Day 3
The Buller River
was our first challenge, 56 km’s from the sea to the mountains. Great
boating with countless bends, gorges and plenty of skinny water. I drove
an ‘Alexcraft’ 15ft with a commodore ecotec V6 (scott jet) half way
up and all the way back (the first of many turns at the wheel on a wide
variety of boats! Great stuff) without hitting anything too! This was
a great day with good weather, no wind, no mishaps, and best of all
no breakdowns. We all blasted back to the ramp, during which a RNZAF
Skyhawk A4 buzzed us at about 200 feet!, The loud noise initially had
everyone panicking that their boats were about to self destruct!!
Day 4
It rained; it
rained and then rained again. No boating was organized so we headed
up to Hokitika and the aquarium. Later that day Ted from ‘Rivercraft
Marine’ launched his latest boat (Hot Doris), 16ft all alloy with a
Porto Fino stern, a great looking boat. Ted had ‘thrown’ in his trusty
4.4 Leyland "seven cylinder" (4.5 liters including engine wear!) into
the new boat to test it out. After some minor engine tuning he was off
up the river. After we all had a drive, it was unanimous, this was a
great handling boat!
Day 5
The skies cleared
and we headed off to boat up the Ahaura, 70 mins up the river once again
through tight gorges and some light braided bends. This river was very
challenging as large rocks lurked in the deeper water and mere inches
of water were just about everywhere else. One boat launched itself 6ft
into the air after hitting a rock and promptly landed on another! Another
boat also hit hard and most people got by with a light touch here and
there. 70 minutes of hard concentrating up stream is really exhausting!
We had lunch at the base of earthquake rapid, I crewed for one of the
more experienced (read mad) boaters and took off up the earthquake rapid,
very challenging and a relief to get to the top and a spectacular narrow
gorge which we boated to the other end!
Another 60 minutes downstream (and this river really drops away quite
dramatically) and we headed up the Upper Grey River for 60 minutes of
shallow shingle boating. On the return one boat got a mouthful of shingle
and the cooling water intake in the jet was blocked. The unit was stripped
on the riverbank and we were off again, this time in teaming rain back
to the ramp. This made it hard to read the river, however we all made
it back, even if we did come back via different streams and looking
like drowned rats!
Day 6
Taramakau River
was the last day and we headed off upstream towards Arthur’s Pass. This
river was very shallow and challenging for most. No one boated the 1.5
hours up river with out multiple touches on New Zealand terrafirma!
Many boats had to wag their tails up some of the small chutes to prevent
being stranded.
The return trip was very quick (1 hour) as we flew down the river with
even more scouring of the river bottom as everyone was keen to seek
out new challenges. Our lead boater (Ted) did not help the situation
too much as he lead the more inexperienced down some very shallow and
narrow chutes with a huge grin on his face, as he explored the limitations
of his new boat! I can confirm it does not plane over wet rocks.
All had a great time and I can thoroughly recommend this trip to all
levels of boater.
Christchurch:
The Waimak river in Christchurch is almost, if not the quintessential
jet boat river, pure jet boat heaven. Wide, heavily braided, swift flowing
and full of gravel to slide over and pump!
Ted Sagar from Rivercraft Marine was very generous and allowed me to
pilot his brand new racing boat "Hot Doris" for an extended run up the
Waimak. This was both challenging and nerve racking as I did not want
to lose Aussie face and run aground, nor did I want to damage Teds new
girl. Good news is we did not get stuck and boated for a good 40minutes
upstream and then returned. Braids are just great, one minute you are
in a wide deep channel (read 300mm by NZ standards) the next you are
flat on the throttle flying up a chute only a meter wide and just inches
deep! Fortunately an ingenious feature of Teds boats is a recessed hull
in the bottom skin, in which is laminated a Teflon plate for the length
of the planning area. This allows you to touch bottom where required
and hopefully not lose too much speed or get stuck, well it must work
because it kept us from pushing on many occasions.
Paul Smith the
NZJBA editor took me for a run in his restricted class Bravado 17ft,
(26 degree deadrise, even more than my J73!) 350hp Chev, American turbine
jet. This boat planed at 4000rpm and was set up to cruise during racing
at 5000rpm with a few hundred more revs up his sleeve. This was exciting
to say the least, as we flew up the narrow Waimak Gorge at a genuine
65mph in only inches of water!
What would you do if the engine cut out I asked? Jump/prey or both
was the response, that is if you have time for either!
Paul was also to test a new Wasp Explorer jet boat (pictures above),
with only one hour on the clock for the NZJBA magazine, so it was off
to the Waimak River again. This boat was fitted with a brand new computer
controlled (fully programmable by the owner) Holden V6 with supercharger,
the boost had been played with and was producing 270bhp. All this in
a light alloy 4.7 meter Wasp Explorer, provided for some exciting boating.
I also had a chance to visit ‘Hamilton Marine’ and the photos below
are of a very early timber Hamilton Jet.
Over the two weeks we covered some incredible country on a wide
variety of rivers in some great boats, but I had to leave Christchurch
at some stage, and head for work! BUT not before I had motored down
to Queenstown, home of the Shotover river and many interesting tour
boat operators.
Queenstown:
If you do get down there, I would recommend you go for a ride with
Kawarau Jet on the Shotover river. These guys were very accommodating
and showed me around their new pride and joy, a 750HP twin 350 chev/212
jet monster!
This boat had a huge beam and I was told could handle shallow water
in it’s stride.
Fuel consumption (leaded 98 75% Avgas 25%) is some 2-3litres per minute
at a cruise rpm of 3500-4000. These engines do work hard, however 1000hours
between rebuilds is not uncommon. I was taken for a 1.5hour ride up
the Kawarau and Shotover rivers, these guys have one slick operation
and is well worth checking out.
I also wandered
up to the Shotover Jet workshop home of the famous red jet boats. These
boats are powered by a single LPG 502ci Chev (pictured left) and purpose
built for the Canyon they run in.
Whilst I had a chat to the mechanics I did not go for a run, however
having done this trip before, I can tell you it is one exciting boat
ride.
After watching my business partner jump of a perfectly good 340ft bridge
with a rubber band tied around his leg we decided it was time to head
north, leave jet boat heaven and begin work.
I do however have a video of my West Coast, Christchurch and Queenstown
jet boat adventure and would be glad to show you.
Am I going back again? You bet! In fact the Kiwis have put out a challenge
to us over in Australia. John Bradhurst and myself will be heading over
there to compete in the NZJBA National Rally held on the Waimak river
in October. Is John worried? Yep.
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