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20 days of hard core jet boating!

By Matthew Fallow

Again by some miraculous circumstance of events, I found my self in Christchurch on business 1 week prior to the Canterbury National Rally with time to spare for the odd bit of jet boating. I was not long of the plane when Owen Cassidy (Impala) took me for run up the Waimak and we were joined by Graeme Begg in his 151. A great time was had playing around the pylons, little did I know a week later I would be boating this in the National Rally, I should have paid more attention.

Chris Roberts having recently been over the ditch to OZ and taken a ride in my jet boat, was keen to get me out for spin on his local rivers. Having only just meet up with John Bradhurst, the editor of the NSW JBA Newsletter (see separate article in the magazine on how to receive our 12 issue per annum newsletter), who came over to join me and experience some real NZ rivers, it was time for some fun. Chris has a very interesting boat and I was very keen to see how it performed. His 4.6m Rivercraft, built by Ted Sagar of CH CH is powered by a duel fuel LPG 350 Chev driving a 212. Chris took us up through the braided Waimak and very quickly navigated towards the skinny water. Let me assure you, this LPG powered boat has no lack of performance.

Eventually we found ourselves up the skinny end of a non boatable stream and it was here we learned about the prodigious thrust the 212 has in reverse, we stopped in our own length with the nose of the boat just nudging the shingle bar! Nice boating Chris but we really did not feel like a shower! Unfortunately a couple of days later whilst we were cruising at only 2900rpm the Chev dropped a valve with catastrophic results. All but the new starter motor was destroyed in just a few short seconds. Upon returning home Chris told his wife that the boat ‘broke down’, she asked was the new starter OK, he answered calmly “yes the new starter is fine” and we pushed the boat into the garage.

We figured Chris needed to get back on the bike quickly and we headed of to boat the Waimak Gorge with Ted Sager (Rivercraft - Hot Doris) and Ian Bradford (Alexcraft –V6). I had my first and only run on the Waimak prior to the National Rally with Ted some 3 months ago and he taught me the definition of a “boatable stream”. I am sure that during the National Rally ‘Out and about’ event, this meant we ventured more ‘right’ than anyone else (except Ted that is)! As we passed where Broken River joins the Waimak Ted gave it a cursory glance and noticed a little water in it. On the way back with one boat positioned at the entrance to the Broken River for safety Ted headed up the Broken. This was John’s first experience in true skinny white water and when they returned some 15 minutes later he proclaimed “Ted should open a discount store and call it Crazy Ted’s” There is some great video footage of this little excursion and any stress Chris may have had re his blown engine soon faded into the background. This was a great day out on the water.

National Rally: Ian Bradford had very generously loaned us his Alexcraft to compete in the National Rally, an event we were feeling a little nervous about having never boated in braided streams before. After getting used to the Alexcrafts electrically operated bucket (this caused some humorous/anxious moments) we were soon into the groove and thanks to John’s prowess at eating large sausages (why is this so you might ask) we even managed a second in Monica’s Revenge and finished well in the out and about, despite my intense training by observation on what is boatable. The National Rally was a great day and clearly well organised.

Next we headed down to the Haast area via the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers on our way to ‘River Safari’ where we were welcomed guests (may be they did not know we were Aussies!).

River Safari: (by John Bradhurst) We were privileged enough to take a ride with Neil Ross and Roger Crow from River Safaris. Based at Haast on the spectacular west coast of the South Island, River Safaris operates three immaculately presented high performance Jet Boats on the Haast and Waiatoto Rivers.

River Safaris pride themselves on the quality of their service and equipment. Attention to engineering detail was obvious throughout with plenty of clever ideas for the budding boat owner and an impressively clean engine. An example of their preparation is the fact that when a brand new 350 Chevrolet HO engine is purchased from the USA, it is completely stripped down and blue printed/reassembled to their exact specifications before it is put to work. The newest addition to the fleet is an enclosed 34 passenger twin 350 Chev HO / 212 Jet unit vessel.

Our trip was the Waiatoto River, a short drive from Haast. There was slight drizzle falling, but as it proved, we were protected from the elements by the windscreen, roof and jackets provided. Touring from the river entrance upstream, the trip headed toward the mountains along fairly fast flowing stretches of river, stopping along the way to explain local history and facts of the World Heritage Area. We continued further, avoiding the various obstacles along the way, as only Jet Boats can do.

At the upper reaches of the river, the scene turned exciting, A rock garden and the cascades in between proved a challenge that saw us twisting and turning sharply, skimming past rock faces and up ledges of water. Now this is Jet Boating!

At the head of the river, we stretched our legs, before the return journey. Roger, our driver, calmly informed us that the trip upstream had been the gentle trip, and to hang on for the ride home. What did he say?? He was right. The loud pedal was to the floor as he negotiated the rock garden, weaving back and forth, over the 1 metre ledge and thrilling the crew. Spinouts and hard cornering are all part of the return trip, leaving some with eyes wide and mouths open.

Nearing the end of our ride, we visit the entrance of the Waiatoto at the beach, then up a narrow creek, squeezing through trees and obstacles as the creek closes in.

Needless to say, we had a great time on our River Safari, and the hospitality of both Neil and Roger was both genuine and refreshing. They can be contacted on www.riversafaris.co.nz

After having driven on every banned road listed in our hire car contract we headed for the Dart River. The country side heading upstream is truly spectacular and should be on every jet boaters must do list. Whilst the boating was not that challenging, the side streams, waterfalls and snow lined mountains provided for an unforgettable trip.

On the way back to CH CH we stopped of at Mt Cook and took the time to visit the Tasman Glacier and dropped in at Irishman’s Creek. The fact that there is no longer a Hamilton presence here is clearly obvious with the only real reminder being Bill’s homemade Hydro Power Unit and a few workshop tools lying around. Sadly it appears history is fading quickly at Irishman’s Creek.

The Boys Weekend: 3 days of Adventure boating were promised and we headed off towards the Hamner district, with two crew to each of three boats and enough spares to sink a battle ship.. Teds ‘Hot Doris’, Graeme Beggs 151 and David Street in his Hamilton/Nissan 4.1 were launched into the Waiau near Dans Fan. It was not long before we had the first of a string of breakdowns, Graeme in the 151 broke an inlet rocker, probably due to the fact his boat was overloaded with chocolate crackles. Two boats were sent downstream to the local tourist jet boat operator to get a rocker. With 2 hours to spare and Graeme’s well stocked boat floundering, there was nothing to do but raid his bags and devour all the chocolate crackles (thanks Meg)! Soon we heard one boat returning (only one!), David had broken down during the rocker retrieval exercise and was beached with a broken H-bar and bent jet unit shaft.

We fitted the new rocker and headed down to attend David’s boat, soon it was decided to repair the H-bar and a party headed of down river to town, again. Well the repaired H-bar did not hold and David had to be towed through the rapids for some 20 minutes downstream. Some cunning navigation by Graeme in the tow boat soon had us all back on the trailers. David headed back to Ashburton with the message ‘we need more boats’ and returned with Struans little Grenada V6. GPS told us we had boated 22kms up stream but given all the salvage work had clocked up over 160kms! A big day out.

Day 2 saw us again launching into the Waiou for our trip into the Waiou Gorge. We were told by locals that a new foot bridge had been strung up and would block our path. Struan took the lead in his little green boat powering up the gorge and under the bridge with a foot to spare. We all followed and were soon well into the Gorge which had plenty of water in it. At the turn around point Ted kept motoring and we climbed some very bony falls and were soon out of sight from our lunch spot. This was a very exciting excursion and proved that a 2 stage can handle turbulent aerated water if the need arise, as is often does when boating with Ted!

We were soon back on the trailers and heading for the upper reaches of the Maruia. As we were launching at the road bridge John was heard saying “you can not launch here, there’s no water”, Ted responded with a sly grin and we were off. This was the most enjoyable day for all, as some very exciting skinny water boating was had as we headed up stream towards Springs Junction. There was literally nowhere to stop and small ‘hits’ and ‘rubs’ were almost a constant barrage. Even a couple of local cockies looked on in amazement as we made our way up stream until we had sucked all but the last drop of water into out jet units from the Maruia.

The next day Struans little green boat soon gasped its last breath with a blown head gasket and water in the oil, it was retired with the statement “well that’s it, you guys have used up all the boats in Ashburton”

Sunday saw us launching on the Matakitaki above the earthquake slip, we had a short but great run on this river which at the time had quite a fall on it. Eventually we came across a steep almost dry shingle bar which all but Ted decided was not boatable. With “I can suck the water from between the bigger rocks as I go” Teds was up and over. Yes he did make it back but it sounded like the drums from the 1812 overture. Little ‘rubs’ I believe Ted calls them.

Our last run was up the Iangahua and down to the Buller. A short run was had on the Iangahua before we ran out of water and it was decided to head down stream to the Buller. At that moment I had visions of what had happened on the Buller to the ‘White Water Adventure” guys and it’s high toll on boats. The Buller was quit full with large pressure waves as we made our way upstream to the Lyell area. With only two boats remaining it was decided to take things easy as we entered the Lyell rapid. Ted was first through and we followed in Graeme’s 151 with the three stage losing it’s bite with the water a couple of times. All through safely we watched as Ted entered the next rapid and all but disappeared as a large hole opened up in front of him. We watched as Ted stood stationary for at least 40 seconds on the lower half of the tongue and perilously close too the large hole just feet behind them. At this time Ted was pulling 4300rpm and remembers thinking “I wish I had sharpened those impellors before I came away”. At that moment they started too slip backwards and we thought all was lost, when George flung himself over the windscreen and Hot Doris then slowly climbed up the tongue to relative safety. We were all much relieved spectators and can certainly see why this river has claimed so many boats. Given we did not have the back up required to venture further it was time to head for home. The trip back to the trailer was fast and furious as I am sure everyone’s adrenalin was running full tilt! A few beers were had back at the trailers too reflect on what had been a very exciting 3 days of boating.

Jet boating is certainly a very demanding sport and listed below are just a few of the “consumables” we witnessed during our 20 days of hard core jet boating.

1 x Chev 350 complete (less starter motor)

1 x Dizzy 1 x Ford Grenada heads

1 x H- bar 1 x 770 shaft

1 x Chev rocker 50 litres LPG 900 litres fuel

1 x hire car (it was running when returned!)

The following people were very generous during our stay in NZ and we thank them for looking after a couple of daggy Aussies, Owen and Janice Cassidy, Ian Bradford, Graeme and Meg Begg, Ted and Jeanette Sagar and all those other Kiwis we had the pleasure of meeting.

Thankyou for a great time and be sure to visit us when you are in Australia. Matthew Fallow and John Bradhurst. NSW Jet Boat Association Inc.

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