Dash to Oceanside
PWI's First "Ride with PWI and Get Free Stuff" Promo Event
Text by Kevin Shaw
Photography by Mark Gerner and Russel Libby

In the first of hopefully many more "flash mob"-style events, Personal Watercraft Illustrated hosted its first "Ride with PWI and Get Free Stuff" ride day last October 10th.

The general ideal was much like the same sort of thing radio stations do, by inviting readers and savvy PWC enthusiasts to join myself or any staffers from America's leading watercraft publication at a specified location. There, the first ten persons to approach and greet us would be allowed to pick from several "grab bags" of top quality stuff, including t-shirts, riding gear, board shorts, sunscreen, boat wash, and much more.

Choosing to join up with the crew from PWCOffshore.com, we opted to turn their weekly Dana Point-to-Oceanside-and-back training day into our first "Free Stuff" ride. With only a single day's notice, I announced the intended ride day and meeting time for Saturday the 11th at 8am. Arriving only a few minutes before the deadline, I pulled into the Dana Point, California, launch with our project Sea-Doo Barracuda in tow.

(Above: Dolling out various goodies to those intrepid rides who dared to waste a Saturday with PWI)

Awaiting my arrival was Mark Gerner and Mike Arnold. Gerner, who won last year's Mark Hahn Memorial and took second place in July's Long Beach-to-Catalina-and-Back (LB2CAT) race, has been prepping for the November 1st Dana Point-to-Oceanside-and-Back (DP2O) race along with the rest of the PWCOffshore.com riding team and had promised that today's ride would be ran at wide open throttle.

I hadn't gotten the chance to meet Arnold previously, whose first PWC race was in the newly formed Military class at this year's LB2CAT, so this morning was a treat. The big Marine is as intimating as standing in front of an idling locomotive, but his smile and knuckle-crushing handshake quickly melted any ice. Within minutes, Russel Libby and his gold-and-white F12X Honda pulled up alongside.

(Above: Mike Arnold and Russel Libby before the day's ride from Dana Point to Oceanside and back)

Following Libby in was a short parade of So Cal Watercraft Club members, parking in row. With nearly a dozen enthusiasts present, I happily dolled out sweatshirts, swim trunks, and other brand-name goodies. Snatching up their free bounty, the crowd went back to change into their wetsuits, boots, gloves, and helmets. Dropping Barracuda into the water, the garish purple-and-silver RXT-X drew quite a few boaters' stares. Idling out to the breakwater, Arnold and Gerner clamped their throttles and vanished in a fog of sea spray.

Not wanting to hold up the two, I gave chase but was hopelessly outmatched. It wasn't that Arnold or Gerner's runabouts were faster than Barracuda, but that they simply were oblivious to the rollers and chop that was pounding me to a pulp. I was being out-ridden.

(Above: Finally, a PWI project ski that holds together!)

Twice the two held up their full-throttle exodus across the Pacific to wait for this lowly magazine editor to catch up - each time jumping back up to speed the moment I neared, allowing me zero reprieve.

Finally, flagging down Gerner, I screamed over our open exhausts asking, "What about the others?"

"They're going slow for a couple other guys," he retorted. "We're the only ones taking any punishment today."

Sighing regretfully that my ploy to get Arnold and Gerner to take a break failed, I jumped back on the throttle and sped south. With the familiar markers of Oceanside harbor coming into view, I finally caught up to the two before they throttled up again and turned around to head back up. Suddenly, with a cloud of blue smoke and an audible thump, Gerner's Ultra 250X was dead in the water.

Pulling the seat, Gerner peered inside, obviously discouraged with what he saw. Knowing that a trip back to Dana Point was out of the question, we planned to tow Mark and his wounded Jet Ski into the harbor, leave him at the dock and race back north where Mike Arnold would load up his truck and drive down to pick him up.

(Above: With no time to waste, Arnold loads up his Sea-Doo and drives back south to pick up a stranded Mark Gerner)

With the plan in motion and Barracuda's depleted fuel tank refilled, Mike and I sped back up the coastline, leaving the other guys in wonder as they waited just outside of Oceanside's breakwater's gate.

This time around, things will be different, I swore. Refusing to be outgunned, I gave Mike everything I had, letting ‘Cuda have it all. Streaking across the ocean, I felt like a piece of film footage I remember seeing of a monkey riding a hyperactive Labrador Retriever like a jokey, the saddled monkey bobbing and weaving drunkenly.

With the harbor quickly coming into view, I looked over at the big Marine and saw that he was nowhere near as worn out as I was. Releasing that he, too, was intent on not letting this lowly magazine editor get the goods on him, he gave it all his GTX had.

(Above: With little in the way of rough water, the RXT iS 255 was a little overkill)

With fuel alarm beeping and limp, Jello-like arms, I crossed the No Wake Zone buoys first, with Mike close behind. With laughs sounding more like wheezing, I gladly idled and tied up to the dock. Wasting little time, Mike backed the truck into the launch, loaded up his Sea-Doo, thanked me for a "fun time" and sped off to pick up Mark nearly an hour down the road.

By the time I had pulled Barracuda out of the water and started washing her down, the rest of the guys had caught up. With smiles on their faces, I could tell that they didn't beat themselves to a pulp as badly as I had. Apparently, they knew what a "fun ride" was meant to be more than I. Next time, I'll try it their way.