I wanted to take a minute and thank all of my Facebook followers, friends & fans for all of the interest in the ski decision this year. The texts, emails and IM’s were a ton of fun and I figured this was a good opportunity to share everything with everyone.
Over the past few months I began working towards the decision of which ski I would start next season on. Being it is my 20th year, I wanted to make sure it was something that would allow me to put on a killer show. The other criteria was that Freestyle Factory (my shop) needed to sell it. That left both Bob and Kong on the table – 2 killer Freestyle Jet ski hulls.
After quite a bit of thought, I have known both Patrick Bogart of Xscream and Derrick Kemnitz Sr. of the Ski Clinic for some time and had an interest in supporting both of their companies. I unfortunately only had budget for 1 hull this winter. I decided that a my Xscream motor and handle pole would outfit a Bob quite nicely, and would allow me to support multiple mutiple friends at the same time. The build was on.
Don’t laugh I am actually practicing my tough guy face even though I am totally stoked about my new Bob Freestyle Ski.
Bob arrived all crated up safely with no runs, drops or errors. I picked the hull up and quickly dropped up in Antioch, IL for a quick build. The plan was to slap the ski together (from all of the parts of my gray ski – plus a few new parts) and get a late season ride. After all the water was unseasonably warm throughout Illinois. By unseasonably warm I mean that it was NOT frozen.
The speed build would ensue over the Christmas holiday with Greg Brock and Danny Rucci cranking away. The build was complete in time for the scheduled trip – no thanks to me… I initially dropped off the wrong prop, forgot the power valves, forgot my battery, & even tweaked Brock’s awsome gas tank strap design with my own…
So with the water a balmy 36 F and the air at 50, we found a shallow rocky location to throw the Bob in for its maiden voyage. My entire goal was really to get a feel for the hull and see if I would or would not want to use it for 2012 competition and shows.
The hull rode great – I am very pleased. I had hoped to be able to deliver some video, but that is coming soon. I tried 3 back flips. The first I did not give enough throttle and came up short. The second my feet came out – not a super flip more of a stooper flip, but I like the pic – haha. After a switch of the shoes I stayed in for the 3rd and final try. The ski died after the 3rd attempt – and I swam it in. I was very cold after that and completely done. Turns out the gas tank dislodged and flipped upside down. Brock’s initial dual strap system would have prevented this – DOUGH. To be honest the conditions were not ideal. Very cold, windy & shallow. Bob did great. Its going to be a blast next year and for years to come!
All in all I loved the ski and look forward to practicing on it this spring. It was well balanced. The nose did not ride up like some of the early short hulls. It felt very stable and extremely light. I would give it 5 stars!
This doesn’t mean that the Kong is off of my list. In fact the killer new design of the KDX just makes me WANT more freestyle jet skis. One or two of each if you will… Til next time ride safe and Get Twangled!
Comments are closed.