Saturday, September 27, 2008

PWCoffshore.com LB2CAT DVD's Available at IJSBA 2008 World Finals

PWCoffshore.com DVD's Will be Available at World Finals!

IJSBA quakeysense World Finals Vendor Alley
City of Lake Havasu, Arizona, Crazy Horse Campgrounds
October 4-12, 2008

Please visit: K38-River Rat Racing-PWCoffshore Booth

DVD's for the 2007 and 2008 Long Beach to Catalina and Back APBA Offshore National Championships will be available in the K38-PWCoffshore.com-River Rat Racing booth.

LB2CAT DVD for 2008:
Thank you for your interest! The PWCoffshore DVD has generated some of the finest PWC OFFSHORE racing footage seen to date. The Pacific Ocean sea- state, speed, combined with the intensity of the racers results in some truly awesome footage! The Long Beach to Catalina and Back Endurance Race is the event designed for your style of riding. If you have ever thought about competing, stop thinking and join us on the open waters and get on board~Thank you for your interest!

Please come by our booth and own your own copies today!

www.pwcoffshore.com

K38-River Rat Racing-PWCoffshore.com Booth at IJSBA World Finals

For Immediate Release:

IJSBA World Finals
K38 Water Safety - PWCoffshore.com - SX-4 Project

Come visit our K38 Associate Information booth!

Sign the WORLD FINALS GUEST BOOK! This is an annual project that will collect racing memories and create a historical base of events from you the participants!

As a public service to our boating community, we will have Boating Safety information available for free from the States of California and Arizona. Please stop by and pick up the literature.

You can preview the Memory Book from the 2007 Parade of Nations.

Kay Sykes, Chairperson for the World Finals 2nd Annual Parade of Nations will be the hostess in our K38 Associate Information Booth and will be promoting River Rat Racing programs and projects on behalf of our sport.
http://www.riverratracing.org/

We will be next to the Liquid Militia Clothing booth in Vendor Alley. Look for the River Rat Racing-K38 Banner. Stop by and check out the River Rat Racing SX-4 on display.

Mark Gerner from the PWCOffshore.com Race Team will be handing out information for those of you who are interested in Personal Watercraft Endurance and Offshore racing! Shawn Alladio is one of the members of this prestigious team and is sponsored by Kawasaki Motors Corporation, Liquid Militia Clothing, PWCoffshore.com, OTB Boots, K38 GEAR, Mustang Survival
www.PWCoffshore.com

K38 Water Safety, will have clothing available for purchase. Shawn Alladio is the IJSBA Water Safety Director for the World Finals and the K38 Water Patrol members will be working on behalf of our associate racers during the 2008 quakeysense World Finals.
www.K38rescue.com

We wish all our racers a safe and exciting event!

We look forward to seeing you in Havasu!
www.ijsba.com

Monday, September 22, 2008

WIDE OPEN WATER



WIDE OPEN WATER

Sunday September 21, 2008

My phone rings. Mark Gerner called to remind me 'bring a ten dollar bill, the ATM machine is broken'. My rig is ready, everything packed, went to Home Depot with my girls and bought grass seed and topsoil to finish setting off the back yard, and a bird bad earlier that morning. To shake off some time we stopped in at Barnes and Noble. I wanted to pick up a War book to read on recent events in Iraq. Shaniah picked out a book on Fairies, and we all got a hot drink and cake. I was anticipating the interview today, and hoping my PWCoffshore.com teammate would want to do a fast little Klip afterwards?

I arrive at the Queensway boat ramp in Long Beach. Mark and the film crew are finishing up. It's my turn to spin the reel a little. Mark runs off a bevy of quick questions and bingo, we are done. I ask Mark, 'you feel like going out for a 10 mile jaunt". He enthusiastically responds 'yeah I do'. My elation hits my face immediately. I get to launch and ride! Before I left, my daughter Kyla said 'Mom you should go for a ride'. With her vote of confidence I feel steeled for a good time on the water.

We get our gear ready independently, both on the launch, years of launches and anticipated rides, we move like a machine. Mark is a man with a mindset to match any Devil Dog on lead. I admire him for that quick warrior instinct and integrity that is bred, not assumed. I can look over at him, nod and we're 'good to go'. Simple as that.

It doesn't hurt to have a big brother watching your backside, all strings attached. His bride Christina is in spirit with us as we ping the start button. Mark says, 'I have about 25 miles of gas in the ski, you want to go to Catalina?'

I stare at him. Catalina! Hell yeah I want to go to Catalina, I respond 'sure let's go'. My interior is getting jumpy, I got an invite to ride Shawn style with our own little Recon on the Pacific. He asks me 'do you have GPS?'

"No, 2 radios and a cell phone".

He nods. Affirmed, we'll go.

Marks says, "I'll refuel in Catalina'. I start breathing to relax and steady myself for the run ahead. I love this. I am so happy at this moment, I didn't think Catalina would be part of this day. Riding with a person you trust makes these serendipitous opportunities grander. The world seems a very big place and I get to run with one of the big boys.

Mark holds his Kawasaki Ultra 250 to a 5mph pace till we hit the perimeter buoys. On our right is the Queen Mary, silent and cold, grieving in her berth. Ahead of us looms a dull gray horizon and the Pacific Blue, wide open outside Angels Gate. To the South is Long Beach with tall cold buildings. The water is slightly textured inside the harbor, boaters meander in all directions, crossing wakes.

He looks over at me and his helmet does the familiar 'dip', the ok sign is hailed and returned and off we go. His Ultra is sweet, it moves into the criss crossed water and loves it. My F-15 Kawasaki lands hard and loves it, because I'm in step with her dance.

My swim fins are clipped on my belt, OTB boots laced and dug into the Hydro Turf mats. My Force 6 lifejacket is ready to assume any chest impact with the helm station and my Aquapac holds my cell phone on my left bicep. I'm wearing a one Mil wetsuit with no top. The LB2CAT race I got overheated and sick, this time I want to run WOT (wide open throttle) and not think twice about body function.

We move in unison, Mark hits ahead then slows down so my pace and horsepower can correct at the speed allowed. I am watching my LCD display, 48-58 MPH, so the average must be about 51. My reading isn't accurate but I know my throttle is clamped, this is all she has to give me.

The ocean changes pitch on occasion but remains relatively calm, not glassy, not perfect, but an exceptional day of speed running across a 27 mile opening between shorelines. There are some hard peaks on occasion and harder landings. I keep my body centered to the helm and trim held/chest/pelvis, making sure my shoulders and hand grip do not hesitate or load too hard. Essentially I let this little F-15 Pony take the lead, handing her the reigns. She loves to pick up and go and I don't want to hold her back.

I feel like I'm riding in slow motion as Mark's red hot Ultra charges ahead, it encourages me to see the speed. We're heading dead straight to Avalon, the beautiful port, as we get closer the island outline appears.

The Mega Pod of dolphins looms on our south side, I slow down and alter course to say hello to the muse of all sailors around the world. Setting in at a 9 mph slow speed, the change their direction and come investigate, 10 run ahead of my bow and 30 or 50 on both sides and behind. I hold one hand up and maintain throttle on the right, celebrating a glorious interlude.

One dolphin direct ahead of my bow quickly speeds up and jumps with the greatest expression of joy I have ever witnessed and hits a 10 foot arc out of the water with his small framed body, then catches up to pace alongside my port side hull. Thank you very much, my life is truly wonderful, and the Mega Pod made it even better. We beg off and the escort drifts back to the pod, onward to Catalina.

Lots of boats are heading to and from the island. It's a big wide open channel. My helmet is screaming, I should have closed the ear ports and I didn't, when I arrive in Catalina my ears are ringing and I'm either deaf or on a natural high. But I can hear the warning signal from Mark's Kawasaki that his gas is gone.

We pull into the mooring area and head alongside the break wall of the Casino. Mark pumps 3 gallons of fuel into my 16.4 gallon tank and fills up his steed at the gas dock. I pull out my cell phone and call David Pu'u. I had a near death experience within the past week and my friend is now keeping a close eye on me.

On Friday I had to call him when I had a planned date for an offshore ride with Brad out of Camp Pendleton. I was having dinner with Brad and excused myself to make the call to 'check in'. I asked David if I could be excused from calling back as 'dad' was embarrassing me. Pu'us tone was direct, 'thanks Shawn, glad you are ok". That was Friday, this is Sunday. I'm making that call again.

"You're where? Catalina Island" he says. After a few quick expressions of my immediate happiness, Pu'u seems satisfied at this point that I am being reasonable and I'm to call when I am back on the mainland. I later send him a pic from the day and he says 'I can be worse than....sometimes', and I'll leave it at that. Pu'u is the kind of person you want on your team. He's a Devil Dog without the weapons. His girlfriend Donna chimes in on the exalts of happiness and we're all connected, like it or not. The big blue is our playground. This is our universal enthusiasm.

Mark and I are back on the return track outside of the Casino. He says he wants me to try his race boat, he has some big ideas about kicking ass, and wants to give me a taste of what it's like to run with the pack. We get out again mid channel, switch jet skis and I'm off, I'm way off and running hard. The Ultra loves the conditions. She likes to lay her hull heavy into the slice and smooth coat her way on the coarse density of agitated surface water. I'm adjusting to the faster pace and finding the boat to be relatively smooth, with just a touch of chine talk, have to watch that a bit.

I pull back to Mark on my F-15 and he wants me to keep going, I do too, but my karma bank says trade back and respect his race boat. I have a belief about riding race boats, if it's not mine, stay off. I don't know its personality enough to know how the pump wants to load and how the RPM's hit, so I decline. Reluctantly I decline. It's like making great love with no orgasm.

Once again the Mega Pod intersects our path. I pull out my cell phone and shoot some quick snaps of the amazing display of aquatic expression these dolphins characterize. I'm smiling and giggling and taking my time, lost in the beauty and magic that is transpiring. I feel special, all this for me.

Mark and I exchange 'nods'. We say goodbye to the dolphins and the mainland horizon looms. This run is fast, we're back in what seems a few minutes as we pass the Catalina Express, trot through her wakes at WOT and then a large cruise ship, numerous boats and the cross hatch of wakes combining energy.

The Angels Gate is ours. The Queen Mary is right where she was and the languished buildings of Long Beach look on in somber disinterest. We stop our trot right at the 5MPH buoy perimeter. I look over at Gerner, his smile is precisely like my own. He motors over and our fists connect, finished.

We talk politics, family, my recent conquests or lack of, and both scoot into the dock and hot load our boats onto the trailers. The last thing we say is 'goodbye'. There is nothing else to add.

Except, I want to do it all over again.

Being a part of the PWCoffshore.com Racing Team is pretty much like this little adventure, it is just one boat launch away.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

pwcoffshore interview1


pwcoffshore interview1
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
PWCoffshore.com's Mark Gerner LB2CAT interivew

pwcoffshore helmet1


pwcoffshore helmet1
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
Mark Gerner going over Safety Check items for endurance racing, here he is speaking about the helmets we use in competition

Gerner Alladio1


Gerner Alladio1
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
One more run to Catalina! September 21st, Sunday, beautiful ocean, golen light and a fast clip on Kawasakis out of Long Beach.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Endurance training with MIDPAC Hawaii

Shaniah was in utero on her first offshore 'runs'.....water was a great compliment to what we love best. fast clips, rough water and GOOD TO GO!

PWCOFFSHORE


PWCOFFSHORE Logo
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
GET SOME!

http://www.PWCoffshore.com

LB2CAT 2008 278


LB2CAT 2008 278
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
Phram, Dubz and Britney on the podium with all the glitter.

LB2CAT 2008


LB2CAT 2008 220
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
PWCoffshore.com Race Team Leaders, Friebe and Carreon.

PWCoffshore Race Team


LB2CAT 2008 308
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
The leaders of the Pack!

A group of dedicated offshore and long distance PWC riders.

The records, the miles, the hours, the bruises, the punishement?
Yeah, for the love ot it.

Check out Http://www.pwcOffshore.com and find out more about this extreme motorized sport!

LB2CAT 2008


LB2CAT 2008 280
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
Pham takes home another trophy at the LB2CAT!

Mark Gerner racing at the Mark Hahn 300


Mark Gerner
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
The memorial race named after Mark Hahn at Lake Havasu, Arizona. One of America's greatest endurance races, brings the PWCoffshore team out in full force. Here Mark is getting hot in the turn....check out http://www.pwcoffshore.com for more information on PWC endurance racing!

PWCoffshore Team Rider: Robert Carreon


Carreon
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
CARRY ON!

That's exactly what Dubz is up to, Dubz the Dozer, short for bulldozer, mashing his way across the Pacific Blue. Check his race profile out on http://www.PWCoffshore.com

GET SOME!

Carreon DUBZ: PWCoffshore.com Team Rider


Carreon
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
CARRY ON! Robert Carreon is flying, his usual style actually. Dubz is the Dozer, short for bulldozer on water....check him out on his team profile at http://www.PWCoffshore.com
GET SOME!

PWCoffshore.com: Friebe


Friebe4
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
PWCoffshore Race Team Member Friebe is a nice guy and nice guys finish first.

Check out http://www.PWCoffshore.com and see what Friebe's been up to lately!

MARK Gerner


MARK Gerner
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
Visit http://www.PWCOFFSHORE.com and check out what Mark has been up to lately?

PWCoffshore Race Team Member #58


LB2CAT 2008 118
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
Ah! A matched pair!

LB2CAT 2008 #33


LB2CAT 2008 092
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
Great PWC rigging for GPS set up on race boat #33.

LB2CAT 2008 'DUALIES"


LB2CAT 2008 099
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
This is a smart ride, one GPS set for 'to and from' locations, and out of the way of a head strike...I dig this one!

LB2CAT 2008 #371


LB2CAT 2008 131
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
#371 Crotch Rocket for the 2008 LB2CAT

LB2CAT 2008 "DUBZ"


LB2CAT 2008 115
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
#21 this ride belongs to Robert Carreon, Team rider who responds to the call sign 'Dubz'.

LB2CAT 2008 #69


LB2CAT 2008 147
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
Alladio's little Kawasaki 15-F, the stocker training race rig! Loves the beatings...

LB2CAT 2008 #98


LB2CAT 2008 132
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
Kim Bushong's ride, #98.
Yeah, red is fast, we all know that.

LB2CAT 2008


LB2CAT 2008 324
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
Here is the PWCOFFSHORE Race Team pictured with Hall of Famer Mr. Billy Womack.

LB2CAT Britney Wildman


LB2CAT 2008 269
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
Brit is the future, and the future is good. She is an example of what happens when a woman gives herself permission to go the distance. PWCOFFSHORE racing distance! We are all really proud of her, if you want to read up on her race background, here is the link:

http://pwcoffshore.com/Highlighted_Rider.php

LB2CAT


LB2CAT 2008 149
Originally uploaded by K38 Rescue
My 4 yor cheerleader, Shaniah expresses exactly how I feel after the race! Thanks Shinn for all the enthusiastic support, can i have some of that energy now?
love
RaceMom