Well it does appear we are in for a soft La Nina winter. Odd things are already happening. Ontario has been mild with no snow in the GTA during the month of November (a record) but that is all about to change this weekend. The Environment Canada guy says this mild La Nina can cause above average snowfall east of the prairies but look what is happening out west at Whistler. They just smashed the record for the snowiest month ever and are already nearly half way to their season average of over 30 feet…
My sled is on its way back here today with the ‘prop heads’ who are just coming off one of our biggest outboard product launches in years. Most of my friends know I am a big fan of fast boats. In my mind nothing defines speed better than a performance hull ripping at the surface tension of the water, held aloft by negative air and propeller thrust in a delicate balancing act of trim and torsional counter steering. When it comes to lightweight outboard performance, we have had some beautiful engines in our older Vmax and V6 HPDI 2-strokes but the advent of large displacement 4-strokes has kind of put us out of the lightweight performance game. That is until now. I am truly excited about the fact that someone finally built a (4-stroke) outboard motor designed more like a sled or bike than a farm tractor. The new 4-stroke Vmax 250 SHO is actually lighter than our 2-strokes and offers up more torque than anything else in its class. The engineering execution is a work of art. I can only imagine- if somebody was to take one of these, add a supercharger, open up the intakes and exhaust and bolt it onto a 21 foot tunnel hull… ah yes, I can hear the sound of howling thunder in my dreams.
Sorry about that little aquatic digression… my Apex should be back today with the Yamcharger installed, not sure if the PDI is done but I’ll be staying back here a couple of evenings to finish the prep and install some additional goodies. I also need to spend some time on the Blue Blog Sled which we stripped down to check out the chassis and now needs to be reassembled. We had a great response to the idea of making the BBS available to the ‘needy’ and I’m pleased to say we have the internal support to move ahead with the project. I’ll be getting in touch with some of you in the near future.
I’m also trying to gain permission from the mother ship for the ‘YBTT’ and if all goes well, I may hook up with the BBS pilot for a little spin early in the new year. I was talking with Kent Lester from Supertrax this week who told me they are going to run a story on G-Force and the worlds fastest snowmobile, very cool. He also mentioned they have done some kind of real world evaluation and once the snow dust settled they selected as the best all-round trail sled based on performance, reliability, handling, comfort, resale value, efficiency etc…etc…short drum roll… winner- the Yamaha Apex. Funny comment he made, even though some of the ST staffers are pretty jazzed on our competitors sleds, when it comes time for a long epic, the Yamaha 4-strokes are never left back in lieu of a 2 smoke… sorry Kent but I had to say it
OK; Until next week when I’ll post some photos of the BBS, update the MT09 ski (which btw is almost ready for release pending final sign-off from engineering) and hopefully show you my boosted Apex with hot hands and remote start… think snow!!
We are hosting some ‘new dealer’ orientation sessions this week where each department presents information on how things function around here, giving our newest dealers a better idea of who to contact and how we do business. I was reviewing my material and was struck by one of the topics which I thought would be of interest to some of you.
Snowmobile testing is a part of the job I have always been intrigued with. As a matter of fact it had a lot to do with my application for the product manager position years ago and resulting move from god’s country (BC) to Ontario (perhaps not the smartest lifestyle choice but definitely my best career decision ever).
Testing has added quite a few stamps to my passports over the years, not to mention many memories and introduced me to some remote parts of the globe I would never have experienced otherwise. Often I have taken extra time to explore the culture and countryside while there and have not one single regret.
Our Japan testing base is located on the northern island of Hokkaido. This is ‘foothill terrain’, very hilly and steep. Yamaha required a long smooth straight trail for top speed and acceleration runs. The solution was to bull-doze and back fill tons of real estate to create a strip worthy of a 747… Leave it up to our engineers to come with this! Here’s a shot taken of the first Venture GT FI prototype in development. The good looking squid checking out the ergo’s is our infamous product manager, Jon Blaicher.
Just a little bit south of our Shibetsu test center is another island that features some very unique terrain (and individuals). The southern island of New Zealand offers up winter in July. Yamaha gained access to a facility used by Toyota as a ‘proving ground’ for their vehicles along with some of their vendors (tire companies etc.) It was here that I trekked to validate the new 4-stroke Venture Lite. I remember arriving after close to 30 hours of non-stop travel, jumping in a rental car (jet lagged) and setting forth through the streets of Queenstown which by the way has no traffic lights, just round-about’s at the busy intersections. To make matters more interesting the steering wheel on the right and driving on the left with no co pilot or clear idea where the heck I was going. The valleys leading up to Wanaka are flanked by some of the gnarliest hills I have ever seen and it is easy to understand why they chose this area to film the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy. One thing struck me as absolutely awesome. The legal system in New Zealand prevents land owners from being held liable (sued) by anyone who happens to get hurt on their property. You want to bungy jump off my bridge? You want to build some trails with jumps and skinnies? No worries mate, good on you. Man would that be refreshing to have over here!
Jumping across the planet, pretty much kitty-corner to Wanaka sits Walles, a mainstay for Yamaha testing in Scandanavia and birth place of many of our utility based sleds: Enticers, Bravos and of course, Vikings. I won’t tellyou the story of the VK 3 test I attended there a few years ago (there are actually several good ones) suffice to say it included some Reindeer bits, guns, Laplanders, headlights and blonde locals, all good! In this shot, Norwegian good-ole-boy Ole-Johan Haga, project leader Karl Ishima and myself working on the Viking Porfessional prototype.
No snowmobile testing discussion would be complete without mentioning Alaska. I have more stories about Paxson than all the rest put togther. This highway juntion lodge out along the Alaskan pipe line has hosted Yamaha testing for many, many years. We didn’t always have much snow to work with but it was always cold. Makes one wonder how our J-hook bar-grip warmers ever made production . Testing up here normally starts in early November and goes on until things freeze up back in Wisconsin around Christmas time. In this shot you can see the first prototype of the Apex shadowed by Paxson mountain, makes me think of playing pin-ball through a Caribou herd just looking at it.
I was stunned yesterday when I heard the news about a snowmobile tragedy out near Sparwood BC where eight men were killed in two separate avalanches. In case you had not heard the details, the first avalanche trapped four riders out of the eleven riding in the area. The remaining seven were searching for the victims when a second slide came down on them.
Three guys were able to survive the second slide but were left stranded on the mountain. As of today seven of the missing eight sledders bodies have been recovered.
I followed the story on CBCNEWS.ca as the thought of this tragedy was eating at me. The coverage was as you would expect but the ensuing comments posted on the CBC site were thought provoking and in some cases downright disturbing.
I feel for the friends and families of the victims and offer my deepest sympathies. I also consider those lost trying to save their comrades to be ‘heroes’ not ‘foolish’ as some have posted on the CBC. These guys were experienced riders and well equipped according to the reports I have read. I have to say it repulses me to read comments from those who would turn this horrible event into a ‘ban snowmobiling’ political forum citing us all as irresponsible menace’s and a burden on society.
Our 35th Anniversary, dealer conference in Whistler BC turned out quite well by all accounts. The main focus was on our new 5- Star dealer program which offers new opportunities and incentives for Yamaha dealers. The ultimate objective is to advance our abilities to serve you at a level beyond all the current motorsports benchmarks.There is no doubt we all have our work cut out for us, but these new tools are being utilized to create an important impact with Yamaha customers being the greatest benefactors.
I’m an old throttle twister and an avid cyclist, consequently a visit to Whistler wouldn’t be complete without hitting the slopes on what has become a world model for mountain bike parks. After we finished loading up our two semi’s and closing the doors on the conference, Swenny (Belly-mon, Going Up?), JF, Jon and myself hooked up for a day of bombing the trails. It’s hard to describe the variety and quality of the Whistler downhill trail system so I’ll just apply the well worn term; ‘awesome’. Our confidence built on each consecutive run and by the end of the day we were throwing down on every jump and railing the perfectly contoured berms, we even passed several girls on our last pass. Trust me, Richey Schley has nothing to worry about!
In my last post I spoke of Gilles Gagne and his attempt to break the world land speed record for snowmobiles. Well he did. In fact his twin supercharged slip-streamer shattered the record at 210mph (338kph). Congratulations go out to Gilles and his sponsors who took a stock Yamaha 4-cylinder and created the fastest snowmobile in the world. Down south the NSRA grass drag racing series wound up with some very impressive Yamaha results. Here is the full report from Greg. grass-drag-results.doc.
So this all leaves me sitting at my desk rather reluctantly, as I try to make sense out of the rest of October. It’s too early to get ramped up for snowmobiling and a little late to be getting serious about the dirt. And what I really need to do is focus on scooters, which I will openly admit are cooler these days than at any time prior, but still anti-climatic compared to the adrenaline-charged, gravity-defying antics of cycles and sleds. sigh…
Uh Oh, I am wayyyy overdue for a blog update. Something happened between my new job assignment and the black flies arriving up at the lake. I am going to play catch-up today and post a bunch of non-sled related stuff, just to let you know what I’ve been up to. Next week I’ll tell you about another ‘first ascent’ by my old friend and all around Yamaha good-guy, Team Thunderstruck rider, Randy Swenson… Imagine riding a 4000 foot hill with 3000 feet of vertical change… stay tuned…
Heres a pic of Randy taken this past weekend (June gotta love it!)
I spent a very interesting couple of days at the annual MESH web-conference in Toronto. I was invited to participate as a ‘panelist’, a direct result of penning this blog. I have maintained the view that I have have a reasonable grasp and understanding of what social media and networking is all about but after sitting with this group for two days, I realize I am a complete newbie geek. I have never seen so many people using hi-tech gadgets simultaneously, most of which having an ‘i’ attachment, connected, uploading, Twittering, capturing content and communicating.
The thrust of the conference was aimed at the ‘open web’. Where is it all going? What ‘start-up’ will be the next FaceBook? How will content sharing co-exist with copyright? How will big business / enterprise integrate and participate?
It was the ‘enterprise and social media’ session where I found myself in front of this group on a panel with Natalie, the brains behind the GM corporate blog (which features Bob Lutz) and Jennifer, a very forward thinking lady representing Harlequin publishing.
Now I know none of you have ever seen or read a Harlequin romance novel (and if you have, I don’t want to know about it) but it was interesting to consider their demographic (99% female) and ours being predominantly male sitting with General Motors who are everything to everyone…
I almost started a ‘Jerry Springer’ scene when I suggested some companies (re: Yamaha), still have to maintain some level of ‘control’ when it comes to social media and employee participation in representing said company. Our session went overtime and could have kept going… maybe next year!
The following week was spent hunkered down at Tapatoo Resort in Parry Sound with all of our field staff for meetings and demo riding all the new products (except the new VMAX) which were launched on Friday. I posted a bunch of pics over on our Bike blog and Dave Shepherd penned a recap of the event.
I now find myself in Sudbury, attending a regional meeting with our northern Ontario dealers to discuss the new products, market details… then its home to another conference next week. Wishing I could go out to visit Randy again…
Taking a break on the SRX story this week except to say I found some more pics of the very first OMV body prototypeand the following clay model. I need the time to figure out how to explain to George, how it is that the SRX was our last 2-stroke project and not the SXViper. I think, technically speaking… you got me George but I’ll still spin up my version for you -later.
The black flies are out in earnest in central Ontario which can mean only one thing. It’s time for our annual ‘gathering of the minds’ with all our our sales and service staff. They will arrive end of next week and we all move into a resort on a small lake outside of Parry Sound. This year, similar to last will have us locked sown for a full day to network and debrief on many subjects. The second day (the best part) will be a full slate of demo rides.
Big blue will be there full of 2008 motorcycles. A second rig is hauling in the ATV’s and the Yamaha navy is arriving courtesy of a fleet of Tundra’s and Tacoma’s. Side bar to the latter-we (Yamaha USA) owns a boat company in the states called G3. We started importing and distributing them ourselves a couple of years ago. So far this has been a real success story. Our G3 boat sales are going through the roof as more people discover the quality and value built-in. Pontoon’s, ‘tin-boats’, deep V’s, they are all worthy so if you are in need of something to keep you busy while we wait for snow…
I’m a bit concerned about our ATV ride. The trail we have chosen is quite flooded in places with the water level being the highest I can remember. It doesn’t help much that a big ATV rally was held on the same trails a couple of weeks ago and they haven’t had a chance yet to repair some of the sippy holes. It always impresses me to see how our sled trails look in the summer. For the most part, aside from a few scratches on the bigger rocks, you’d never know several thousand machines had passed along them. Impact? What impact!
The motorcycle riding in Parry Sound is excellent. Probably one reason the annual Sport Bike Rally has been so successful there. The community opens their arms to motorsports in general. They have even hosted two rounds of the World Enduro Championships which I was fortunate enough to have spectated last season. If the rain doesn’t become an issue, our guys are in for a real good ‘dig’ on the bikes.
Getting back to the navy, I understand we will have at least one new prototype outboard to play with and a fleet of G3′s with various power. We won’t have the 350 V8 this year which is probably just as good with gas at 1.40+ in the bush. I’ll just have to get my ‘squeeze’ from the Waverunners, I really do like the boosted SHO.
Is there anything new you ask? Well of course -both motorcycle and ATV- but you are going to have to check back here on June 6th (or any of our web-sites). I’ll take some pics of the event with my new Canon XSi, digital SLR, which btw, I have been dreaming of owning for a very long time. Funny how it goes, now I am feeling the need for an iMAC.
Next week I am participating in the MESH conference downtown but will try to scribe something of interest to post from my hotel. But for now I gotta get over to the Bass-Pro to grab a new bug-shirt and replenish my supply of Muskol
Early Sunday afternoon, I found myself standing at the foot of the Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort / CSRA snowcross track watching the vintage sleds challenge the ‘bunny hill’. The mercury was over 15C (60F) under clear blue skies, awesome conditions to spectate the final races of the season. Greg Marier and the Yamaha Factory Race team were on site and both Martin and Taylor had placed very well in all their qualifying runs. The Pro-open main was set to go off later in the day so I had to entertain myself cheering for the only other Yamaha on the track. An old black Enticer 340 that was dicing it out with a cherry red Rupp in the vintage class, (the ET won by the way )…
I met several Sled Talk ‘bloggers’ at both the Big4 spring show in Barrie and last weekends snowmobile race. I was reminded-amongst other things- of my obligation to write the SRX development story which currently resides as a stack of old documents in my ‘to-do’ basket. It’s clear to me in talking with many you, we are coming off a long snow season and most have had the opportunity to rack up some serious miles on their sleds. We have a lot of new potential customers looking at Yamaha now, after one too many expensive engine repairs or, riding days lost. Many of our existing customers are considering a new sled if not this season, then next and everyone is considering what maintenance and parts are required before putting the sled away for summer storage… This all helps to preserve snowmobiling in a healthy state going into next winter.
Total industry snowmobile sales in Canada are up over last season and the pipe line of non-current models has been largely depleted. The mountain segment has shown the most growth, which now represents almost a quarter of all the sleds sold in Canada. Yamaha Motor Canada also attained growth within this market and we still retain our market share position of second (next to Skidoo). The sales of trail permits are reported up in the key provinces and it appears snowmobile related, serious injury (and death) is in decline. This is especially good news considering the extra miles and hours spent by everyone on the snow this year.
…So here I am 100 feet in front of the start line with my daughter perched on my shoulders. Two blue sleds are in the front row and the flag is about to drop for the Pro Open final. Braaaap, a blur into the first corner and Taylor exits in first place for a strong drive up the long ski hill face with Hayden in second and Martin on the other Nytro in third. It looked good for Taylor until a bad line at the half way point saw Hayden slip by and hang on for the win with Steve a couple seconds behind. I snapped this shot of Taylor and Martin making a Hayden sandwich at the start finish line. It was really cool to see (and hear) the power of 4-strokes going up the mountain. I spoke with Greg at length today as they are staying on at Horseshoe for a few extra days of testing in preparation for next years snowcross assault. He’s already getting pumped for next year. It was apparent to me, standing in the crowd, how big an impact these two sleds are having on the spectators, especially when they are running stronger with each outing. Perhaps winning isn’t everything-yeah I know… but it sure is exciting to be in the hunt.
Jon and Pete are attending important meetings in Japan and a bunch of interesting events are happening around me, here at Yamaha but that’ll all have to wait until next week. Until then, if you are getting out for another rip as the snow melts, I envy you. But I have lawns to rake and tires that need air not to mention the makings of a ‘winter boiler’ that’s demanding some serious ‘cardio’.
Heres a couple of last minute race reports out of YMUS
I flew home last night from Kelowna with yet another head full of memories after two days atop Boulder mountain. The spring Yamafest in Revelstoke has evolved into a model event for us organized by our western region team. For those who have been visiting Sled Talk for awhile, you might remember last years post ‘Revelstoke Report‘. Well this year was more of the same. We hosted a dinner meeting on Thursday night at the Hillcrest for all our western dealers with an early rise Friday to head up the mountain for the day.
Team YMCA was first on-site in the morning getting set up, prior to our dealers arrival for the demo rides. Nothing like a frozen fritter at 5000 feet to jump-start your day eh. It’s a fact, Pete and Jon will seldom pass-up a gooey dog-nut… wet-nap anyone?
Living down the road in Vernon BC during the 70′s and 80′s, I often made my way to Revy to play on Boulder and Frisbee Ridge. Back then Revelstoke was a red-neck, railroad town stuck in the middle of the Rockies and virtually unknown to snowmobilers outside of the interior. Then along came Peterson Productions and the original extreme sled film ‘Snow Motion: The Art Of Sledding‘ (circa 1990) featuring Waldy Pietrowski and Kevin Fleming, both local Revy boys, who defined their steep and deep carving style on film for all to see, establishing a new sled culture in the process. With the release of Snow Motion 2, Revelstoke was recognized by the snowmobiling world, as a sled-head Mecca of sorts, similar to Vancouver’s North Shore for mountain bikers, Walton for the aspiring motocrosser or Port Dover for the big twins set…
In town, things have changed, a lot. A new ski hill boasts the most vertical in the country drawing in bus loads of tourists. The morning air is whipped by the sound of helicopters lifting skiers to remote alpine jump-offs, a white washed moment from Apocalypse Now. The restaurant and hotel scene is buzzing with foreign language, high end fare and ‘Speedo’s’ are a common sight in the hot-tubs (gag)… You don’t want to know what the property values have done. In a way, its a little frightening as snowmobilers are being more restricted and the price of admission is going up in the face of all the outside money pouring into the area driving up the cost of accommodation. We should all be thankful for the work of the Revelstoke Snowmobile Association and the volunteers that are dealing with the politics and growth to protect sledding in the area.
Gone are the days of being the only tracks on the hill but its all good. We must have had over 300 snowmobiles on Boulder during the customer appreciation demo rides Saturday, the majority of them Yamaha 4-strokes, many turbo-charged and customized with a plethora of trickery. Chad Rebec (CR racing) showed up with his 174 inch Apex turbo complete with Ti front end. His tunnel and suspension products were very prominent on many of the local sleds.
I smiled when I saw a Vernon family arrive riding ‘his and hers‘ turbo’s each with a child on board. Their two little girls were having a ball hanging on and ‘hanging off’ with mom and dad. My grin grew a little larger when I spotted the Sled Necks crew capturing some tricks on camera with pro rider, Brett Turcotte. For those of you keeping count this is the first yellow sled to appear in Sled Talk… tah-dah, credit where credits due, this guy can ride! My grin became a jaw dropper when I witnessed Mike Irmen ride his sled down several thousand feet of near vertical slope on his first (failed) attempt at a new chute, which he conquered on his second run claiming another ‘first ascent’ with his Alpine Turbo Nytro. He gets the honor of naming the new chute which runs right next to one aptly called- ‘The Monster’. Generally when a rider ‘sticks’ a sled on one of these impossible climbs, a helicopter will be brought in to lift it down to safety, which according to big Dean from Alpine, is cheap at $400 compared to the cost of repair when it rolls over 50 times to the bottom… makes sense to me!
I was really pleased to meet several people who read this blog regularly, some like the Burdick’s, (shown here) traveled up from the states for the party. One of our dealers (Yukon Yamaha) traveled all the way from Whitehorse (over 26 hours straight) just to join us. Jason, Gary, Brett; hats off guys, that’s commitment. And it wouldn’t have been a western Yamaha event without Gordon Aulenback from GA Checkpoint representing the ‘old guard’, Gordy I gotta get me one of those lids, you’re still ‘stylin’ man! While I’m on the subject of commitment, there is a gentleman who is very active within the Revelstoke snowmobile club and BCSF. He is well known for flippin’ his famous Boulder Burgers up at the chalet. What many don’t realize is that Herb Shaede (thats Herbie seen here on the tongs) has raised over $50,000 for local charities selling his $5.00 mountain-top burgers to hungry sledders over the past few years. Cheers Herbie, and don’t hold back the onions!
Getting back to the big iron, Randy let me take a spin on his latest creation, an MC Xpress Turbo Nytro with Timbersled rear skid, giant Simmons snowboard flexi-skis and the standard CR racing parts and tunnel. At only280 horsepower I figured this sled would have taken a back seat to Randy’s other ride, an Apex turbo monster with significantly more jam. Both he and Mike Irmen told me their Apex’s have been collecting dust since they dialed in the Nytro’s. In fact Randy has put over 4000 km (thats a lot for a mountain sled)on his Nytro this season compared to only 400 hundred on the Apex. When asked why, he said it was ‘just more fun to ride’. Mike on the other hand, said pound for pound his Nytro’s are laying it down more than last years boosted, methanol injected and nitrous enhanced 4-cylinder. Now let me qualify a couple of things, Randy’s definition of ‘fun’ on a snowmobile and what both he, Mike and a small handful of other elite riders do with these things cannot be expressed in words beyond ‘calculated insanity’ punctuated with solid brass…er, well you know. I also got to try out the latest Powder Lites turbo Nytro which featured thenew plastic skid from AD Boivin. Much thanks to Ryan for putting me on Daves sled when he wasn’t looking! So what other cool things did we have to play on? Well how about a gaggle of these scooters being distributed by Alpine Motorsports. I watched several of our resident ‘dirt squirrels’ jump aboard these kitted motocrossers and settle immediately into the ride like they had been running them all season. They work amazingly well!
It was fun to hear the reaction of people getting off the new Venture who likely never have had the chance to ride a ‘sofa’ before (not very common in the mountains). It was an acclaimed sleeper and a joy to ride in the bumps. We had the short track Nytro’s and XT-X there as well which also generated a lot of discussion and a few raised eyebrows. All in all it was an excellent time and I really want to thank our hosts, the Snowmobile Revelstoke Society and all the locals who put up with us pounding out their hill. Jon and I finished up with a Red Bull and a stretch before joining all ourcustomers who had attended the demo-rides, for dinner and drinks at the Yamaha sponsored ‘customer appreciation’ back at the Hillcrest. The highlight of the evening was watching all the video and pics captured by Veedy for his upcoming Boost 3, due out this fall. Unfortunately I had to head back home to work but left Jon on the mountain with our man ‘Randy Swenson’(seen here with shot-gunner, Andy White) to do a little R@D after the fact… It’s always fun following Randy (windshields aren’t all that expensive to replace!) cheers cr
Once again sitting behind security in the Halifax airport, being informed of yet another delay in my quest to get home to see my girls. My internal battery is lower in my body than my mp3 player which is about to give up the ghost, the result of pulling five, non-stop, eighteen hour days in a row. Humber Valley Resort and the 2009 dealer conference were excellent. The weather and snow pack was stellar for riding and the smaller regional groups provided a more intimate atmosphere than our traditional national meetings.
I’ll hit the ‘high hard ones’ for you:
We prepared over 30 new snowmobiles for demo riding. At the end we had collectively accumulated approximately 15,000 km and burned nearly 3000 liters of fuel. Aside from a TORS issue on one of the prototypes, we experienced no failures or mechanical problems, not one. (there were a couple of pilot error issues but I won’t embarrass anyone on here .
The theme of our meetings was Go Snowmobiling, with several presentations from the varying department heads and speeches from our General Manager Peter Smallman-Tew and Tom Osugi (President) of YMCA
One great thing about our dealer conferences, we always leave room for some fun. Newfoundland was no exception as we ‘Screeched in‘ our dealers who then became honorary Newfoundlanders . Now for those of you who don’t know about this ancient ritual, it involves a large fish and some Newfie ‘Screech’ (a dark amber rum with a hit similar to gasoline). All this was set to a large buffet spread of local cuisine and an excellent band playing traditional Newfoundland / Maritime music… ‘Aarrrgg, Have you ever been to sea Billy?’
On a ‘personal best’ note- and we have to keep this just between us as everyone there believes I was working harder than a one legged man at a butt kickin’ contest- my boss, Mr Smallman-Tew grabbed me Saturday afternoon with a request to go for a little ‘churching’ which in our inner jargon means: time for a ride. Who am I to argue? We took off for a couple hours of cross country, boon-docking, finishing up atop a very steep hill overlooking ‘Old Man Pond’. Thanks Pete, I needed that!
Yamaha president, Mr. Kajikawa arrived in Newfoundland ready to ride and that we did. We suited up Friday morning and headed out under blue skies and sunshine. It became apparent to me that he wanted to ‘go’ within the first couple of clicks. I kept ‘wicking it up’ every few minutes until we were really booking and he stayed right on my snow-flap. We stopped several times to wait as the rest of the guys reeled us back in. It was during one of these stops, he informed me that he was the man in charge of the fledgling Yamaha snowmobile division back in the 60’s when we first entered the business, laughingly stating they used to call the early prototypes ‘submarines’. He commented twice on how impressed he was with the performance and controllability of our new 4-strokes.
The trail I had chosen was an ‘out and back’ which climbed over some stunning hillside vistas winding deep into the back-country where we had prearranged a little surprise at the turn-around with our guides Todd and Junior. They left early and broke a trail through a forest cut to set up camp in a gully, protecting our guests from the strong north winds. When we arrived, the boys had a hearty fire burning, kettle on the boil and a big pot of homemade soup and bread courtesy of Juniors wife. Mr Kajikawa enjoyed a hot cup of coffee trailside, with Yamaha USA president Mr. Adachi and I had a chance to get caught up with my old friend York Mizutani.
York made me laugh when he told me he reads this blog on a regular basis and that I tell too many stories about him. He referred in particular to the post where I told his ‘no power’, first snowmobile experience which ‘dnr’ and I took him on almost twenty years ago. He was quick to correct me that the machine he was riding was not a Phazer as I had indicated in the original post, it was in fact an Exciter which had caused his loss of power… York-san I stand corrected…those 38mm round slides were a real ‘bugger’ on the thumb!
Back on the trail, Mr Kajikawa sampled an Apex, a Vector LTX, a Nytro and a Phazer RTX. I have to tell you, I was truly impressed with his skill behind the bars. At one point I tried to grease him up a bit in front of the others, telling him how fast a rider he was. Without a moments hesitation he stated: ‘No! Not so fast… they are too slow’, indicating the others and laughing out loud. Spoken like a true snowmobiler!
I asked him what he thought of our trail conditions and his response provoked an interesting thought. He told me, when he was directly involved with snowmobiles many years ago, there were no trail systems. Since those days all of his riding has been in Japan, mostly at our test center in Shibetsu. Now I have ridden those test courses many times and I can tell you they are challenging but short, most not more than a few kilometers. He told me he kept waiting for the trail to come back on itself like the loops he was accustomed to but instead we kept traveling further and further away from home. The next question he asked is profound. Where exactly is the end of the trail?
‘Sir,’ I replied ‘I have been trying to find the end of the trail for the better part of my life…and still I have not found it.’ It was truly an honor to ride with the founder of the Yamaha snowmobile division. A gentleman who has risen to the apex of the Yamaha Motor Company but a man who still loves to ride and maintains a passion for our products, not unlike the rest of us.
While I’m on the subject of Newfoundland / Labrador and how great a place this is for sledders: I want tocongratulate Morely and the boys from our dealership in Wabush / Labrador City on their win of the Cains Quest Cross Country race last week. Gerard Rumbolt and John Efford, both from Lab City crossed the finish line of the grueling event in first place on board their 144 inch tracked FX Nytro’s (sound familiar?). I’ll try to get a full update for you shortly.
I am back here- again- in anticipation of the arrival of our dealers who will see and ride the new sleds. Tomorrow is the official date of the release embargo which in some respects is anti-climatic after Supertraxmistakenly released about 300 copies of their spring issue containing much of the detail on our 09′s. Cool thing is however; we have a couple of things that didn’t make it into their rag to talk about. Nothing earth shattering but significant nonetheless. I’ll tell you in a few of days what I’m referring to as it might not creep into the forums all that fast.
I had a good chance to ride the new Nytro XTX today, as well as two other updated 09 Nytro models. This just might be the sled that will get my rear off the Apex but I’m still in the ‘courtin’ phase and quite infatuated with the sled. As you can see in this shot we were getting rather intimate this morning… the XTX wasn’t the only hot thing on the trail.
An old buddy and local bush-whacker, Todd, was enlisted as our guide and spiritual leader. He has the uncanny ability to sniff out lines through the bush where only a rabid fox would venture. It was somewhat unnerving, scratching about off-trail with three brand new ‘show’ sleds, in search for an illusive connector trail to take us away from the resort. All this to avoid the impending melt down of the plowed access roads. I was actually wishing for a Bravo at one point (well not really… but it certainly would have been a more prudent choice of boonie weapons). In the end, we finalized our route and enticed the local club to bring in their groomer tonight to carve out some snow banks and manicure our chosen route. Makes me wonder why we’re testing 15 inch bump sleds, but with the number of passes we intend to make, better to start off smooth…
I want to thank all of you Apex guys who took the time to complete the owners survey. I have received an excellent sample (several hundred) and your collective voice will certainly be part of the process of the Apex evolution. It was also quite interesting to see some of the ensuing comments about the questions. I tried hard to keep it real.
Bob Davis sent me his final Guinness record update today… the ODO says it all. I’ll let you know when the final adjudication is complete.
So wish me luck. Our first wave of dealers arrive tomorrow along with our VIP’s. So if you don’t ever hear from me again, it’s probably because I angered, lost or damaged our (Yamaha Motor Company) President who is flying in from Japan tomorrow to go for a ride…
happening. Ontario has been mild with no snow in the GTA during the month of November (a record) but that is all about to change this weekend. The Environment Canada guy says this mild La Nina can cause above average snowfall east of the prairies but look what is happening out west at Whistler. They just smashed the record for the snowiest month ever and are already nearly half way to their season average of over 30 feet…
of our biggest outboard product launches in years. Most of my friends know I am a big fan of fast boats. In my mind nothing defines speed better than a performance hull ripping at the surface tension of the water, held aloft by negative air and propeller thrust in a delicate balancing act of trim and torsional counter steering. When it comes to lightweight outboard performance, we have had some beautiful engines in our older Vmax and V6 HPDI 2-strokes but the advent of large displacement 4-strokes has kind of put us out of the lightweight performance game. That is until now. I am truly excited about the fact that someone finally built a (4-stroke) outboard motor designed more like a sled or bike than a farm tractor. The new 4-stroke Vmax 250 SHO is actually lighter than our 2-strokes and offers up more torque than anything else in its class. The engineering execution is a work of art. I can only imagine- if somebody was to take one of these, add a supercharger, open up the intakes and exhaust and bolt it onto a 21 foot tunnel hull… ah yes, I can hear the sound of howling thunder in my dreams.
Sorry about that little aquatic digression… my Apex should be back today with the Yamcharger installed, not sure if the PDI is done but I’ll be staying back here a couple of evenings to finish the prep and install some additional goodies. I also need to spend some time on the Blue Blog Sled which we stripped down to check out the chassis and now needs to be reassembled. We had a great response to the idea of making the BBS available to the ‘needy’ and I’m pleased to say we have the internal support to move ahead with the project. I’ll be getting in touch with some of you in the near future.
gotta love it!)
