APBA Executive Committee Statement Regarding the Hydrospace S4 and Aspirated Boats Competing in Stock Class

The American Power Boat Association (APBA) has received several inquires about the Hydrospace S4 and how it will fit into racing in the United States.  We have been communicating with Hydrospace and have asked several questions to Hydrospace concerning price, availability, homologation and distribution in the United States.  The APBA has also been communicating with its Event Promoters and Executive Committee on this issue as well.   The APBA is excited to see a new manufacturer get involved with the sport.   From what little we know about Hydrospace, they seem to have produced a great “made for racing” stand-up watercraft.

The APBA’s job is to support its members and promoters and maximize participation in racing in the United States.    It will be a delicate job to integrate the new four-stroke and any other new watercraft into racing.  It must be done in a way that maximizes participation and fairness to all racers – current and future.   As we analyze these new watercraft, many criteria must be included in the decision making process including the watercrafts price, speed, weight, materials, OEM and aftermarket components, etc.  

There are many issues that need to be addressed and resolved regarding the Hydrospace S4 participating in racing in the United States.  The first is availability to US riders and meeting the homologation rule as presented in the IJSBA rulebook.  Part of this includes the development of a reputable dealer network in the United States and replacement parts availability for owners whose boats have mechanical problems.  The second is insuring that the Hydrospace meets US Coast Guard regulations and US Insurance requirements.  The third issue is determining what classes the Hydrospace S4 belongs in with regard to racing that is fair to all stand-up racers.

The APBA has yet to confirm if and when Hydrospace will resolve the first two issues addressed above for their S4 model in the United States.  Hydrospace shows intention of resolving the issues above, but we have no idea when this will take place.  From the knowledge gained at the World Finals, the APBA was able to make a decision about the Hydrospace and its fit into racing concerning the Stock class, as long and it resolves the issues above.  After examining the new Hydrospace, it was obvious that under its stock form, the Hydrospace S4 has an overwhelming competitive advantage over current Stock class watercraft.  The APBA feels it is in the best interest of racing in the United States to keep the current stock class structure as a nonaspirated class (no turbo and supercharged boats).  To accommodate this and future four stroke stand-up watercraft, we will create a new stock class for aspirated boats.  While at this time we realize that there is only one manufacturer of aspirated stand-up watercraft, we do realize that it is the future of our sport and sales in the United States.

The APBA Executive Committee has also made a decision to not allow four-stroke aspirated boats in Stock Runabout classes for 2006.  Four-stroke non-aspirated will still be allowed to compete in the Stock classes and four-stroke aspirated boats will still be able to compete in the Limited and Open classes.  A new Amateur four-stroke Stock class will be introduced at both the regional level and at the Watercross Nationals in 2006.  With 22 out of the 25 2006 runabout models being four-strokes, we must develop competitive classes for these boats.   These boats have larger hulls and different handling characteristics than most stock 2-stroke watercraft.  As four-stroke racing grows we will create additional classes to accommodate four-stroke watercraft.

 It is in the APBA and its members’ best interest to take responsibility to work closely with the OEM’s on all new homologated watercraft to find the proper fit within the current class structure in order to keep parity and equality in racing as well as maximize participation in the United States.  Analyzing each new watercraft individually as to where it fits into racing has now become even more important with the IJSBA’s recent decision to reduce the homologation rule.  The APBA is currently testing with three homologated stand-up watercraft.  One test being conducted is a way to bring the Yamaha SuperJet back into competitive racing under our current stock rules.  The other is working with the Polaris Octane on a cost effective way to create parity throughout the stock classes.  The APBA will do its best to pass on these findings in a timely manner.  We are hoping to have this completed by the APBA Annual meeting that is January 26-27 in Ft. Lauderdale.

Questions and comments are welcome by its members and industry representatives.  Please send questions and comments to patrickmell@aol.com or call Patrick Mell at APBA National Headquarters at (586) 773-9700.