New Riders of the Jetski Age

Three brave men entertain the crowds at Oak Street Beach performing death-defying feats such as the Aerial Barrel Roll, the Tailstand, the Woody, and the Cosmic Spin. Pilots for the Blue Angels, you ask? No, it's not a plane, it's not a bird, it's...a baggage handler, a college student, and a chef, all on jetskis. The New Wave Riders Freestyle Team, to be exact.

Ranked respectively as second, third, and fourth amateur freestyle champs in the nation by the International Jetsports Boating Association (IJSBA,) 29 year-old Keith Head, 20 year-old Gary "The Fountain" Burtka, and 40 year-old Mike "El Chef" Niksic, banded together to form this exhibition team in 1995. They're unusual, they say, because their relationship requires both competition and teamwork: competition in the official freestyle events, and teamwork in the benefits they perform for children's hospitals, and to raise money for battered women.

All three hail from the midwest. When they're not out on the water, Head works for Northwest Airlines in Detroit, Burtka attends school in Allen Park, Michigan, and Niksic is head chef at the Northside Cafe in Chicago. While ninety-nine percent of all jetskis are sit-down models, each of the New Wave Riders performs on a tricked-out stand-up Yamaha SuperJet, which is "mechanically altered," according to Niksic, who began jetskiing at Calumet Harbor in the mid-eighties. "I just started screwing around with tricks I saw on TV," he says. Niksic joined the tour in '94. Burtka was originally a BMX racer, and Head started as a jetski racer, turning to freestyle in '92.

"I never thought I'd come this far," says Head. "When I started, I just wanted to make it around the lake without falling. Now, if I'm not falling, I'm not having fun."

The organized sports of jetski racing and freestyle jetski have been around since 1977. IJSBA features both slalom racing and closed course racing. In slalom racing, skiers race against the clock around buoys at upwards of 70mph. In closed course racing, the skiers run the buoys in a pack like an auto race or motocross.

With freestyle, each skier has two minutes to perform a routine. The average performance links together 12 tricks, or "moves," such as Head's "Monkey Flip," where he stands on the handlebars of the jetski, operating the throttle with his feet, and dives into the water while the jetski passes overhead. He then leaps back onto the moving jetski from behind.

Some freestyle moves can take El Chef "cooking" at up to speeds of 40mph, and then upside down, rolling sideways, or off a wave and into the air. "It's why we have a reputation as kamikaze pilots," says Niksic.

Head adds that there are only a handful of people in the world who can do jetski aerials. The tricks are hazardous, and many skiers have the neck and back injuries to prove it. "Our definition of freestyle is 'controlled collisions,'" Niksic says.

"Last weekend," says Burtka, "we were in surf that was only a few feet deep, but with three to five foot waves. I did an aerial barrel roll, where you go off the wave and have to twist your body to get upside down. The wave had broken, and I got stuck upside down in mid-air. You have a half second to decide what to do. I let go of the ski, and it landed on me. But I could have landed on my head in the shallow water." He escaped with a few bruises instead.

With the physical risks, and the mounting costs of competing in a sport that requires extensive equipment and travel, one can only wonder: why do it?

"It's the adrenaline rush," says Head. "The aerial is like a corkscrew rollercoaster, only you have control. To do a clean routine, where all the moves are linked together, it takes more time and finesse than racing. Racing got boring." One finds it hard to see how getting slammed around on a stand-up jetski at a teeth-rattling 70mph day after day could get dull. "Some people do drugs, some people drink, I ski," Head adds.

Freestyle jetskiing has drawn attention in recent years. The national IJSBA tour gets "extreme" coverage by ESPN, and The New Wave Riders perform at the Chicago Air and Water Show, and other high-profile venues. But the money to fuel their addiction and its gas, ski parts, and airline tickets comes not from the performances, but from their sponsors.

Niksic has cooked up more sponsor funding than anyone else on the amateur tour, and more than many pros. His team receives ski matting and padding from Hydroturf, and support from the Northside Cafe. Back in '94 El Chef convinced the Cosa Nostra Bakery in Chicago to be the first supporter of his half-baked idea to join the tour. "My career would have been impossible without them," he says. In exchange, he promotes their name, and offers extreme cooking classes complete with "kitchen kick-boxing," including the bakery's products. And all this backing really does amount to more than a hill of beans, as El Chef sponsor Superior Coffee can attest.

Niksic takes a lot of razzing from other skiers for the uncoolness of his shameless self-promotion and sponsor solicitation, yet he's one of the few riders to operate in the black. "I've never seen any amateurs get this kind of sponsorship and exposure," says professional jetskier Daniela Camarra.

In addition to competing, performing benefits, rounding up sponsors, and working full-time, the New Wave Riders put in exhaustive training hours. Starting as early as April, they log as many as six hours non-stop in the water every day, six days a week weather permitting. They typically burn up to three tanks (15 gallons) of gas per work-out. When the water temperature drops below 50 degrees in Lake Michigan, they move indoors, spending 10 hours a week in the gym building leg and upper back strength, and playing single man racquetball to improve agility and quick reflexes. During the un-skiable months, Burtka hits the hills for some cutting edge snowboarding, and Head takes to the woods with his bow and rifle.

Is it unusual or unlikely that these native mid-westerners beat out year-round residents of sunshine states like Florida and California for top ranked positions on the tour?

"Your mechanic and your ability make the difference, not your location," says Niksic with a smile. "Of course work ethic has a lot to do with it as well."

Locally in Chicago, Niksic practices his Water Fountains, Bull Dogs, and Submarines down at Calumet Harbor and Wilson Avenue Beach. "It's a love affair," he says. "Even if there were no competitions, we'd still be riding the way we ride."

The IJSBA can be reached at 714-751-4277.

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