Fast and furious on the Joe
<p>The CX225 jet boat by the name of “Hundred Proof” is one of 24 boats that competed in the Saturday races.</p>
<p>From left, Rina Schaffer, Rose Silvia, and Paul Coward watch the St. Joe River Jet Boat Race from the back of a pickup truck Saturday.</p>
<p>Spectators of the jet boat race line Calder Bridge in St. Maries to cheer on one of the final racers of the 3rd leg of the race Saturday. Saturday’s races had four different legs in which each boat took off at one-minute intervals.</p>
<p>Jet boat "Rough Rider" rounds the corner as it nears the end of the 25 mile long jet boat race in St. Maries Saturday. The St. Joe River provides drivers with turns and corners as well as smooth water for navigation.</p>
<p>From left, Joseph Orr, Corbin Scheer, and Joshua Orr watch the jet boats as they take off one-by-one after each minute at the starting line located at the Idaho Foresties Industries Landing on the St. Joe River.</p>
<p>Leona Drolet supports jet boat “Bad Habit” by holding Canadian flags along the finish line of the second leg at the St. Joe River Jet Boat Race. Teams came from Canada, Washington, Oregon and even New Zealand to compete in the race.</p>
<p>Alison Smith, 17, gasses up her family’s jet boat as Michael Jones searches for an oil leak at the St. Joe River Jet Boat Race Saturday in St. Maries.</p>
ST. MARIES - Alex Smith's daughter Allison, 17, held a bulky five-gallon gas container upright as she helped refuel her dad's FX class sprint boat.
"It's going good," said Alex, of Kellogg. "We have a little oil leak now, so I don't know if we're going to continue or not."
Alex's boat, the "Pimpin' Ain't EZ," needed a little love after the first two legs of the third annual Race the Joe! jet boat races in St. Maries on Saturday.
They worked on the boat in Aqua Park, where Allison took charge as her dad's pit crew chief. Alex has had a jet boat for 20 years and this was his third year competing in the races, so he just may have passed on his "need for speed" gene.
"She's my little race car driver," Alex said. "She's driven a car about 150 miles per hour with me shifting the gears."
"It's just because you don't let me," Allison said, grinning. "I'll be riding next year."
While Alex's "Pimpin' Ain't EZ" reaches speeds of upward of 70 miles per hour, some of the boats competing in the two-day event can go well over 100.
And the rooster tails that spray high into the air and sprinkle spectators with cool river water don't lie.
"It's just the rush of driving the boat, all the fans, you're here with family," Alex said. "It's a rush, you don't know going up channels, trees, rocks, you don't know which way to go."
Thousands of people are spending time in St. Maries this Memorial Day weekend to catch some of the jet boat action. The 24 competing boats are in classes according to engine size and hull shape: unlimited jet, unlimited piston, A, CX and FX.
The races are split into legs where teams of two - the driver with the navigator - take off in one-minute intervals from the Idaho Forest Industries (IFI) Landing to Calder Bridge or vice-versa. Spectators line the river, watching from camping chairs and the beds of their trucks as the white flag waves and boats roar down the St. Joe in a rush of noise and white water, careening and splashing through the bends of the 25-mile course. Many times the engines can be heard long before the boats appear.
"It's neat, that's about all I can say," said Tom Iverson of Coeur d'Alene.
He and his friend, Steve Fisher, grew up watching the old Diamond Cup hydroplane races in Coeur d'Alene and agreed the appeal lies in the high speed and the loud noise. The two watched Race the Joe! from the IFI Landing.
"They go fast, and I'd like to drive one," Iverson said.
Race the Joe! has become an international event, with participants from as far away as New Zealand. Father-and-son duo Willie and Chad Burns of Peace River, Alberta, were the overall and unlimited class winners last year and returned this weekend to race the speedy "Bad Habit" against several others in the unlimited class. Willie's wife and Chad's mom, Marlene, said they were enjoying the races and friendly St. Maries community.
"I love it, I love watching them race," she said. "And we love being here, it's a great town."
Race director Shirley Ackerman of St. Maries explained that while this year's competition is the third Race the Joe!, it is the fourth time jet boats have raced the clock on the river. She said the first year, about 5,000 people attended, and it's only grown in size.
"In 2012, we were the first leg of the world championship marathon race," Ackerman said. "It was just a smaller piece of the big world race. That's a 10-day event. After that we thought, 'We need to do this,' and we created an annual event."
But, she said, it's largely a success because of the community support.
"It's the people, the race teams, the fans," she said. "It just brings excitement to the community."
Race the Joe! fun continues today at 10 a.m. at the IFI Landing until races end around 3:30 p.m. An awards celebration will follow at the St. Maries Eagles Lodge at 6 p.m. Unofficial results can be found on the event's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/racethejoe, and Ackerman said official results will be posted there this evening.