Racing the river

ROSE LAKE — Dennis Cranston watched jet boat racing for the first time on Tuesday — and he can't wait to head back to the action.

"Spectacular," the Hayden man said after watching racers from around the world whip around a bend on the Coeur d'Alene River and under the bridge at Rose Lake.

"The turbine (engine) ones are quiet compared to the piston ones, so I thought the piston ones were more impressive. I hope they have these again. The St. Joe River is beautiful, but this is closer for us."

Racing was held on the Coeur d'Alene River for the first time. The 30-mile stretch from Harrison to Cataldo is the second leg of the USA World Championship Marathon Jet Boat Races.

Racing on the Coeur d'Alene ends today. Start times are at 10 a.m. and noon, and races last roughly a half an hour after each start time.

"It has a lot of straights, but it's a fun one," Kevin Robb, a navigator from Kellogg, said of the course at the Rose Lake boat launch after the boat he was in lost oil pressure and had to be towed to the launch.

Boats start in one-minute intervals, so they don't race side by side. Thirty-six teams from the United States, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico are competing. Boats in the Unlimited Class reach speeds up to 150 mph.

The marathon started on the St. Joe River from St. Maries to Calder last weekend. The marathon continues Friday through Sunday in Lewiston.

Jet boat races have been held on the Joe for the past four years. This is the second time the Joe has been chosen as the first leg of the world championship event. The world marathon is held every four years.

Race Director Shirley Ackerman said whether the races return to the Coeur d'Alene in four years — the next time the marathon would be held in the United States — is a wait-and-see situation as the Environmental Protection Agency is monitoring any effects the racing is having on stirring up mining waste sediment.

Tuesday's rain during parts of the day didn't seem to dampen the spirits of hundreds of people who watched the races from various public access points along the course.

"It's fun standing on the bridge to watch them," said Kellogg's Dale Costa, who watched the races for the first time. "They cruise right along. Some (of the competitors) wave at you; some don't."

From a racing standpoint, Robb said the rain cut the visibility some, but it didn't have too much of an effect.

Finishing is anything but automatic as multiple boats had mechanical problems that brought them to a halt. There were also two crashes on the Joe, including one incident in which a boat sank, but there were no injuries.

Tim Guthrie, from New Zealand, watched from the bridge with his 5-year-old son Caiden in support of racers from his country. There are seven teams from New Zealand and about 35 people from that country here for the races.

"Everybody is friendly here," he said. "It's good to get into the culture of the locals. We enjoy building good relations with the other nations."

This is Guthrie's first trip to the United States to watch the racing.

"The rivers over there are not as wide or deep," he said.

Cranston said he hopes racing will return to the Coeur d'Alene, pending the environmental review.

"Hopefully there isn't any sediment problems stirring up because I really enjoyed this," he said.