Tour de force: Broome to Perth by Yamaha FX

A SMALL group of PWC thrill seekers has completed an epic 2200km ocean ride from Broome to Perth to raise awareness for Sarz Sanctuary.

The foundation was established following the death of young Aussie Sara Zelenek, who was killed in the March 2017 London terror attacks.

Sara’s family have long been active in the personal watercraft community and regular participants in the annual Variety Jet Trek event, held primarily on the east coast of Australia, that attracts up to 100 PWC riders to take to the ocean for a week.

It was friends of Sara’s family who decided to take on the new challenge of riding down the west coast of Australia.

Seven PWCs – one rider from WA, two from NSW and four from Queensland – left Broome on Friday September 21, and five arrived in Perth on Wednesday October 3 after some planned, and unplanned, exits from the trip.

Organisers Matt Brown, Dave McNamara and Grantley Jack are veterans of the Yamaha Variety Jet Trek, each having notched up between 12 and 20 of the long-distance ocean riding events for the children’s charity.

Five of the seven PWCs were non-supercharged Yamaha FX HOs, and two were supercharged FX SVHOs.

Non-supercharged PWCs are favoured for long-distance ocean riding because of their better fuel economy, while supercharged models have better throttle response.

Despite the Yamaha FX having the one of the biggest fuel tanks in the business at 70 litres, all PWCs were fitted with specially-fabricated aluminium racks that could store up to three 20-litre jerry cans.

The teams covered between 200 and 260km most days, often stopping on water to refuel when they couldn’t get to land.

“In my 20,000 hours of riding it was both the best riding I’ve ever done, with the flattest ocean I’ve ever seen, to the absolute worst I’ve experienced,” says Matt Brown, whose son Jake also participated on his own Yamaha.

Three days from the end, six-metre swells with 10-metre peaks forced them to return to shore after travelling just 30km in 90 minutes on the water.

“Unfortunately we were forced by the weather to do about 370km on the road, but we still ended up doing 2200km on the water,” says Brown.

Day one saw the group cover 264km from Broome to 80 Mile Beach, before completing 240km on day two to Port Hedland.

Another 205km on day three put the group in Dampier before a detour on day four to the PWC-friendly Thevenard Island, about 22km off the coast of Western Australia, near Onslow in the Pilbara region.

It was here the group took in a well-earned rest day and went snorkelling and fishing before hitting the ocean for the trip south the following day.

The next leg was a relatively short 107km trip as they went island-hopping but the following day it was back to business with a 210km run to Coral Bay.

Conditions were generally good although they stayed close to the coastline in strong easterly breezes.

“We were just looking for the flattest water we could find, which is pretty hard in 30-knot (56km/h) winds,” says Brown. “Normally you want to make a straight line and not follow the coast as that is usually longer, but sometimes you need to hug the coast to get a break from the wind.”

The casualties were minor despite the epic distance travelled. One rider had to nurse a sprained knee, and in the final days two PWCs had mechanical dramas south of Dirk Hartog Island, near Shark Bay.

A 2015 FX HO snapped a timing chain and an oil pump failed on a 2017 FX HO. Both riders switched to spare PWCs as two of the riders could only do the first half of the trip, and their skis were still on the trailers.

In a bizarre coincidence both PWCs had their mechanical issues within half an hour of each other and parked up on a sand bar.

They were eventually towed to the nearest section of coastline, at False Entrance, but the PWCs had to be loaded onto trailers via the beach rather than a boat ramp.

Cue more drama: the tow vehicles became bogged, adding to the day’s delays.

Despite the toughest conditions coming near the end of the ride, participants said they would do it all again.

“It was an awesome trip and it’s such a rare opportunity to have this view of Australia’s western coastline,” says Brown.

“And of course, anything we can do as enthusiasts to raise awareness for Sarz Sanctuary only helps the cause. We’re a close community and we share the same interests in ocean riding.”

On the final run home the group clocked up 260km in just six and a quarter hours of choppy ocean riding, stopping once at the 140km mark to refuel.

Aside from the logistics of having a support crew follow the PWC riding group via road, it’s an expensive hobby just in fuel alone.

By their calculations the non-supercharged Yamahas were using fuel at a rate of 50 to 60 litres per 100km, similar to the consumption of a V8-engined Supercar around Bathurst.

In terms of distance, the group estimated the Broome to Perth trip was the equivalent to three-and-half Variety Jet Treks done in two weeks.

Some group members already have the next epic trip planned: a repeat of a 2013 journey from the far north coast of Queensland to Papua New Guinea and back.

“We’re already planning the next one,” says Brown.

“We do it because we love it,” said patricipant Grantley Jack. “The first few days are hard but then your muscle memory comes back and your body gets used to it. It’s an awesome experience.”

“It’s a massive logistics exercise and not everyone can dedicate the time to plan it let alone do it. But once you’ve done it you’re hooked,” another participant, Dave McNamara, said.