What strikes me about these pictures are the incredible size of Rhianna’s ear rings. Those hoops are bigger than their hat. There must be some sort of safety hazard involved in those. Get those wrapped around something and there’s no telling what could happen.

There is something very cool about the way the wheels gracefully turn upwards when it’s changed into jet ski mode. It looks like something Batman would use to get around on. And who amongst us can honestly say they don’t want to be a caped crusader?

This thing is being touted as being useful to military personal but I doubt there aren’t all that many practical applications for an amphibious, one person vehicle of this sort. But I don’t doubt they’re fun. I’m sure the moment when you drive off the land and splash head long into the water is one thing I definitely want to try.

Take a look at this quadski video and see if it floats your boat.

The event will, as always, feature Europe’s leading jet skiers including, British Jet Ski Championship winner, Jason Young.

Lets hope that this year’s event matches up year’s European Jet Ski Championship which saw some outstanding performances from Klaus Roth (in the Ski Novice category), Nick Jacobs (Ski Limited) and David Selles (Ski Stock). The event was dominated by Kawasaki and it’ll be interesting to see if the same occurs this year.

It looks like Croatia is becoming a real destination for water sports. A few weeks before the 2008 European Jet Ski Championship, the 2008 International Sailing Federation Eastern Hemisphere Championship was held near Split. It certainly sounds like the place to be this summer.

Recently, a man was arrested for riding his skidoo jet-ski-like across the Milwaukee River. When I first heard about this, I was skeptical about whether a snowmobile could really be used like a jet ski. So I set out to find proof that it could be done and found this video of snowmobiles being ridden like jet skis.

The first part of this video is a jet ski display. If you want to see the snowmobiles, move the video forward to the 5 minute mark.

It’s quite incredible to see. The snowmobiles do eventually sink, but there’s no doubting that a snowmobile works better than a jet ski than a jet ski would work as a snowmobile. Still it’s not the same. In the battle of snowmobile vs Jet ski even this video can’t turn me into a supporter of the skidoo.

When renting a jet ski, it always used to be that fuel was included in the price. But with the current fuel crisis, this is starting to change. One company in Florida (operating out of Melbourne and Vero Beach, Fl) has now had to start charging for the gas used by its customers.

Renting a jet ski for an hour will use up about three gallons of gas (the jet skis are on the relative calm of the Indian River). With gas currently at around $4 a gallon, that’s an extra charge of $12 for the average ride.

Of course, how the jet ski is ridden will have an impact on how much fuel is used in a certain time period. It seems fair to me that people who ride a jet ski in a more efficient way should pay less than those who use a lot of fuel. With gas making up such a large part of the costs for jet ski rentals - it seems inevitable that jet ski rental firms would start taking it into consideration.

Let’s hope that the fuel crisis is over soon and that we can get back to being able to enjoy our jet skis without having to worry about how much gas we’re using. Until then, it may be that we see more jet ski rentals charge for gas like the Melbourne Florida jet ski rental company has done.

Then, of course, there’s the whole atmosphere. You can’t help but be influenced by your surroundings when you’re listening to music. Listening to music when you’re riding a jet ski raises the intensity of both. The speed gives the music a new intensity and the music feeds into your thoughts and almost gives meaning to the movement.

But it’s not just on a jet ski. I was on a friend’s boat the other evening. The sun was going down and he had some music playing through his Kicker marine speakers. It was overwhelming.

Officials in Lanai City are considering allowing PWCs to use the waters around the island and are consulting with locals. Jet skis had previously been banned around the island, largely as a consideration of the local wildlife such as humpback whales. They are now considering a scheme which will allow limited use of jet skis in areas that will not endanger any of the sea life.

Hawaii is one of the greatest places in the world for water sports. Although it is most famous as the birth place of surfing, it’s also an ideal place to jet ski.

The ban on jet skis in Galway Bay is being reconsidered after protests from local jet ski owners. The council of Galway are considering a compromise which would allow jet skis to be ridden in an allocated area 250 meters off shore.

The jet skis were originally banned because of fears for the safety of swimmers, but this compromise should ensure that swimmers are completely safe while plenty of fun can be had by jet skiers.

Columbia Power Sports of Columbia, Missouri have donated two Kawasaki jet skis for them to use. The PWCs are Kawasaki STX-15F, 4 stroke engine (with 1,498 cc making it the largest displacement in its class).

Between the Steamboat races, ‘Typhoon Tommy’ Nuttall and his team put on displays of freestyle jet ski stunts. Take a look at this video of one of Nuttal’s previous Seadoo exhibition displays:

I think it’s a great thing that the jet ski is getting more recognition and that Nuttall’s dispalys are inspiring a whole new generation of jet ski riders. I can only expect that the steamboat races were a big yawn in comparison with the jet ski display.