A new Iqaluit sport – snowmoboating

The sun is shining, it’s a hot day, the water is slick and you’re racing along in your snowmobile, kicking up a plume of water in your wake.

If that sounds like a dream, just take a walk along Iqaluit’s Road to Nowhere or past Iqaluit’s airport some evening, and you’ll hear the sounds of enthusiastic snowmobilers practising “watercross” – snowmobile racing on the water.

There’s nothing to it, said Tim MacLeod of Iqaluit, an avid motorcyclist and snowmobiler.

MacLeod tried out riding his snowmobile on water for the first time this week on Zippermouth Pond.

“I’m sure you can go as far as you can go,” he said. “But if you stop, you’ll sink.”

At one point, MacLeod said, he revved his motor and found his snowmobile doing a kind of “wheelie” into the air on the water.

When a snowmobile is out on the water, its tracks work a bit like paddles, while the skis help the machine slide across the water.

Although Iqaluit snowmobilers are new to this extreme sport, there are already watercross associations and races in the South.

One New York State watercross enthusiast constructed a pond for racers and spectators to come and enjoy watercross. Watercross race events include drag races, oval races (consisting of four-lap circuits for heats and six-lap circuits for finals), ramp-jumping, timed figure-eights, and even couples oval racing.

Snowmobiles used for watercross should be able to maintain a water speed at 80-90 km/h.

Drivers should remove their seats, tape up the hood to keep water off the clutch and belt, and yank the tether if it becomes obvious they are going into the drink. As long as the engine isn’t running when it goes under, it won’t be damaged.

The snowmobile can survive – as long as it doesn’t sink in salt water and you can find it.

So far this summer, seven snowmobiles are reported to have been lost in the pond near the new development on the Road to Nowhere and 24 year old had to be rescued last week when his machine sank.