The 14th Annual April "FOOLS" FreeRide will be held this year on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the State Hill Boat Launch at Blue Marsh Lake.

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Here is info on last year's April "FOOLS" Ride:

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The 13th Annual Blue Marsh April “FOOLS” FreeRide is in the Books!  The Ride was held on April 22, 2023 at the Blue Marsh Lake State Hill Boat Launch in Berks County, PA.  The weather sure made everyone cautious, but the rain and storms held up long enough to enjoy almost all of the day.

 

The April “FOOLS” Freeride is an annual get-together for Stand-Up Jet Skis but all skis, boats, family & spectators are welcome.  It all started in 2010 when a few buddies decided to brave the April waters of Blue Marsh Lake, eventually making it an annual ride as close to April 1st as possible.  Every year we must take into account two other weekends in April in order to plan the April “FOOLS” Ride: Easter & WaveDaze at Virginia Beach.  In 2020, we had to cancel the 10th anniversary of the Ride due to Covid.  The Ride started out with only 4-5 riders in 2010.  There is no cost to the event.  Prizes are donated from various vendors, mostly watercraft vendors, throughout the country to help promote the sport. 

 

Torrent Pumps started early this year with a Friday PreRide at the lake with 6 riders on a super flat/calm lake and very nice 80-degree temperatures.  I arrived at the Lake Saturday morning at 8am and to my surprise, a few riders beat me to the lake and were already riding.  I believe the air temperature was in the low-to-mid 50’s and the water temperature was 58.3 degrees – quite a drop from a few hours earlier!  As the day went on and the sun came out, I believe the air temps hit the 70’s so it was comfortable for riding, but wetsuits were a blessing.

 

As the day progressed and more & more riders showed up, the radar showed the storms were getting closer so around 1Pm we held the Free Raffle.  We had 54 registered riders for the raffle, along with 2 riders who came late and missed the raffle, and me.  So, in total, we had 57 riders in the water and a guestimated 70 machines in the water.  Plus, we had tons of spectators and other riders who didn’t ride because their machines weren’t ready from their winter builds.

 

Before the raffle, we had a prize for the longest traveled distance to the April “FOOLS” FreeRide and the winner was John Weeks from Weeks Brothers Watersports who came from New Hampshire.  John won a PZ Jet Ski Beanie hat and a $25 Visa Gift card for food & gas for his trip donated by PZ’s Jet Skis, Golf Carts & Trailers.  Evan Hahn was a close second from Lake View, NY.  Also, Frank the Tank traveled 8 hours from Ohio to be a spectator.

 

Every Rider went home with something from the raffle.  This year, prizes came from the following vendors:

FLY-N-TY Jet Ski Products – New Red Kawi 550 Gas Tank won by Rob Potts

Watercraft Factory Inc – New OVP Steering won by Jay Griffith

PFM Industries – Lightened Flywheel Gift Certificate won by Ryan Mertz

Competitive Crankshafts – 30% Gift Certificate towards a crank rebuild won by Joe Walsh

PZ Jet Skis, Golf Carts & Trailers – Stand Up Ski Scissor Stand won by Abbey Haupert

Minersville NAPA donated a bunch of NAPA Hats

PA Fish & Boat Commission donated tons of Pamphlets and Decals

Pro Rider Watercraft Magazine Digital Subscriptions

LoadRite Trailers donated Shirts

MotoOption Clothing donated 2 Swag Bags

Lehr Performance Watercraft (LPW) donated Shirts & Decals

PWCDoctor.com donated Shirts, Hats, Decals & Iron-On Patches

Watcon donated Heavy Duty Hoodies, Hats, Hood Seals and a Prop Gauge

Rad Dudes donated Shirts, Decals, a Koozie, and a Long SJ Exhaust Hose

Jetmaniac donated Decals, Shirts, a Sweatshirt, Cups, a Beanie Hat, Pens & PFP/FP Bolts

Thrustone donated Decals, Pole Bolt, Pinch Bolts, Pissers, Steering Stop, Hood Latch & a Throttle Lever

Adrenaline Junkie donated Shirts

Weeks Brothers Powersports donated “TONS” of 3D printed PWC Parts

Torrent Pumps donated tons of Sweatshirts & Shirts

717 Detailing donated a Gift Certificate for a Car, Truck or Boat Detailing and drinks for everyone

PZ’s Jet Skis also donated Beanie Hats, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Rice Krispie Treats, etc

 

We had a wide variety of skis (mostly Stand-Ups) from vintage to new and from stock to aftermarket.  We even had a wake boat and an RV to use as a Hot-Box for anyone who needed to warm up.  Hopefully I didn’t miss any skis but some of the ones representing at the Freeride were: a 1976 Kawasaki JS400, Kawasaki 300sx, Kawasaki 550js, Kawasaki 650sx, Kawasaki 750sx, Kawasaki X-2, Kawasaki SC Super Chicken, Kawasaki TS, Kawasaki SXR, Kawasaki SXR1500, Yamaha GP760, Yamaha WaveRaider, Yamaha Wave Venture, Yamaha Square Nose SuperJet, Yamaha Round Nose Superjet, Yamaha 4-Stroke Superjet, Yamaha Wavejammer, Yamaha WaveBlaster1, Yamaha WaveBlaster2, Yamaha VXR Pro, Yamaha EXR, SeaDoo Spark, SeaDoo GTX215, Polaris SL900, Phantom, Krash Reaper, Krash Footrocket, Rickters (various models), WDK, Various DVX’s including the 2013 World Finals Championship Ski, SuperFreak BadAss, Tigercrafts (many models) and LSP Revolvers.

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Special thanks to all the Vendors, Riders, Family & Spectators for making this a Fun & Free event!!!

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Stay up-to-date with next year’s ride at www.aprilfoolsride.com