After watching a team in Norway set a snowmobile water-skipping world speed record of 102.5 miles per hour on YouTube, Rick Coffman and Andrew Smith of Anchorage, Alaska, knew they could do better.
So on Labour Day 2013, they starting building a 430-horsepower sled out of a 2008 Yamaha Nytro. Six weeks later and with more than $20,000 sunk into the project, Coffman succeeded in breaking the Norwegians' record by reaching 106 miles per hour across a channel of the Knik River near Palmer, Alaska.
Coffman said the trickiest part was riding back onto land.
“On the record run, our body of water was getting shorter because the waters were going down so I actually came onto shore at 80 miles per hour,” said Coffman. “That definitely was a fun ride.”
It took several attempts before they succeeded in breaking the record, and on one of the test runs, the sled actually sank. They also blew a motor four weeks into the project.
“It was a real eye-opener how much power it takes to get those speeds on water,” said Coffman. “We started off with a similar setup to what I ran last winter (in the backcountry) and that was only getting mid-80s. We went a step farther and hit 100.9 . . . at that point, we knew we were pushing it.”
Turning a 174-inch mountain sled into a water-skipping machine was no easy task.
“To skip water, we needed a shorter track,” said Smith. “We swapped the tunnel and waterproofed it and we made a sub-tunnel in order to keep the water out. We taped it off and siliconed it to make sure no water could get into the tunnel and into our clutches. We strapped the rear suspension and sucked up the front shocks to make sure they wouldn’t hang down into the water for less drag.”
To make it go fast, they installed a two-stage nitrous system. Both Coffman and Smith own snowmobile-related businesses in Anchorage so it wasn’t hard for them to locate spare parts.
“(Rick) had a motor and I had a tunnel and a track so we made everything work,” said Smith.
The need for speed
Breaking records is something Coffman and Smith are getting good at. Last summer, they set two new asphalt track records for snowmobiles at the Alaska Raceway Park with a heavily modified 2005 Yamaha Vector. Even when they’re riding the backcountry, these high-horsepower junkies like to test their limits on the gnarliest chutes they can find.
“The steeper the better,” said Smith.
The speed record Coffman and Smith set on the Knik River is evidenced on YouTube. Next year, they hope to get Guinness World Records involved to make it seem more official. They are also hoping the Norwegians, or anyone for that matter, will give them an opportunity to defend their title.
“It’s safe to say we’ll be back out there because we have more tricks up our sleeve,” said Smith.
The feeling is mutual.
“I anticipate those guys coming back,” said Coffman. “We haven’t beat them by that much and I’m looking forward to going faster.”
