Not only did we develop a radical new hull for the world of pro freestyle, but we dressed it up proper with the best composite materials we could get our hands on. We took a step back from the traditional, inexpensive hand lay materials & process, and threw in high strength Epoxy resins, intense carbon fiber weaves and a vacuum bag, and the finish product was the lightest, strongest, most bad ass hull to ever come out of The BOB Factory.

While the pricing may not be part of our standard 'budget' based hull, this hull is built with the best of everything, and just like every other hull we offer, you still get the best bang for your buck. Hurricane Carbon hulls weigh in around 55lbs, and are strong enough to take any abuse you give it. Our final prototype hulls were equipped with the strongest running engines on the market, the skis were sent to the moon, and returned with zero stress cracks or hairline fractures - not even in the paint. These hulls have zero flex and are built to take brute-like beatings.

Hurricane Fiberglass (95% Fiberglass/ 5% Carbon Fiber - ~75lbs Hull)- $5,700 
Hurricane Hybrid (65% Carbon Fiber/ 35% Fiberglass - ~65lbs Hull) - $6,800
Hurricane Carbon Fiber (100% Carbon Fiber ~55lbs Hull) - $8,300

Freestyle Factory is pleased to announce it's newly completed partnership with Share-a-Sale, a leading affiliate marketing platform. This means many things to many people. For consumers, this means greater access to more exciting products as we will now have advertising in yet another popular channel. For Freestyle Factory, it means more traffic and the opportunity to introduce ourselves to many new folks.

We are excited to have this opportunity and look forward to bring many more people our quality service and products. For more information on this program you can visit our new affiliate page.

If you would like to apply for this program, please visit: Click here to join our Affiliate Program

Unfortunately, do to unforeseen circumstances, the 2012 Great Lakes Watercross Tour was cancelled shortly before the tour kicked off. Times have improved and Scott Hyke has generated a lot of interest in the 2013 Great Lakes WatercrossTour. Freestyle Factory's Team Twangled is looking forward to the tour's schedule and the crazy stories that will arise. The Lure has a few legendary tales of its own, which will be remenissed on numerous ocaions this year as the tour makes no less than 4 appearances there, which is actually very cool. The county is not only jet ski friendly, but also quad friendly so plan to come and bring all of your toys!

Check out the 2013 poster - Freestyle Factory even made the cut!

We would like to encourage all shop owners, racers, fans... anyone to print, distribute and hang the little event poster of ours and help get the word out that Tour is Back in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin & Minnesota! 

Great Lakes Watercross
2013 Race Schedule

June 8- Lake Petenwell WI.
June 29- Lake Petenwell WI.
July 20- Lake Petenwell WI.
August 10 - Kenosha, WI.
September 1 - Lake Petenwell WI.

US Watercross Championships
Sep 14 - TBD 

+Gary Burtka

The new facility is located on Bluff Lake, on the Chain of Lakes in northern Illinois right next door to Steitz’s Bar. The new address is 25276 west Grass Lake Road, Antioch, IL, 60002. We are located in Lupa’s Marina, just turn at the sign. Our new facility boasts 1600 square foot of retail / office area, 1600 square feet of service /assembly area, 2 private boat ramps, 2 docks and even some hoists if you need some help with your big boat.

This is the vision that Greg and I have had since the beginning and we are excited to be able to share it with you. The vision includes being a top rated retail destination for all watersports and active lifestyle sports. Many of you Midwesterners may recall how cool it was to take a drive to Butch’s Jet Ski Shop in the elate 80’s and early 90’s and spend a cool fall or spring Saturday hanging with pro riders and tour mechanics. It is precisely that cool destination that Greg and I have been missing for some 20 years now; and well since we could not find one close to home, we have decided to build one. Don’t get us wrong, we have had a blast traveling around visiting shops like Riva, EME and XScream; but those are not always the most convenient for a day trip for us Midwesterners!

Coming soon – an even broader product selection! Think race parts, more hulls, kayaks, paddle boards, inflatable towables, clothing and more! We are looking forward to onboarding many of your favorite brands and products. If you have any requests, please let us know. 

We will not be servicing as a launch facility, our launch is private to the community of Lupa'sMarina. We plan to locate a close launch for anyone that would like to launch and ride over. There are at least 2 in the adjoining lake,Lake Marie. There are other numerous launches within the numerous other adjoining lakes as well. 

Freestyle Factory will begin moving into and preparing its new space later this month and are excited to be able to bring you updates as they unfold. Stay tuned for the official grand opening date and many more updates to this adventure.  Tune into our Facebook page for exclusive pictures, comments & video: FaceBook.com/FreestyleFactory – don’t forget to LIKE us!

+Gary Burtka

Instagram is an online photo-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures, apply digital filters to them, and share them on a variety of social networking services, such as media sites including Facebook or Twitter.

+Gary Burtka

Still not convinced? Stay tuned for updates on my custom Bob Gen 3 build.

Changes from the BOB G2 to the BOB G3 include:

Top Deck:

Added body line on the nose

Added body lines on the hood

Integrated G3 Logo in the handle pole area

Tray foot hold area is indented even more

All new Standard Graphic Kit Design

Reinforced handle pole bracket area design

Bottom Deck:

Revised Bulge to give more pop when launching for aerial tricks

Larger Intake to offer the pump more water for quick, consecutive flips

Integrated Splash Guard to help keep unwanted water splash away from you

Widened Pump Tunnel makes removing & installing the pump easier

Tapered & Rounded rails help to make landings much more stable

Angled tubbies for more aggressive handling

Ramped tray gives your hull a built in kick tail to help keep you in the tray

Modified Keel

+Gary Burtka

The concept was borrowed from the online marketing affiliate model and adapted so that athletes of any sport, age, rank, or class could obtain sponsor dollars as a result of their network, promotional efforts, marketing abilities and actual impact to the sponsor’s bottom line. Sponsors and companies for years have had to make assumptions as to the impact of a sponsor program or team to the company’s revenue. The result has been less market awareness for many brands and fewer sponsor dollars for athletes.

Online marketing’s success of tracking return on investment has demanded that off-line marketing budgets, including sponsor budgets, reallocate to support paid search, affiliate, email and social media programs which are able to easily prove value and return.

As a pro jet skier it has pained me to see my sponsor dollars erode away. As a business owner I must invest my marketing dollars as wisely as possible and in a difficult economy. By leveraging today’s digital tracking technology, Freestyle Factory can reward riders for the orders that they generate using their digital footprint and networks. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, email, Blogs, SMS … any website or digital media is monetizable for our sponsored riders.

We are now accepting applications to our Performance Sponsor Program. For more details on participating, visit: FreestyleFactory.com/sponsorship 

+Gary Burtka

Eric has added the ability to add hull extensions for riders wishing to make their Micro into more of a lake cruiser. These extensions are easily screwed on in minutes and can be trimmed to any length you choose.

These extensions will also screw right on to the Micro to aid those plus sized pilots in keeping the nose down. Even better, you can create muktiple sized sets for various riding conditions or for multiple riders (if you plan to be sharing your Micro).

 The idea is that you can easily tweak your hull from competition ready to freeride worthy in just a few minutes by adding and removing hull extensions. Or consider going from a surf rider to a flat water flipper... The extensions will let you do it all. Yes – we have multi-gallon tanks to equip if you wish for longer ride times. 

Watch Eric's full video here. He shows you the latests in EME technology and why these extensions are better than extensions of the past. Strap in... You are about to see THE FUTURE!

Other improvements made to the production version include a slightly lowered hood to allow for more knee clearance and variable ride plates. EME has also developed conversion kits which allow you to utilize either a Kawasaki or Yamaha pump and choose from a Polaris, Kawasaki or Yamaha power plant.

+Gary Burtka

Tony Papa is once again teaming up with action sports editing veteran Gary Burtka to bring the next chapter to life. This will be the first HD video release and one that has been in the making for quite a few years now. “After Twangulation was released we went out and canned another film complete with a trip to Alaska, the entire 2009 National Tour, another huge air and water show and more. But that film was NOT HD and after a lot of consideration, we made the painful decision to can it and re-equip ourselves with HD technology.” Said Burtka, Producer and Editor of the series.

All Twangled Up will begin with a roadtrip to Florida to visit Team Xscream and will conclude with some high-flying snowmobile freestyle action. Also covered will be events from the US IJSBA National Tour, CWA Canadian National Tour, a trip to the Milwaukee Air Show, a visit to EME and much more to be highlighted in this DVD.

Det-Chi Video is still accepting music submissions as well for the video. Bands receive quite a bit of free exposure, rights to use the video segment and more for participating. If you or someone you know is in a band and has a seriously rocking song or sound and would like to get it showcased in a hot action sports video, contact Gary Burtka at: Gary@FreestyleFactory.com.

+Gary Burtka

I just got back from Duncansville, PA where I had the chance to spend some time with one of my favorite tour roadmates from the past... Eric Malone.  Eric and I traveled the IJSBA National tour together back in the late 90s, when freestyle jet ski hulls were long and narrow and the barrel roll was the must have trick for pros. Well times have changed and so have the jet skis we freestyle on. Eric recently revealed a brand new freestyle hull at the world finals that I just had to test. So I hopped in the car and drove out to catch up with the former freestyle world champion, Eric Malone, to see just what it was that he had built, and if in fact it was a game changer. It was after all only about 600 miles away.

Its called the Micro and measures in at only 70 inches in length and weighs between 60-100 pounds deepending upon the model. It is very short and stubby looking, and an experienced rider would initially think that it would ride nose high. Though short, the hull did not ride nose high. Perhaps it was because of the rider placemet which Eric put in the frot of the tray close to the firewall as opposed to the rear of the tray. Perhaps it is the high bondline in the nose. Whatever it is - It works! When backflipping the ski I did not have to tug back at all. 

I arrived a little later than I had hoped for the test ride. It was dark... Very dark and a bit stormy too. It did not stop us from dropping the Micro in the water and taking a ride out on one of Eric's top secret testing ponds for a late night braap. I must admit that I felt somewhat honored to be there, where Eric put his first flat water back flip to water over a decade ago, to test his new backflip machine called the Micro. Brrrrr... It was also chilly...

The Micro was not the only big news of the weekend. We have decided to bring the Micro and the rest of the EME Product Line into Freestyle Factory. That's right, we will be adding 3 new EME models, each with 3 different weight options into the store. We are excited about the new partnership between EME & FF and look forward to kicking off our first EME project, very soon.

If you need power call us about the power of the EME motors. We will soon be introducing turn-key fresstyle skis from $14,995-39,995 stocked and ready to ride! Until now custom freestyle jet skis have typically been a custom order. Call or email us for details. 

 Starting at $3895.00 for a Fiberglass version just under 100 lbs, the hull also comes painted and includes the handlepole pivot. The Micro comes equipped to take a Polaris engine, and can be adapeted for both Yamaha & Kawasaki powerplants as well. As for the pump, it is setup for a Kawasaki pump, and can also utilize a Yamaha pump with a conversion bracket. 

+Gary Burtka