Another childhood dream, Achieved!

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I'd venture a guess that 8 year old me would think I'm pretty cool.  As you may have surmised, I was 8 years old in 1994.  That summer came the fastest, and dare I say coolest PWC that the world, and 8 year old me, had ever seen.  I wanted one.  Of course at that age I would have been happy to have easy access to any PWC period.

A few years later some family friends turned up with a pair of these '94 Raiders, so I finally got the chance to ride one.  By this point I did have a '93 WaveRunner III, but the WaveRaider is a different animal all together.  

While they're both 2-cyl, 2-stroke engines, the WaveRaider has twin carbs, about 20% more hp, and a sleeker hull. . . .which lead to the well known squirrely handling characteristics of the WaveRaider.

I can attest.  My first ride on our friend's Raider and I caught a wave at just the wrong angle and was jettisoned from the ski in a way that I had only ever experienced once or twice before.  

Fast forward 15 or so years and I had a client who was relocating out of state, who had a pristine '94 WaveRaider that he bought new in 94.  He had also had it exclusively on fresh water, on a lift, on a covered dock, under a cover.  It was basically like brand new.

He didn't want to take it with him, so I offered him $400 to take it off his hands.  Being that he didn't have a trailer to go with it, he agreed to the offer.  One Tuesday afternoon, and a borrowed trailer later I was the proud owner of one of my childhood dreams!

They say don't meet you're heroes, and generally I'd agree, but I knew what to expect with this one.  After I brought it home I quickly made a couple of changes.  The three biggest upgrades for handling were a new Intake Grate, Ride Plate, and Extended Nozzle.  I would say all of them are basically requisite for the WaveRaider hull, but especially the Extended Nozzle.  If you're reading this and you have a Raider without one, do yourself a favor and find one poste haste.  

The Nozzle dramatically improves the handling of the hull.  It's still "Darty" but it allows for much more control over it.  Both at high and lower speeds.  The Intake Grate and the Ride Plate come into play more at higher speeds.  The downside of the Grate specifically is it does hold back top speed by about 2 mph in my case.  The benefit is you can actually turn at speed and maintain that speed.

Those three definitely make for a much, much better ski overall.

Unfortunately, as I write this in May of 2025 this Raider is sitting neglected again.  I need to get it running properly all over again, and I should because now I want to go for a ride.

I've also go my WhiteTrashRaider project that needs finished.  Stuffing a bored out 1100 3-cyl into the other Fiberglass '94 Hull I have.

Here's a more detailed history from Yamaha on the WaveRunner if you're interested: https://global.yamaha-motor.com/business/waverunner/history/