My Forester (and Jet Skis) in action

[F14CRAZY]

As you've probably read in another thread, my '07 Subaru Forester X (I bought new, manual trans) was rear ended severely back in October. I was without it for two months for reconstructive surgery, and now have been without it for 10 days (Jan 24th) because it's back at the shop having about a dozen things addressed that I've found wrong or shoddy on their part.

Anyway, I don't have many pix of it but I found this that my mom took with her 35mm this summer in August I think. I'm the one inside and the other person is my younger brother. This is at the boat ramp in Petoskey, MI, about to hit some waves on Lake Michigan. It was pretty sweet hitting 6-8 foot waves. My bro's '90 Kawasaki 650 TS is coming off the trailer (BTW, this is about as far as I've backed into the water with my Forester, don't want water in the rear diff, in case you're worried) while my 650 X2 is actually loaded in the back. It mostly fits with the rear seats folded down. I strap it in and the tailgate mostly closes. The X2 is a pretty sweet machine...I prefer riding standup (have a 650SX) but the X2 is a pretty sweet compromise between sitdown and standup. It came with a two place trailer but the rails are only big enough for an X2 or standups, so my bro's TS won't fit on it. His TS came with a single place trailer, so for times like this my standup has to go in the back. My Forester only sagged a little bit towing the trailer and with the X2 in the back. On board limit is 900 lbs, and towing is 2400 lbs. I bought my Forester with ski-towing in mind and it does well with its cargo/towing capacity and AWD which is exercised when pulling the trailer out of the sand on the ramp. I've done 4 wheel peels doing this when its been kind of stuck .

BTW, don't trust anyone but yourself (unless you don't trust yourself) to drive your vehicle out of the boat ramp. On the Explorer board I've heard of an unexperienced manual trans driver rolling back, leaving just the roof above the water



I'll throw in some other ski pix...



Earlier this season (it was like 55 degrees...) on my JS300 (a bit underpowered). This is on Eagle Lake in Mancelona, MI. Our cottage is in the background. This was actually the only time I've ridden on our lake...it's pretty small, and boy were the neighbors pissed . I can lean farther than that...this was actually like the 2nd time I rode stand up ever



My hardcore-ness and my X2 (seat has since been recovered, and handlebars swapped out)



I survived suicide and rode solo to Mackinac Island from Mackinac City on my SX. According to my calculations it was about an 8 mile trip each way. I also rode under the Mackinac Bridge...it was amazing to look up at such an impressive structure (it would have sucked if it had fallen while I was under it). Bridge is in the background if you didn't notice. I did this trip mostly because the ferries that run between Mackinac City and St. Ignace to the island throw like 10 foot wakes...I thought I was Hardcore-enough to go hit em...got out there and chickened out



Hitting my own wake (not much of one) on the SX on Starvation Lake, across the street from Eagle Lake



Alas, my [ex]girlfriend shot this pic during spring break in Venice, FL (my JS300 BTW)