High Life A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Jet Ski Champ Makes Splash : It’s Life in the Wet Lane for Young Racer

Living in Southern California means we are exposed to great weather and the Pacific Ocean, but few of us take greater advantage of the two than Bill Pointer.

Pointer, a 17-year-old senior at Dana Hills High School, is a champion Jet Ski racer.

He used a little friendly persuasion at age 10 to get started in the sport.

“I just got tired of water-skiing all the time,” Pointer said. “I was able to convince my grandmother to buy a Jet Ski for my family.”

Seven years and many racing victories later, Pointer owns the title of National Expert Jet Ski Champion.

In Jet Ski competition, there are three levels--novice, expert and professional--and two types of races--slalom and closed-course.

Slalom racing takes place on a 238-foot course with nine turn buoys and riders racing against the clock. Closed-course races involve 10 to 20 buoys and three log jumps, which are placed over a half-mile layout, and usually 11 riders compete against each other in 15-lap events.

Pointer entered his first novice race at age 15 and became known as “Wild, Wild Bill.”

“My mom (Stephinie Pointer), dad (Bill Pointer) and I came up with the nickname just for fun,” said Pointer, adding that it has nothing to do with his style of racing.

A year later, he won the Novice Winter Series Championship at Marine Stadium in Long Beach, then decided to make his move.

“Whenever you feel you can compete in expert races, you make the move up (to that level),” he said.

After racing in only three expert events locally--at Marine Stadium and Castaic Lake--Pointer believed he was ready to compete on the national circuit.

Along the way, he won the national expert championship last August on Lake Michigan, and the state expert championship a month later in Northern California.

Pointer is a self-taught Jet Ski rider who works hard at perfecting his racing skills.

“With a busy schedule, it makes it difficult to practice a lot during the week,” said Pointer, who gets in about six hours on his Jet Ski each week.

“I usually race with friends at Mission Bay in San Diego, Oceanside Harbor near Camp Pendleton or at my house on the Colorado River for practice.”

And though it may look as if the Jet Ski is doing all the work, Pointer said the rider needs to be physically fit. He rides a mountain bike and does push-ups to keep in shape.

Pointer was one of 47 international racers to compete last October in the Skat-Trak World Jet Ski Finals at Lake Havasu City, Ariz., where he ended last season with a ninth-place finish.

“I was disappointed,” he said. “I felt I could have done a lot better. Racing on Lake Havasu takes more time because the water is choppy and rough. I could have used more practice time under those conditions.”

During the racing season, which runs from February through October, Pointer enters between 45 and 50 events. The bulk of his expenses are picked up by his sponsors--Skat-Trak, a Jet Ski propeller manufacturer; Mobby’s, which makes wet suits, and West Coast Performance, which makes modified racing parts for Jet Skis.

“You can’t actually make a living racing,” he said, “but you can make a living having sponsors pay you for racing and using their products.”