Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours launches No. 19

Article and Photos by Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing Writer

There is new excitement in store for tourists at the foot of Water Street.

The newest in the fleet of Whirlpool Jet Boat Tour vessels churned up the water in thrilling fashion at its launch on June 25 in Lewiston.

Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours operating partner John Kinney is proud of the company’s latest creation, Jet Boat 19, which has been several years in the making. It is the 10^th boat in the current fleet and can accommodate 64 people. The cabin is enclosed, with a small portion of the deck open for those who don’t mind getting soaked during the ride.

So, while there’s a choice – get wet or stay dry – it’s still an adventure.

“What’s really cool about this is that the people who sit in these seats (inside) get to watch the people in those seats just get hammered,” Kinney said.

The boat is self-bailing, so the splashed water is quickly drawn up again.

“What’s amazing is we can take, right from this compartment alone, about 6,000 lbs. of water, but we can bail it out in about 12 seconds,” Kinney said.

It’s a dual experience, Kinney noted.

“If your idea of adventure is going through Class 5 whitewater, but you don’t want to get wet, that’s there,” he said, pointing to the enclosed cabin. But if your idea of adventure is getting “waves just dropping upon you, that’s what you get up here,” he added, gesturing up front.

The boat ride is available on both the U.S. and Canadian sides of the river.

“It’s extremely fast. For the size and weight of this boat – it was clocked at 58 mph,” Kinney said. He noted that’s extraordinary for a boat that is going through Class 5 whitewater rapids. “All of these boats have an incredible amount of government scrutiny that they go through before Passenger No. 1 ever goes on them.”

At the launch of Whirlpool Jet Boat No 19 are, from left, Upward Niagara Chamber of Commerce President Amanda Haseley, Village of Lewiston Mayor Anne Welch and Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours operating partner John Kinney.

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All boats in the fleet are made by the Whirlpool Jet Boat company.

“I grew up in the whitewater business,” Kinney told the crowd of officials, business leaders, friends and fellow whitewater enthusiasts who were on hand to celebrate the launch in an event that was coordinated with the Upward Niagara Chamber of Commerce.

“Our start here in Lewiston was a little bit challenging,” Kinney said.

He told the audience that, when he first arrived in town in 1988 with the goal of starting a jet boat company, “I didn’t have a lot of money. I was a retired kayak racer trying to make my way in the world.”

Back then, he pulled his Chevy F-10 pickup near the current launch site and was planning how he’d convince the Village Board the following day to let him set up shop near the rapids he hoped to ride. But that first night, he got a knock on the cab of his truck – it was the Lewiston police. He couldn’t convince officers that he was a doer, not just a dreamer.

“They said, ‘Kid, what are you doing here?’ ” Kinney recalled – juxtaposing how common it is now to see jet boats up and down the waterfront. But it was unheard of back then.

He told the officers about the pitch he would be making to the Village Board for taking jet boats through the rapids into the Whirlpool.

“And the cops’ eyes kind of rolled back into his head” … as if to say, “ ‘He thinks that boats magically levitate and go up through the rapids.’ ” They escorted Kinney off the premises.

More than three decades later, jet boats are a staple of Lewiston tourism.

“We came here with one objective,” Kinney said. “People tried to do whitewater here back in the ’70s – didn’t work out so well – and our first and foremost objective was to do this and make this a family activity that anybody can do, and do it safely.”

“I’m the most proud of the fact that, last summer, we took our 2.5 millionth passenger through the Devil’s Hole Rapids of the Niagara, and we brought every one of those persons back. My team that surrounds us here, that’s the most important thing that we’ve done.”

For contrast from his early beginnings to his latest craft, Kinney had his friends bring out the first raft he ever bought. He got it when he was 14, for $89.95, from the local Army / Navy store. Back then, he took his raft through the twists and turns of the Youghiogheny River where he grew up in Pennsylvania.

“All the crazy ideas all started from this,” Kinney said of the raft.

Then, introducing the latest jet boat, he said. “We have gone, without a doubt, from the world’s least sophisticated whitewater craft, to what is behind me, which is, without a doubt, the fastest, most powerful and the safest whitewater craft there is in the world.”

Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours operating partner John Kinney raises a small bottle of champagne – the traditional boat christening bubbly – while addressing the crowd of well-wishers at the launch of Whirlpool Jet Boat No. 19.

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As crew began taking the tarp off the boat for the unveiling, Kinney described the effort that went into it.

“This boat is a product of a lot of hard work from everyone here in Niagara that has helped us build this boat,” he said. “You don’t call ‘Jet Boats Are Us’ and get one of these delivered to you. This is all custom built, by ourselves.”

“As we developed our whitewater business here, it was always a huge frustration to me that 80% of the people visiting Niagara couldn’t do our trip … because they had to get soaking wet (before doing the rest of their touring). They either had to go in the baggage stows of the motor coach that they were on, or they were off to a wine tour or a play somewhere; and we really needed to develop a program that, young and old, everybody, can do this.”

“In spite of all the success that we had with our boat program where everybody gets wet, we needed to develop a program that was tapped into that other 80% of the market.

“We call this the Freedom Jet. This is the second one of these that we’ve built. It is our statement in Western New York and in the Niagara Region that tourism is alive and well in Western New York and in Niagara Falls, USA.”

Kinney said Jet Boat 19 is about 3,000 lbs. – lighter than its immediate predecessor.

“Every time you build one of these, you learn new things,” he explained. “It’s better for performance, it’s better for the passengers – it’s better in a lot of different ways. It's the absolute world’s most sophisticated jet boat.”

He said that, with the technology the boat incorporates, it can run trips right into December.

“We’re trying to be less of a June, July and August business, and be a February to December business,” Kinney said. The new boat has both heating and air conditioning.

“Whirlpool Jet Boats – I calculated this morning – we have been in business for 12,221 days; but this is only the eighth time that we had a boat launch,” Kinney noted.

He explained the significance of the newest boat being No. 19: “We started jet boats in Montreal – that’s where boats 1, 2 and 3 were.”

He said, subsequently, the additional boats brought the company up to its 19^th boat last week, but 10 boats comprise the active armada.

“This is a huge investment in Western New York,” Kinney said. “We spent $1.7 million to build this boat. Again, that’s our commitment to making sure that Niagara Falls USA continues to be strong and gets stronger every day.”

Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours is a next-door neighbor to the popular Griffin House restaurant.

“We’re here for the long haul,” Kinney said. “We are really pleased to have this wonderful property here on the water, and everything that Ed (Webster) and Ken (Scibetta) do here at Griffon – and we hope that you’ll pay good attention to them with all the efforts that they’ve made.”

“Whirlpool Jet Boats has 134 employees,” Kinney noted. “Everybody works so incredibly hard. Some of them are the people who build these boats; some of them are guest services people, welcoming people from all over the world.”

He said that, because of the employees, people around the globe know about Lewiston.

“They made this happen – not so much me,” Kinney said.

Chamber members and honored guests had good things to say about the launch of the new boat.

“This is what this community is all about – it’s about family and it’s about pride and accomplishment and sharing in those,” said Bonnie Lockwood, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s regional director of Western New York. Lockwood said Hochul has called Lewiston “a gem,” for all the improvements along its pier.

“True words then, and even truer today. And today, it’s a gem with a Whirlpool Jet,” Lockwood said.

Town of Lewiston Supervisor Steve Broderick is a fan.

“Basically, this is an awesome experience on the Whirlpool Jet,” he said. “I think it’s great that they’re getting a new vessel, and I’m happy to be here today to watch them launch.”

Village of Lewiston Mayor Anne Welch was complimentary of the newest boat: “I’m just really happy to see that John (Kinney’s) Whirlpool Jet Boat is such a success in the Village of Lewiston, and now they’re adding another boat, which is exciting. It draws a lot of people to the village and people really enjoy this attraction.”

Upward Niagara Chamber of Commerce President Amanda Haseley cited the value that the jet boat company has to area businesses.

“It’s super exciting. I know that John has been busy working on this for the last five years, so seeing it come to fruition is extremely exciting for Lewiston,” Haseley said. “He does such a great job with the Whirlpool Jet Boats. All the tourists who come into our office are constantly saying, ‘Oh, we can’t wait to get down there!’ Or they come back to our area to do it again. So, it’s just an amazing new edition, and I’m really excited for them.”

Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours is located at 115 S. Water St., Lewiston; and online at https://whirlpooljet.com/.

On board Jet Boat No. 19, it’s all smiles for Village of Lewiston Mayor Anne Welch and Suzanne Raby, Upward Niagara Chamber of Commerce director of finance and benefits.