Perhaps a year ago, I was clocking away my time on this planet by wandering the vast interwebs of the net, when I stumbled upon a website that had these crazy boats shaped like dolphins. After searching around a bit, I noticed in the contact section that their phone number had an area code that semi-local… which means there’s a chance I could craft together a television tale on their operation (and perhaps ride in one!). So I sent them an email.

By the time July of ’11 rolled around, I found myself riding shotgun with with the inventor/CEO of The Seabreacher.

Of all the wacky and wild stories that I’ve covered in my extensive (compared to an intern perhaps?) journalistic career, I think this one takes the crown as my new favorite. It required a 3 hour drive to (and then back from) Redding, coupled with a 4:30 AM wake-up time, but damn was it cool!

The good folks at Innespace Productions build these amazing vessels themselves in a small shop, designing each to the exact specifications of the client. It will run you a pretty penny, but you’re not gonna be finding any jet skis that can do what these puppies (baby dolphins are called “pups”, right?) can.

Using two joysticks and foot pedals, you can dive beneath the water in the fully enclosed cockpit, then launch out into the air. It really is an impressive sight, but it’s even cooler to be riding inside this beast.

He warned me about the dangers of motion sickness while riding inside a dolphin… but after surviving an air show stunt plane adventure, I figured I would have no problems. While the latte and breakfast sandwich stayed down (although there may have been a brief “panic” moment), I will say it was a wild ride.

We put together a little song-and-dance for sweeps, and it turned out pretty cool. Along with our station, it appeared on The Fox News Channel, the home page of Yahoo! and The Wall Street Journal Online. Not too shabby for spending a day on the lake.

So here it is… my grand adventure with “The Dolphin Boat”… The Seabreacher!

I’ve been trying to get the station to invest in some of these for “news gathering” purposes… but so far it’s not going well. Guess times are tight.