About Us

"The genesis of Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours can be traced back to the summer of 1981. I first witnessed the whitewater spectacle of the Niagara River Gorge as part of a whitewater kayaking expedition to Northern Ontario. I can recall standing beside the towering waves in astonishment, wondering if I would ever have the opportunity to experience the rapids commonly referred to as the “Mount Everest” of whitewater rapids.

Since 1992, traversing the rapids of the Niagara River Gorge with Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours has become the world’s single most popular whitewater tour. With safety as our premise, millions of Niagara visitors embark on our specialized jet boats to witness first hand the truly world-class whitewater rapids on the Niagara River. Our team of whitewater professionals thanks you for your patronage and trusts your memories of Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours, the Devil’s Hole Rapids, and the Niagara Whirlpool will be with you forever as they will be with me."

John Kinney – Owner & President
Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours

Why Niagara? Why Jet Boats? Why Me?

These are the most common questions asked by anyone contemplating traversing the white-water rapids of Niagara. Our Transport Canada and United States Coast Guard certified captains and crew frequently answer these questions:

• Why Niagara? This is probably the easiest of all the questions.... the Niagara River collects all the water from the Great Lakes (about 20% of the world’s fresh water)...then drops off over 350 feet in elevation as it connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. After the water goes over Niagara Falls, a spectacular 7 mile long canyon gorge has been cut out of the escarpment by the turbulent currents of this ragging river over the last 12,000 years. The towering waves and swirling cross-currents within the gorge provide a natural “playing field” for simply the world’s most popular white-water boat tour.
• Why Jet Boats? Safety, Power, & Safety again. The fleet of vessels operated by Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours are considered to be the most technologically advanced white-water vessels in the world. Different than propeller driven vessels, our boats’ utilize a triple turbo diesel water jet system for both propulsion and steering. This design creates incredible reliability & safety and has enabled Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours to achieve our exemplary safety record.
• Why Me? Talk to anyone who has been on the trip, review the unsolicited comments on TripAdvisor.com , view any of profiles done by the Travel or Discovery Channels, or watch other past TV productions such as “The Amazing Race”, “Live with Regis and Kathy Lee”, or “Extreme Makeover Home Edition”. Although this is just a short list of the countless endorsements Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours has received from major media and any of the 1.5 million delighted passengers who have enjoyed our tour, we believe anyone who has felt the energy and exhilaration of the white water of Niagara, will live a life... “ a bit less ordinary“.

History:

The year is 1983. The place is Montreal. The River is the St.Lawrence. But, wait... the St. Lawrence is not a whitewater river... it’s just a big seaway with locks that big cargo carrying lake freighters go through...right? Nothing could be further from the truth! The reason the St. Lawrence seaway was built was because the ships heading west from the Atlantic Ocean and the maritime provinces could not get through the large whitewater rapids around the city of Montreal. These rapids called the ‘Lachine Rapids’, where named by the French explorer LaSalle, because the early explorers believed that these rapids somehow would lead to China on the other side of the world.

Due to the St. Lawrence’s very wide shore-to-shore distance (over 2 miles wide in places), the mid-river rapids looked ‘manageable’ for the distance shorelines. However, once you got close to these rapids... the St. Lawrence’s true character becomes quite clear. Up close these rapids are a combination of the water of all 5 Great Lakes, cascading over large rock ledges and giant mid-river boulders to make 15 foot high waves, ferocious reversing hydraulics, boils, and swirling whirlpools. These rapids were beautiful to view but clearly not for people powered craft. In early attempt to use a large Colorado motorized raft at the ‘Lachine’ proved that some real horsepower was need in the St. Lawrence.

Horsepower came to ‘Lachine’ in the spring of 1983. The completion of two, “state of the art” jet boats now made taking on these rapids a reality. Although these boats were ‘primitive’ by today’s standards, they offered a giant leap forward from the any other whitewater vessel operated in North America. They could carry about 25 people, had 2 – high output Ford 460 engines with 1000 horsepower, and if proven to be capable of the St. Lawrence...might even be able to go to, Niagara!

The year is 1989. The ‘primitive’ boats from Montreal aren’t so primitive any more. The Ford 460’s which ran on gasoline, ‘red-lined’ at over 7000 rpm’s when in the froth of whitewater, and sometimes didn’t run all the way back to the dock... where replaced by high power, but lower rpm turbo-charged diesel engines. The new boats were bigger, more powerful, and very reliable... it was time to go to Niagara.

During the fall of ’89 & ’90, after the season slowed down in Montreal the fall “pilgrimage” to Niagara occurred. Each year, new innovations had been implemented which had to be tried on the Niagara. In the fall of 1989, the first successful assent (going up the rapids) of the Devil’s Hole rapids was achieved...but something still wasn’t right. We had lots of power, but couldn’t use it all... we had a big enough boat but it was designed foremost for the St. Lawrence. We had to combine all the research & development since we had first considered jet boats and put it all together into the ‘latest and greatest’ whitewater innovation attempted in the whitewater industry... a boat that could safely navigated the surging torrent of current that occurs after the water of Niagara drops over the Falls. We had to build all a new boat... just for Niagara.... No turning back.

In the fall of 1991...the years of R & D, the ingenuity of the mechanics, welders, and Naval architects all came full circle to create the first boat designed and constructed exclusively for the Niagara River. The new boat did exactly ‘on-the-water’ what it was designed to do ‘on-paper’. The new hull shape did not “plow” when climbing the rapids and it was the first 44 ft. long by 14 ft. wide jet boat with enough power to do a full spinning 360 degree “Hamilton Turn”. All the pieces were now in place. The spring of ’92 would bring something revolutionary to Niagara.