Yankee Ripper is the racing sled water slide at Aquaboggan in Saco, Maine.
Added in 2019, this water slide adds another much needed thrill ride to the park’s lineup
and it’s unlike any other slide in New England.
Riders climb aboard a sled, head down a steep drop, and skim across the water.
But is it worth experiencing?
Find out in this review!
Calling Yankee Ripper a new-for-2019 attraction doesn’t tell the full story.
Aquaboggan has been around for nearly 4 decades and Yankee Ripper was one of their oldest
slides.
However, they removed the slide roughly 2 decades ago.
I couldn’t find an official reason why it was removed, but I suspect it may have been
related to safety.
Bailey Rides manufactured a similar attraction called the Aqua Skoot.
Both Yankee Ripper and Aqua Skoot used heavy sleds and featured a large drop at the start.
Immediately after the drop on the Aqua Skoots, the sleds would be launched across a pool
and skip across the surface like a stone.
And if riders didn’t maintain their balance, they would comically and sometimes painfully
wipeout.
I can’t find any images of the runoff on the old Yankee Ripper, but I wonder if high
speed wipeouts were common.
The newly rebuilt Yankee Ripper has a key difference on the runoff.
After the drop, there is a long straightaway where the sleds bleed off speed.
And there are small puddles along the way that help sap off some additional speed.
So by the time you reach the pool at the end, you are only traveling at a modest speed.
This means wipeouts are all smiles now.
To ride Yankee Ripper, you first need to grab a sled.
The park had roughly a dozen sleds in use during my 2021 visit.
You would wait in line next to the splashdown pool for one and then lug it up the hill.
And these sleds are very annoying to carry.
They’re deceptively heavy and you’re walking up a rather steep hill to reach the slide.
I wish there was a conveyor belt to bring them up, but none of Aquaboggan’s slides
have those.
Adults could get the sleds up- albeit with some huffing and puffing.
But I saw a lot of younger kids struggling.
They would have to take a lot of breaks heading up the hill.
Because of this slide’s lower throughput, it’s one of the best ones to hit early if
you’re visiting Aquaboggan.
Once at the top, you place your sled down and get detailed instructions how to ride
from the operator.
For their other slides, Aquaboggan is pretty lax and allows pretty much any sliding position.
Most slides allow you to go backwards.
Yankee Ripper is a different animal.
You need to hold on, face forwards, and keep your balance.
The operators remind everyone not to lean back since that was the number one thing that
would cause a wipeout.
Both sides are dispatched at once, so you can race down.
The slide starts with an exciting plunge.
It’s pretty steep and tall for a water slide.
According to Google Earth, Yankee Ripper is roughly 12 meters or 40 feet tall.
That’s quite the drop for any water slide when you’re on a raft or sled.
While the drop doesn’t offer any airtime, it’s very zippy and builds up some good
speed.
Then comes the straightaway.
And that’s an oversimplification.
The straightaway isn’t a flat surface.
There are very subtle bumps that lead into an inch or two of water.
Since the sled is still in contact with the rigid slide, no one wipes out here.
However, riders will feel their sled jump ever so slightly and they may make a modest
splash too.
It’s a fun way to safely bleed off speed.
You then hit the final splashdown.
Young kids probably lost almost all of their speed by now, but grown adults can still zip
across quite a bit of the splashdown pool.
Remember not to lean back, or both you and the sled may wipeout.
If you keep your core straight, you’ll skim over a bit of the water and then come to a
stop.
You’ll then sort of sink downwards and that’s your cue to get up, ending your ride.
So what would I rate the Yankee Ripper?
I would give this sled slide a 7 out of 10.
This is a pretty simple, but fun attraction.
The sleds and runoff give this slide an out-of-control feeling.
The initial drop is quite tall for a water slide like this and then it’s a physical
challenge to avoid wiping out at the end.
I’d love to try one of the wilder Bailey Aqua Skoots one day, but until then, I at
least have a somewhat similar ride at one of my local water parks.
So those are my thoughts on the Yankee Ripper, the recently reintroduced racing slide at
Aquaboggan.
What are your thoughts on this slide?
Did you happen to ride the old one?
Let me know any of your thoughts down in the comments.
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