Folsom ad exec Steven Moll last year rode a Sea-Doo personal watercraft 4,500 miles from Seattle to Russia in a voyage that's getting turned into a reality TV series.

Now, Moll and the four buddies he brought with him on the first trip are gearing up for another – this time from Alaska to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

"We have no idea what to expect," Moll says of the two-and-a-half-month adventure that starts May 29 in Nome, traces the east coast of Russia to Japan, then goes to China and on to Vietnam.

But it's that uncertainty, Moll says, that's driving interest in the TV show "Dangerous Waters," which debuts March 4 on high-def cable network HDNet.

The 10-episode first season also has been picked up by networks in Sweden, Australia, Mexico, Italy, New Zealand, Mexico and Russia, where the adventurers ended their first trip in a finale that Moll will only say is "dramatic."

The show's international appeal? It's a "real" reality show, Moll says – unscripted, truly dangerous and genuinely unique.

"This is something that's never been done before," he says of traveling on tiny Sea-Doo craft across rough open water.

"And finding new things (like that) is hard in a world where all the biggest peaks have been climbed and all the rivers have been run."

Moll, who is 40 and a married father of four, says he returned from the first trip with "exactly $148.63 in my bank account … and the phone vibrating with calls from creditors."

He and his partners found financial help from Jim and Jacquelyn Anderson, part-owners of Sacramento's Pacific Coast Building Products, who became executive producers.

But Moll says his own financial future depends on the success the show gets in the first season.

"It will be the fans and ratings," he says, "that dictate whether I'm paying for my (kids') college educations or not."

Hoppy go lucky

With Sacramento's beer week starting at the end of the month, one local brewer is celebrating early.

Knee Deep Brewing Co., a 1-year-old company based in Lincoln, last weekend won the gold medal at a Bay Area competition that drew some of the West's top makers of "double" India pale ales.

Russian River Brewing's Pliny the Elder IPA came in second. Stone Brewing's Ruination was third.

"It was somewhat of a surprise," says Knee Deep CEO Jerry Moore. But, he says, he knew his extra-hoppy IPA was "an absolutely outstanding beer."

Knee Deep makes about 2,000 barrels a year of a dozen or so varieties at its production facility in the rear of the Beermann's Beerwerks building in downtown Lincoln.

That's maximum capacity there, says Moore. A search is on for additional space – preferably also in Lincoln.

Suited up

Sacramentan Ryan Douglas Hammonds didn't get to walk the red carpet at last weekend's Grammys.

But four of his suit coats made an appearance.

The local clothier fitted members of Royal Tailor, a quartet nominated for best contemporary Christian album.

Their jackets got as much attention as their music. (See www.grammy.com/ videos/royal-tailor-on-the-red-carpet.)

Hammonds, who is 31 and a musician himself, says he started making suits a decade ago because he couldn't find one to fit his own slim build. The business – R. Douglas Custom Clothier – has since taken off. He typically meets with customers at their offices, takes measurements, then delivers a suit for between $700 and $1,000.

Among his clients: Top local business leaders and about 20 state legislators, Hammonds says.

Hammonds still specializes in slim cuts for some customers. But he's happy to make "comfort" fits for others, including many of his lawmaker clients.

As he puts it, they're "not too keen on the slim fit."

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