Jet skis. Why so slow?

Twister_Ken

Twister_Ken

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Having checked out the bios of some of the aggrieved jets skiers in Ian's thread below, I'm astonished to find these floating ironing boards have engines with 200 or so horses. Put that much in a small car, and it would go seriously fast. Even in a mid-size mobo, you'd be talking lotsaknots. So why do most pwcs seem to pootle along at 20 or 30 kts, then, instead of warping the time/space continuum?
 
We recently had an offshore powerboat pootling along at an estimated 35kn in the R Tyne (speed limit 6kn). The wash tipped a boaters crew into the drink. Her husband skipper provided good evidence at the court case.
 
They do go seriously fast, but not while other people are around. Riding a Jet Ski at 60 knots is hard work and potentially dangerous (it's akin to riding a motorbike across a ploughed field at 100mph)...not something you want to be doing with other vessels nearby.
 
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They do go seriously fast, but not while other people are around.

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/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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They do go seriously fast, but not while other people are around.

[/ QUOTE ]It's quite clear from the other post that Ian Grant's yacht was being deliberately and persistently buzzed by this one particular individual. And that was not an isolated incident as other threads on here can demonstrate.

But while there are responsible PWC users, it does look as though there is a serious and endemic problem with a significant proportion of PWC users - a problem that is recognised by responsible PWCers who genuinely fear that they are all going to be tarred with the same brush.

Most of the worst examples seem to come from the UK's southern waters, but I have personally witnessed, about two or three miles off the Isle of Arran, three (maybe four) PWCs cutting in front of the Calmac ferry's bow, and, almost unbelievably,"jumping" (?) the bow wash. Actually criss-crossing immediately in front of the bow.

I presume their objective was to force the ferry to slow down or stop it. Quite apart from the danger to their own stupid lives, their selfish arrogance was breathtaking.
 
I can understand them crossing the wash behind a boat because they obviously get a bit of a turbulent thrill out of it but crossing the bow wave seems a tad silly , if I may say so /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
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They do go seriously fast, but not while other people are around. Riding a Jet Ski at 60 knots is hard work and potentially dangerous (it's akin to riding a motorbike across a ploughed field at 100mph)...not something you want to be doing with other vessels nearby.

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Agreed and it is known that many PWC riders are sensible. That is well and good - as all want to enjoy the water.

I have two incidents to relate that illustrate the lack of concern for others and they involve me personally.

a) A few years back - my wife and I were handing sails on my yacht outside Cowes harbour ... A small group of Jet Ski's all 2-up ( 4 or 5 in the group) came out of Cowes at extreme speed ..... one of the JS's cut off and did a "carving" turn to "whoosh" water all over us ... he misjudged and side-swiped our boat ... luckily for him only lightly - not enough to damage ... BUT it caused the boom to swing hard taking my wife out into the lifelines at side ... if she hadn't grabbed quick - she would have been overboard. The boat rolled and the "carved wave" he created deluged the cockpit and into cabin. (We had wet cabin for the 3 days Solent cruise ...). The JS roared off with both driver and pillion laughing heads off ... seemingly unaware of the havoc they caused.
I called Solent Coastguard immediately and advised description and heading of the group .... various other boats called in after having had similar treatment from them, also reporting direction etc.. I have no idea whether anything happened in terms of police etc. - But I offered to prosecute. It was that serious.

b) On our river in Latvia it is a popular fishing river and has miles of unspoilt water to enjoy ... We have some waterskiing and bayliner stuff that enjoys time out there and they generally keep to certain areas that does not risk others ... Recently the number of PWC (Jet Skis) has increased and they now like to carve up the river for considerable distances ... I know after speaking to a guy onshore - the launch station is close to my house ... he reckoned they do speed trials and timed runs on the river ... wihich he even admitted was totally illegal.
Last few weeks there have been a number of incidents where people fishing on the river in dinghys have been swamped and near drowned by violent water movement by these PWC's flat-out max throttle .... some are creating such wash that it actually hits my canal bank end and washes over ...

Now I understand that all want to enjoy their bit of water and fun ... and most have reasonable sense of responsibility ... but it seems that many Jet Skiers are hell bent on throttles ...

There has already been talk of legislation curbing them out here. I had to take a Licence because of so many incidents of PWC's / small speedboats etc. in Riga / Jurmala waterways - that Latvian Authorities imposed licencing. Our river is gearing up to police and catch the offenders ... not soon enough I'm afraid. I fear that a fatality will occur before solution.
 
True - afterall our club rib is reported to be able to travel at up to 35 knots with a 50hp on the back (although this is probably flat water and a tail wind!) ...
 
Now don\'t you start!

I'll give you bluidy ranting! We're just as entitled as you are to start a bit of thread drift. It's the ony thing that makes your threads enjoyable IMHO.

Ranting indeed!

Harrumph!








































PS: Suppose i'd better do a smiley ;-)
 
I think it comes down to comfort . A heavy displacement mobo will cut through most waves happily , but a planing or semi planing hull will skip along the top and it tends to get uncomfortable as the waves get bigger , so a lightweight rib would get very uncomfortable and even unstable if they ran at full speed on anything other than flat calm waters

IMHO of course /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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Nice rants, but I was really interested to know how fast they can go with all those ponies, and if the figure isn't that impressive, why not?

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Could it be 'cos they're pushed by a water-jet? Good for turning, but not for speed?

Just an idea...
 
Their design has 2 fundamental weaknesses:

1. The forward force is made by a water jet. Therefore they must maintain a reasonable contact surface with the water. Unlike an outboard that protrudes down into the clear water. The more air; the less power.

I always dread the day they invent the retractable scoop!

2. The owners suffer from a major case of obstacle deficiency. You quickly learn not to trust fellow jet skis so they need objects to aim at, that can be trusted. Due to the nice nature of yachies and their thoughtful use of the colregs they always hold their course during overtaking.

Others do not! I have to do something to discourage them as we have large overhanging solar panels. Once they see them they go elsewhere to play. Which proved they do have some intelligence.
 
Re: Now don\'t you start!

They can go flat out on perfectly flat water so the question should really be , what is the point in having them in this country , the same as what is the point in having a performance car here when you aren't legally allowed to exceed 70 MPH
 
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