JETSKIS

Re: Class War

No worries...and good luck with it if you decide to get one.

For what it's worth, I don't think there's a war out there...it's a lack of understanding and tolerance. Yachties hate motorboaters, motorboaters hate Jet Skiers, and Jet Skiers (generally) couldn't give a toss because they're too busy enjoying themselves. It's a class thing...yachties are posh, motorboaters are new-money middleclass, and Jet Skiers are working class oiks. It used to be the same with motorbikes, until bikes became more expensive than a family saloon, at which point the middle classes became interested. Maybe the same will happen to PWCs when they crack the £15k barrier.

In my experience most of the inconsiderate Jet Skiers are either Chavs from Rompford or people who've just unloaded a Ski from the tender garage of a large motorboat. Both types are equally selfish and inconsiderate, but they are in a minority (as Planty points out). Interesting to note that "derf" got the snooty treatment from motorboaters when he was out in his RIB (see his Solent Phenomena post) because RIBs, as we all know, are only one step up from a Jet Ski and therefore not a "proper" motorboat). Sad, really.
 
Never thought I was the jetski type - 53 and feeling the aches.

Went to Mexico in May and watched the jetskiers riding their hired machines up and down with no insurance and little idea of safety.

The following week I was in Las Vegas. I ended up hiring a machine on Lake Mead.

I was sat down in front of a TV and made to watch a safety film. I then signed a hundred documents, answered a few questions to check I had absorbed some of the safety points.

I sat astride my machine and a was whisked off into a world that passed very close by at 56 MPH.

Excellent fun! But the best thing was the exercise I got. For a week afterwards I felt I had run a marathon and had muscles aching where I didn't even know muscles existed.

Apart for the excitement and the obvious healthy aspect, I have little desire to join the *ssh*l*s in this country who have little grasp of the safety/good neighbourly considerations of jet sking.
 
simple prejudice

i had some raggie/moboers out on our moboat, in a marina, and a big halberg rassy starts trying to come in , making bit of a hash of it. Our mates leap to his help but the rasggie doesn't want to know, head shaking. Anyway, it turns out that the sailing boat is actually the very same one that my mates had sold to him 6 months earlier, so the raggie feels a bit of a nit trying to be awful. Didn't *actually* say "but you're on a motorboat!" but he nearly did! hee hee!
 
Well I've spent several years in the Med. and jet-skis were just as much a pain there as they are in this country.

The fact is that, in many places, there are so many other powerboats crashing about creating a wash, that they aren't noticed as much.

Spanish friends of ours used to whistle/shout at them to slow down and keep away from the moored boats when they did the usual posing thing.

Incidentally, you may care to try the usual method of stopping them in their tracks (or at least slowing them immediately) that is used by many Spaniards and others - a large 'policeman/referee' type whistle.

The Spanish blow hard on these when they're annoyed by JS/Mobo's disturbing them, and as the sound apparently carries well (and may be associated with the regular use by police ashore) the effect is damn near miraculous.

We've sat on our Spanish friend's boat many times when they done this, and on several occasions the offender has come over to apologise. Nice reaction, and everyone stays friends.

Jerry
 
Whilst they may be just as much of a pain to you, they certainly are not as much of a pain to most people. The general tolerance level over there is in a different league. This is because most people accept that the sea is to be shared and enjoyed by everyone.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Whilst they may be just as much of a pain to you, they certainly are not as much of a pain to most people. The general tolerance level over there is in a different league. This is because most people accept that the sea is to be shared and enjoyed by everyone

[/ QUOTE ]

You may be right about the Med, I cannot comment from experience there but I can from experience Poole where there is a very high population of lunatic hooligans on PWCs.

As you say the sea should be shared and enjoyed by all. Unfortunately around here in Poole the enjoyment factor for non-PWC users has long gone and there are several areas they have pretty well ruined for everyone else, mobo and raggie alike.
 
""Whilst they may be just as much of a pain to you, they certainly are not as much of a pain to most people.""

Guess you haven't been been following the recent posts on this then!!
 
Have to agree with you that attitudes throughout the rest of Europe are much more tolerant and less I-don't-like-them-so-they-should-be-banned. Shame we can't have a bit of that over here.
 
I don't have a problem with that approach, but the trouble is that it appears that the tolerance is expected from one direction only.

What baffles me, is why, with all the current National 'anti' publicity that PWC's are now experiencing, the responsible PWC users, PWC Clubs and Associations (and I fully accept there are such) aren't seeking to impose a sort of 'Code of Practice' on the wayward ones.

Yes I know it's very difficult, but naming and shaming and reporting transgressors to the appropriate authorites to ENSURE that action can be taken, would I'm sure, be supported by many, both here and countrywide.

No one wants to see a restriction placed on other water users, but undoubtably this is going to happen unless PWC users accept that, for many, the aggressive, selfish and often dangerous use of their craft, cannot be tolerated.
 
Class and envy

Sorry got to agree with Magnum on this.

Jet ski's are not tolerated in the UK and it is a particular peculiarity of the UK boater. I do think that boaters here are an intolerant bunch, not just of jet ski's. I have been on the receiveing end of intolerance, whilst on a big mobo, sailing, in a tender/rib, and on a jetski.

This pejudice is not something that I have encountered anywhere else in the world.

I have thought about this a lot and now my firm belief is that it is both a class and envy issue.

It seems that many water users in the UK believe thy have a divine right to use the water for their very own, and wil not tolerate anyone else enjoying same.

'Tis a pity.
 
med example

on flat water inthe french med the pwc's charge around a bit - but then they see a biggish mobo going along the coast a few hundred yards out. They blast over and then spend a happy 5-10 minutes racing up our wake towards the transom and leaping over the main wave of our wash. Great pix - but i can't imagine it being universally tolerated in the UK.

Weirdly, even if I was in the uk - i might be more narked about this. Perhaps my having even a temporary position of authority (skipper, in this case) in the UK gives me/anyone the assumption of also having Military Powers which I can (attempt) to execise over others. Lowly park keepers, car park attendants, harbourtmasters and many others do this - even car drivers trying to enforce the speed limit over others on motorways. Indeed, on motorways in the uk, anyone going 1mph slower is "in the way" and probably a "weekend driver" whereas anyone wanting to go 1mph faster is a raving idiot who doesn't appreciate the dangers!

The general rule applied in the UK is that if it seems out of the ordinary - it can't be allowed. So, in France and spain, three us ocassionally hold impromptu go-ped (petrol powered scooter) races in safe-ish pedestrian areas of carparks, and a crowd sometimes gathers to watch the thrill and spills. Nobody intervenes to complain about the noise, the speed, the lack of vehicle registration documents or lack of safety helmets. But all these happen in the uk - total strangers feel free to complain, intervene or stop things.

Maybe it's class - the UK never had a real revolution with equal rights for all citizens as a centrpiece, I dunno.

I found myself being the only one in St tropez to complain to the harbourmaster about a very loud party that continued on one boat until 2am. Surely we had a right to some peace and quiet? "But what about the rights of the people having the party?" said the harbourmaster. Hm, I hadn't thought of it that way - I'm british, you see.
 
The PWP (Personal Watercraft Partnership) was set up to tackle this problem and has made great strides. They have helped establish PWC zones in places like Poole Harbour, they have drawn up a code of conduct, and they work with harbour masters around the coast to "manage" PWCs and their use.

The problem is that the worst offenders aren't "real" Jet Skiers...there are numerous motorboats out there with PWCs that aren't registered/DataTagged or belong to PWC clubs. These people often have no training and no investment in the sport....often they're just guests aboard someone else's boat. If Jet Skis get a bad name and get banned, they'll just get a jet-RIB instead. Or they're jack-the-lads having what they consider to be a bit of a larf...but again they're not registered or trained, they don't belong to a club, and it's very difficult to stop them being prats. Just as it's very difficult to stop them street-racing in their pimped-up Clios.

You will find that genuine PWC enthusiasts go to enormous lengths (way beyond what should be necessary) to exhibit impecable seamanship and avoid upsetting anyone. Of the 10,000 or so active PWCers in this country, probably less than 1 percent are trouble-makers. Any legislation aimed against them will be the thin end of a very nasty wedge, so be careful what you wish for!
 
Re: med example

it all boils down to pride. if any other "lesser" craft comes anywhere near your mobo or your nice shiney new sailer people panick and immeediatly begin bellowing at there victim to go full astern and run away! the view is:

"THIS IS MY PIECE OF WATER I WAS HEAR FIRST AND I CONQUERD IT"

in the red sea i have seen between 4 and 15 large mobos easily over 40ft all rafted up together supporting divers if the happened hear people would begin spearing people off and repleing borders! face it! us brits dont know how to share!

an englishmans home is his castle? the same applies to his boat!
 
Re: med example

So in your view we should find it pefectly acceptable that a gang of hooligans on PWCs use the 5mph buoys as slalom markers or zigzag amongst swimmers in Studland Bay? It is acceptable that 8 of them together should go through Poole entrance whilst all are riding facing backwards? This was on a hot summer Sunday with everything that floats out for the day and VERY crowded. They sit waiting for the high speed ferries then chase after them like demented dogs and yes they have tried the run between the hulls too I believe.

There may well be some responsible owners, who knows. One thing is for sure and that is that in Poole it is the lunatic 'minority' PWC owners who rule and the responsible 'majority' ones that are very shy.

I really don't want to see regulation and licencing of any area of water use but if the idiot antics of these people are not stopped it will come and it will be the thin end of the wedge and affect us all.
 
Re: med example

Gee you sound just like my father did when I was a child!

Christ man, didn't you ever have fun?? Never done anything a little dangerous.... of course you have... you sail for one thing!

Ok riding backwards is a litle stupid, but I'm sure none of them did it with the intention of killing themselves, so my guess is they looked first and it was only for a very short time..

Hooligans you say! sounds no worse than a group of 12 very drunk young sailors who began a bread and food fight in a restaurant last weekend. Eventually got thrown out after some fisticuffs!

No one got hurt and it was foolish behaviour.... were they hooligans?.....on talking to them the following day..... They were loud, obnoxious, arrogant, selfish, and didn't give a monkeys.....not a jet ski between them!
 
I have to disagree with you here.....

Granted not all jetskiers are mindless idiots, but in many people's experience a significant number certainly are. Otherwise this thread would not exist. The danger is that the idiots may cause legislation to be passed which would affect us all.

If I sailed my boat through croweded moorings at high speed, I would receive some adverse reaction. If I left my genset runing in a busy marina at night, I would expect some complaints. If I rode my motorbike through a multistorey car park doing wheelies and scratching parked cars, I would not expect to be congratuated. Tolerance doesnot come into it, good manners does.
 
Re: med example

[ QUOTE ]
Ok riding backwards is a litle stupid, but I'm sure none of them did it with the intention of killing themselves, so my guess is they looked first and it was only for a very short time..

[/ QUOTE ]

I did a lot of things as a yoof that could have hurt ME but nothing deliberately to risk the lives of others. If you have ever seen Poole narrow entrance on a busy summer day you would know they were crazy and no it wasn't just for a few seconds, it was past the chain ferry and out against the incoming flow of boats returning from outside the harbour, many of which including us had to take avoiding action.

I was actually being polite when I called them lunatics and hooligans.

As for your restaurant encounter, that too in my book is unacceptable behaviour, if that makes me a boring old fart then so be it.
 
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