Thoughtful Jet Skis, Its True!!

[Planty]

Tootling around the coast of IOW yesterday, (Trying to get rid od Diesel in Starboard Tank as feed problem persists), anyway, just around Ventnor we looked back to see what looked like a dense sea mist approaching, fast!!

It turned out to be 32 Jet Skis and assorted support boats doing a Round the Island in aid of the RNLI. (1st Brownie Points)

My thoughts on Jet Ski behaviour generally are well known on here but can I just say, this group ,which we ended up following right the way round to Yarmouth and beyond, were all pleasant, thoughtful, well organised and in truth, blooming good fun. (Loads more Brownie Points) There seemed to be families involved, couples and some very serious kit too! It really was a delight to see.

You watch, I bet they upset someone somewhere, but not me and I even offered to help as support boat next year, when they plan to do it all over again, good on you chaps. Paul

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[Solitaire]

They are not all lunatics! There are of course those that come down from "middle" Britain who insist on creating havoc though. A lot of local PWC clubs are well aware of the problems generically asscocited with jet skis and try very hard to improve the image that exists. At Leeon Solent for example the local club keeps a very watcgful eye on miscreants.

It's also interesting that when a jet skier undertakes the PWC proficency course, the sucessful candidate has to send a passport photogarph to the RYA for the issue of the certificate and the details are held on a database. This is not the case with powerboat courses where the school itself issues the certificates.

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[Dave_Snelson]

Agreed - we had a few PWC visitors into Porthmadog harbour over the weekend and they all pootled in and pootled out without any fuss or bother.

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[Boating_Buoys]

Good to hear a positive message about them.

Although there were six buzzing around Calshot yesterday being totally outrageous, apparently 25 Kts and within 3 ft of some yachts and soaking the crews intentionally.

It was all on Ch 67 at about 2.30pm yesterday, it sounded outrageous.

But glad to hear that there are some good people out there still



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[malcolm2]

We saw the same "sea mist approaching". Kevin Costners Waterworld sprang to mind. I heartliy aggree, they are not all mindless twits. **

Good luck to them. I hope they raised lots of money for the RNLI. Lucky with the weather though.

**Pity the same could not be said for some of the jetski riders in Langstone harbour later in the day.

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[Planty]

My 16 year old said exactly that "Look Waterworld!!" I have certainly changed my opinion after yesterday but as said previously, MOBOs, Raggies, PWC,s, all shapes all sizes all types, its a free sea!!

Mind you I could have throttled the "Sunseeker" who exited Portsmouth at at least 25knots within 20' of me and even less the Sailor adjacent as we left at about 6knots!! Right between the two, did a lot of good for relations that one. Paul

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[kingfisher]

Shoot the B***ers; the whole lot

Schooner v. Jet Ski: Warning Shot Justified

The U.S. Coast Guard arrested the wroing man, an administrative law judge in Maine
suggested in March when he cleared Capt. Neal Parker of charges that he assualted a jet skier who was threatening his schooner.

Judge Peter A. Fitzpatrick ruled that "the Coast Guard has failed to prove that Capt. Parker assaulted the jet ski operator. Indeed, the evidence on this record shows that Mr. Marves (the jet ski operator) may have assaulted the captain and the others aboard the Wendameen."

That's what a lot of people thought after learning of Parker's plight. His alleged "assault" consisted of the firing of an antique pistol loaded
only with a percussion cap toward the water to warn off a jet ski that was on course to collide with his schooner at high speed.

The ruling ended an eight-month ordeal for Parker, who faced the loss of the mariner's license he needs for his livelihood. Parker sails his 90-foot (LOA) charter schooner Wendameen out of Portland, Maine, on overnight cruises to nearby anchorages.

Wendameen was anchored in Pulpit Harbor on North Haven Island on July 25, 2001, with the seven paying passengers and the crew about to have dinner on deck, when a jet ski piloted by a 20-year-old lobsterman started performing what the court described as "high-speed, unsafe and harassing maneuvers around the
schooner." When Parker signaled him to slow down, the jet skier responded with
shouted obscenities and sped away. "Suddenly," Parker recalled, "the jet ski turned and bore down on us at full throttle, square for our transom."

After Parker fired his warning, the jet ski stopped some 10 from the schooner, and its operator, according to the court record, "threatened to do bodily harm" to the schooner's passengers and crew.
Parker called the Coast Guard, but it was he, and not the jet skier, who was charged.

In the decision, Judge Fitzpatrick wrote, "The reckless actions of the jet ski
operator ultimately threatened the safety of the passengers and crew . . . The principal culprit in this incident is the jet ski operator."

The judge noted that Parker had held his captain's license for 25 years with no
violations and has an excellent reputation as a professional seafarer.

Going to sea as a teenager, Parker, now 45, worked his way up through the ranks of crews of traditional ships on the East Coast, and went on to serve as master of a number of vessels. He bought Wendameen, a virtual derelict, in 1985, and spent four years rebuilding her. Built in 1912, the yacht was John Alden's first
schooner design.

In connection with the jet ski incident, Parker was found to have violated Coast Guard regulations by failing to get approval from the Coast Guard commandant to carry black powder aboard the schooner. In giving Parker a sentence of six months probation, Judge Fitzpatrick observed, "This requirement was
not widely known among the vessel owners in the schooner fleet in Maine or even to the Coast Guard inspectors."

<hr width=100% size=1>Group of people on the pontoon: skipper is the one with the toolbox.
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[Colin_S]

Link to SSA jet ski site here
They expect to raise in excess of £2k for charity.

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[neilfs]

Planty,

Thanks for your posting about our club event on Sunday 'The Wight Stuff' it makes all the efforts of the club and its members worth while.

It is the first time I have been on your forum, and have been reading various threads regarding what I would term 'rouge jetskiiers' which you term as people from middle England.

I'd like you to know that these rogue jetskiiers anger us as much as it does you, they ruin our sport and are a danger to other water users.

During the summer months I, along with 11 other club members operate a voluntary service for the local council to help supervise and advise summer time water users, not just jetskiiers but small speed boats also who often come from 'middle England'. We get no funding, other than basic equipment such as hi-vis jackets - it isn't my ideal way of spending some of the warmest summer weekends, but it does make a difference.

If you experience problems with a rouge jet skier, look for the skis Data Tag number, all skis sold in the UK over the last 10 years have been supplied with these numbers - although nothing stops the operators from removing the stickers, I feel launch sites should ensure they only allow skis displaying these numbers to launch, but checks are rarely made as it is not a legal requirement. A Data Tag number is made up of two letters a dash and four numbers, such as AA-1111. It would help our club and others I am sure if you could also contact the club, as well as the local authorities about such skiers, if we found out one of our members was a nuisance we would deal with them, or keep an eye out for them at our regular launch site.


Here is a short bio of our club and what we try to achieve. Hope to see you out on the water, thanks again for the support Planty!


The Solent Skiers' Association who are a RYA Affiliated Club and supported by the Personal Watercraft Partnership (PWP) were formed to protect the interests of PWC users launching from the Daedalus Slipway, Lee-on-the-Solent.

We run a voluntary service of Water-sports Patrollers on behalf of Gosport and Fareham Borough Councils and have gained support and recognition from the MCA (Coastguard), local inshore rescue services, Hampshire Marine Police and the Queens Harbour Master in Portsmouth.

All club members have to display and keep up-to-date their Datatag registrations and have a minimum of 1 million third party liability insurance.

The Solent Skiers' Association have also organised discounted RYA PWC, First-aid and VHF training, and a significant number of our members have become PWC trained. We also have two RYA PWC Instructors within the club who are always on hand to provide guidance to new users of PWC.

Club members are encouraged to ski with a buddy, to carry essential safety equipment such as flares, tow rope etc (see http://www.solentskiers.org.uk/ for our on-line guide to safety equipment). Club events are organised on a regular basis, leading up to our main event The Wight Stuff which last year raised £4,200 and was shared between the RNLI and GAFIRS.

The club has been successful, and demonstrates what can be achieved in other areas without the need to ban or put in place discriminatory charging at launch sites.

Regards
Neil Farnham-Smith
Treasurer - Solent Skiers Association

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[Solitaire]

The actions of your club are a model which should be replicated. In my duties with QHM Vol. Harbour Patrol I have on a few occasions come up and "shown" the flag aroiund the ski area at Lee. I always go back and report that there is nothing to report. More of a problem is generated by skiers coming down and launching in Langstone and causing a problem around Southsea.

By the way, havve you or any of your fellow members considered putting your self forward for the new Jet ski division of the QHM Volunteer Harbour patrol? Got a very nice Yamaha ski to use!

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[neilfs]

Why are these problem skiers allowed to continue launching at Langstone? Everyone keeps on banging on about Langstone being the problem, but that should be the one launch site not to have a problem. Langstone have a RIB and small launch out in the harbour entrance most weekends, and the slip-way is charged so there should be ample opportunity for them to identify the problem users and stop them from launching. Before accepting their money to launch, they should be checked and if a problem turned away.

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[Solitaire]

I don't know! It falls outside jurisdiction of QHM. I've not been round there. However, it seems that a few cause problems outside the harbour itself.


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