Jet skis, primarily stand-ups, have a bit of a bad wrap. Unfortunately, decades of reckless riding, breaking boating restrictions, blowing through no wake zones, high-speed beaching, collisions, and just generally bad decision making has resulted a bit of a public relations snafu that has taken the OE manufacturers decades to repair. The damage isn’t entirely fixed though, and with videos like today’s springing up on social media sure doesn’t help.
The who, when and where are unknown nor do they truly matter. What matters is that a foolhardy rider aboard a SuperJet dares to venture not mere too close, but close enough to attempt to graze their hand along the hull of the container ship. Of course, the massive displacement (an estimated 10,800 tons given that it appears to be fully laden) is enough to churn a wake so ferociously that the rider almost immediately loses balance and falls off.
Scrambling frantically to reboard and reignite the Yamaha’s starter, the rider is nearly sucked up into the wake and bounced off of the hull several times. Thankfully, the rider survives the fall and near impact with the cargo ship. They manage to fire up the ski and escape before being sucked into draft of the ship’s props, roiling a fan of sea foam behind it. There’s nothing cool about this video. In fact, it only robs the Darwin Awards of another recipient.
“There’s nothing cool about this video. In fact, it only robs the Darwin Awards of another recipient.” – Kevin, that is about the least Politically Correct thing you could have possibly said. No wonder I love coming to this site!