Upon its official introduction, many outside of The Watercraft Journal were shell-shocked at the base MSRP of $32,499 for Yamaha’s all-new 2026 CrossWave. The segment-breaking jet-driven 4-seater features an unmatched 310-liters of storage, a full wrap-around deck ideal for fishing, and full deck customization by added seating, cooler attachments, trolling motor, etc. (pushing the price tag closer to $40K).
Industry commentators saw the CrossWave as a segue between Yamaha’s personal watercraft lineup and FSH center console fishing vessel – an entry few enthusiasts and dealers asked for. Rather, the CrossWave exists to intentionally disrupt Yamaha’s long-standing reputation as a performance watersport brand – an unwanted reputation that placed Yamaha Motor Corp. USA in the political crosshairs for decades.
Seeking to rid itself of its youthful audience, Yamaha’s legal team pushed corporate to jettison it’s “less desirable” client base for a more mature – and frankly, cash flush – buyer. So following the CrossWave’s introduction, Yamaha has moved forward with the proposed plan to scale-up the WaveRunner product line for a more “sophisticated” buyer with its all-new PuttWave personal watercraft.
Internal research found that Yamaha’s desired clientele are less interested in high energy watersports and prefer instead to “a morning playing the back nine” and “taking a nap.” True to form, Yamaha set about developing a PWC that would exceed these desires, providing a waterborne USGA-approved putting green featuring the two most common types of peat; sphagnum moss peat and reed sedge peat.
Riding on a 32-foot-long by 16-foot-wide NanoXcel hull, the PuttWave is powered by Yamaha’s naturally-aspirated 1.9-liter 4-cylinder four-stroke producing 200-horsepower on pump-gas 87 octane.
Backed by a 155mm pump, the PuttWave can reach a peak top speed of 8.3 miles per hour. Not bad, considering the deck’s 777-square feet of soil weighing 1,948-pounds and the 1,100 hull together puts the craft at 1.5 tons.
As mentioned, Yamaha took great care to replicate a true PGA-level putting green. Following USGA guidelines, the base sand layer is a composite of silica minerals including quartz, feldspars and other minerals.
A subsurface drainage system includes two drainage pipes made from corrugated polyethylene (PE) to drain off excess moisture; a small sand trap is filled with high purity silica sand for fast drainage and resistant to compaction.
“Now listen up,” Yamaha media spokesman,
The 2027 PuttWave will be the spearhead of Yamaha’s new “BUILT FOR BOOMERS” marketing campaign beginning in late summer 2026. Its launch will also coincide with Yamaha Motor Corp. USA’s new Groundskeeping Supplies & Accessories Catalog offering lawn perforation tools, seeds and resupplies.
You can view Yamaha’s official announcement of the 2027 PuttWave and groundskeeping catalog HERE.
