Over the past year-and-a-half there has been no less than a baker’s dozen announced developments of all-new personal watercraft from very unlikely sources (and a few industry mainstays) that frankly, just didn’t seem all that likely to come to fruition.
And hey, that’s OK. Posting up a digital rendering of a twin-turbo, 90mph all carbon fiber one-seater runabout is gonna drum up some quick and easy attention on social media. We get it. But will this fabled $80,000 jet ski be actually made? Chances are unlikely at best.
So when famed offshore race boat manufacturer Cigarette Racing announced a similar “dream ski” at last year’s Miami Boat Show people were certainly stirred up. Even The Watercraft Journal took the bait and quickly reached out to the company’s media manager.
We published everything we received during a short discourse promising an insane, overpowered and lightweight race craft priced above most people’s daily-driven commuter car. Then fatefully, the company went radio-silent. Oh well, we figured. There goes another one.
Then Big Thunder Marine published these three images that we couldn’t see anywhere on Cigarette’s own social media – no seriously, we checked their Facebook and multiple Instagram pages. So how this dealer from Lake of the Ozarks got these images we have no idea.
But what is shown is the early stages of a lower hull, an early setup for the engine and drivetrain, as well as an adjustable sponson. Powered by a turbocharged 3-cylinder four-stroke engine, the Cigarette Racing PWC looks to be in a traditional arrangement contrary to the early dual jet pump configuration teased last year.
