Man, we hate these stories. Of course, the video that made the biggest splash was from back in 2014 when a pair of renters nearly wiped out a pair of onlookers on the beach, but this grainy cell phone video is nearly as bad. Taken from the shore of an disclosed tropical location, a pair of riders aboard a VX Yamaha WaveRunner journey far too close to shore, before jagging inland and up the beach, narrowly hitting an onlooker. Thankfully, his fast footwork kept him from being the ski’s first victim.
As he darts to the side, the ski – still very much under its own momentum – streaks across the hard-packed sand. Amazingly, it appears as if the driver tries to steer the craft into the water before the ski’s speed abruptly halts, ejecting the two riders onto the beach. Gratefully, the injuries sustained were little more than a few bruises and hurt egos, but the implications of the reckless riders’ behavior.
Of course, the commenters have pounced, blasting everything from the OE manufacturer, to the riders, to the rental outfit lending these machines out to “people who have no place aboard one,” as says one comment. Never before have PWC been safer, easier to handle, more intuitive or environmentally-friendly. And the rental agency was well to not offer supercharged or high performance craft to novices. We also noted that the riders are rightly wearing PFDs. The fault is in poor vehicle operation and reckless driving. Don’t blame the ski, blame the person behind the throttle.
https://www.facebook.com/HammerDownBoating/videos/1507469142635977/
Allot can be said for state mandated “BoatingLicense” courses like here in Tennessee, but it also takes supervision from parents and the rental community to do there part in keeping our waterways safe !