Jet Powered

Wet Bikes, Surf Jets and WaveRrunners. We've tried them all. In 1983 we had 26 rental boats and 12 motors, which included a ski boat and one or two pontoons. Jet powered personal watercraft were becoming a rage on the lake so I jumped on the bandwagon. We started with two Wet Bikes. They were the coolest thing to ride. It was like riding a motorcycle on the water. The big problem was that you had to idle all the way out to the no wake buoys, and they were kind of like riding a barrel until you got going fast. Most people would fall off a few times before clearing the no wake zone. And, quite often they would have them flooded with water before they ever took off. But, man, would they rent. And at $10 per hour they paid themselves off in less than two seasons.

After a couple years of wrestling the bikes, we sold them and bought what I thought would be much less maintenance... Surf Jets. Manual start and you could hardly flood them - and they were fun to ride as well.

Norman Eubank was the most skilled on the new Surf Jets. He could stand on his head while riding along. I'm sure I had a picture to prove it, but I think the only one is on the bar at just Jackie's.

One of the biggest issues when renting these toys was whenever we rented two at once, they would invariably run into each other. A classic example... brother Dan and I had been working on a waterline project, and when we finished I said, "I know how we can cool off. Let's take out the Surf Jets and knock the ticks off." Well, I was lying down on one, making a sharp turn. The water was splashing me in the face, and I did not see that Dan's had died and he was trying to start it. When I leveled out and could see it was too late; he was right in front of me. I hit him broadside. When I came up my leg felt like I had broken it. He said he was okay, but the throttle tether was torn off of his, so we climbed on, and I towed him in. On the way in he asked, "What are we doing out here?" I sped on in. He and I both ended up going to the emergency room. He had a concussion, and I just had a bad bruise. We didn't have any ticks on us though. Mom and Dad were sitting at the boat ramp watching us when it happened.

We next tried Wave Runners. They were probably the most successful. Very easy to ride and held up well except when you run into one another.

We get calls all the time from folks looking for JetSki and wave runner rentals. Unfortunately, I don't see any jet powered personal watercraft rentals in our future, as insurance is almost impossible to find. However, I'm guessing the fourth generation will catch us in a weak moment some day soon and we will have one again. But only one.

Written by Cap'n T. Morgan