The jet ski was first developed by the American Clayton Jackobson in 1963. He approached Kawasaki, the Japanese motorbike manufacturers with his development, who took up the idea and released the first machines in 1973. Jet skis are now also available from Yamaha, one of the leaders in jet ski technology.
In recent years these powered one-man skis have become very popular, and are now a common site at many coastal resorts and large inland waterways.
They operate from a two cylinder, two stroke engine with a capacity of around 500cc. The engine rotates a propeller within the jet ski body. The propeller is joined to the engine via a prop shaft. As the propeller rotates, water is drawn through a grille on the underside and expelled from the rear driving the jet ski forward. Speed is controlled from a twist grip handle on the handle bars, similar to a motorbike throttle.
A safety feature is a wrist-attached lanyard, if the operator falls from the ski the lanyard operates a switch which cuts power to the engine.
The jet ski is available in one, two and three seater variations.
