Jet Ski Accident Reconstruction Expert Article

Like its landlubbing cousin, the motorcycle, personal watercraft (commonly referred to as PWCs or jet skis) are fast, fun, and exciting. The conventional boating community and the PWC community don’t necessarily share sentiment regarding what constitutes enjoyment on the water. Just as inappropriate and even dangerous interactions occur on the roads between motorcycles and conventional motor vehicles, so do they occur on the water between PWCs and conventional boats.

Personal Watercraft Expert Investigations

States typically require operators (of a certain age) of all vessels, including PWCs, to take a boating safety course and examination that culminates in the issuance of a Boating Safety Certificate. These courses are predominantly online. But little of this certification is specific to PWCs. 

Yet, there are a number of nuances and special hazards unique to PWCs: PWCs are propelled and steered by a water jet, whereby a pump, driven by a gasoline engine, sucks water from underneath the hull and shoots it out the back at high velocity through a steerable nozzle. There is no rudder.

Consequently, under most operating conditions, there is no ability to steer the PWC without the throttle. Close quarters maneuvering near other vessels, docks, shoreline, persons in the water, etc. can thus become challenging and uncontrolled, especially for a novice operator.  

Stopping a PWC can also be difficult. There are no brakes. The PWC is reversed by activating a reversing bucket that redirects the nozzle output to exert a reversing thrust. But on most PWCs this reversing bucket cannot be deployed “at speed.”

Thus, confronted with an “in extremis” collision avoidance event, the PWC operator may suddenly turn the PWC purposely or inadvertently, causing it to spin and act more like a frisbee, instead of engaging on a new trackline.

Jet Injuries

The jet is typically so powerful that a rider who is ejected from the rear of the PWC and is not wearing a wetsuit or similarly robust clothing can sustain horrifying “orifice injuries” such as disembowelment.

The suction side of the jet is also so powerful that it can pull a person in the water and/or suck in a person’s life-jacket straps, hair, rope, etc. into the intake grate for the jet pump, potentially causing catastrophic injury or death.

Personal Watercraft Operation

If one assumes that a particular PWC is reasonably free of defects when it is new and sold to an entity, it typically is delivered to the new owner replete with written warnings and instructions in manuals, online information, and on the product. However, there are many circumstances where the owner is not the operator.

For example, when the owner loans the PWC to someone else, makes the PWC available as a “package deal” with the rental of a waterfront home, or when the owner is a rental facility/livery. In these circumstances, it is incumbent on the owner to assume that the operator has little or no experience operating a boat, let alone a PWC, even if the operator holds a Boating Safety Certificate.

As such, when something goes terribly wrong, a determinative issue that requires expert analysis should include whether or not the operator was given a reasonable opportunity to appreciate the hazards and provided reasonable means and methods, including operator training, to mitigate the risk of exposure to those hazards.

PWC & Recreational Boating Expert Investigations

Robson Forensic regularly performs marine accident reconstruction, analysis of product liability issues associated with marine products, and analysis of the actions/inactions of vessel operators, marinas, resorts, liveries, private parties, and companies that make PWCs available to the public.

For more information, call us at 800.813.6736 or submit an inquiry. 

Featured Expert

Hendrik J. Keijer

Marine Operations Expert

Captain Henk Keijer is a retired Master Mariner and Marine Engineer. For more than 30 years Captain Keijer operated a variety of vessels ranging from cruise ships to cargo ships and smaller boats. He… read more.