Has anyone ever had their jetski blow away from them, leaving them stranded?

Question

I was out in the wind jumping waves one September on Outer Bay in Colchester, Vt. I lost my grip because my hands got numb and could not swim fast enough to catch the jetski in the wind, though the engine kill switch worked. Has this happened to anyone else? I use a tether now, how did it effect your jetski experience?

Answer 1

Nope, that hasn't happened to me, yet.   I'm not sure what type of jetski you were using but a lot of the newer models (like my SeaDoo RXP) have a new feature that can prevent this from happening.   First, when the key comes out they have the automatic kill switch (like you mentioned) but after that they are suppose to automatically steer to one side so that they go in a circle in one place.   I haven't tested it out too much yet, but this feature is suppose to prevent what happened to you; but I still have thoughts of a jetski doing circles around me as I swim towards it.