For some reason I let my 1990 Kawasaki 550 stand up jet ski sit unused for the past 6 years. Well, this week I finally dipped her into the local lake and became a jet skier again. It went better than I had anticipated, with the ski running strong, and my skill about where I had left off (not very skilled). It's like riding a bicycle!
Normally when I fall off, it's from doing tight circles and falling over. When this happens, I'm going slow enough that I can hang onto the grip and pull myself back onto the ski. Occasionally, I'll wipe out when going faster due to a wave catching me off balance, or a botched fast turn. Falling off at speed rips the ski from my grasp against all determination to prevent it. At that moment, its supposed to return to idle and make tight counter-clockwise turns.
I fell off while doing one of those faster turns, and this time, to my horror, the ski fast-idled away from me. It went in the general direction of some kayakers, and I figured at best, the ski would end up on the rocks, or at worst, into the people.
Eventually the ski decided to end its terror run and instead turn circles like a normal ski. Swimming the 200 yards or so in 10 minutes with a bulky life jacket made me realize 2 things:
1. I'm out of shape
2. I've got to do something to prevent a runaway ski
I think the idle is set a touch too fast, which may have prevented the ski from circling. I'm not sure what causes the ski to circle in the first place, because the steering doesn't have a spring or anything to cause it to turn.
I'll probably just install a lanyard kill switch. It means I'll have to swim further to get to the ski when I fall off, but it's much better than watching it ride off into the sunset.
Funny that I never even contemplated the unthinkable of happening until it nearly did.
