Dark Days

May 24, 2004
7,131
CC 30 South Florida
Definitely convince your wife that you need to rent jet skis before making a purchase. Pick a real sunny and hot day to go cruising around, carry a small cooler with a couple of bottles of water and very little snacks. Stay away from places with public restrooms. Slowly go across the wake of some large boats and lastly complaint about the consumption and cost of fuel in comparison with the sailboat. Let her make the connection on her own about the comfort of the boat vs. the jet skis.
 
Jan 18, 2016
782
Catalina 387 Dana Point
Cost's don't matter. Sheesh, all boats are expensive. Just dropped $120 just to replace my furling line.

Rent a coupla lake lice. Use them as intended: Go full out. As fast as possible. Jump some waves. Have fun. After 20 minutes, say "Now what we gonna do?"

A true PWC aficionado would say "Fuel up and do it again, but lets try to annoy some folks while we're at it., 'cause just driving around is getting boring."
A sensible person would say "Let's go find something else that's fun."

They're an absolute blast for 20 min. Seriously. Rented the highest horsepower PWC I could find on on Lake Mojave once. Good golly going 50+mph sitting on the water was amazingly fun. For awhile. Then it was a chore. Kids (teenagers) each had 15 min rides, then back to the beach. Not much fun slamming into chop later in the day.
 
Dec 28, 2015
1,847
Laser, Hunter H30 Cherubini Tacoma
Two PWC at $10k each plus insurance, trailer, registration isn’t chump-change
 
Oct 22, 2014
21,085
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Paul... Sidewinder? Do PWC's put our enough of a heat signature to make that even practical?
 
Jan 1, 2006
7,069
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
I agree about getting bored with them. It won't last. And, you'll be back to sailing PDQ.
 
Mar 20, 2015
3,095
C&C 30 Mk1 Winnipeg
All good. She goes out for the weekend in a rental PWC (cheaper to rent for the few times a year) and you go sailing. In different locations. Tell her it's a chance to have personal time with each or your friends.
"Girls day out"

It will get boring quickly for her.
If it doesn't it is not a big deal. A few weekends apart is not a bad thing.

Lots of married guys at our marina, who have wives who dont sail. A couple boats are shared by guys in that situation.

Fwiw: if my wife decided to give up the things I enjoy, while also demanding I do everything with her... I would be single very quickly.
 
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capta

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Jun 4, 2009
4,772
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
I've never understood why people have jet skis. It looks so boring. No roads to follow, courses to run or places to go. Just basically riding around in circles bouncing over your own wake. Just a big, expensive, boring, bothersome toy.
 
Mar 1, 2012
2,182
1961 Rhodes Meridian 25 Texas coast
I've never understood why people have jet skis. It looks so boring. No roads to follow, courses to run or places to go. Just basically riding around in circles bouncing over your own wake. Just a big, expensive, boring, bothersome toy.
There are a few folks around here that use them as fishing boats- they get into very constricted places
 
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Jan 1, 2006
7,069
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
I have a relative who has become a nuisance jet skier. He is in a group of similar guys who buy high end jet skis and then re-work the engines to soup them up so they go faster. Top speeds can be 90 mph - don't even bother telling them we measure speed in knots on the water. They go to NY Harbor, sometimes up the Hudson and out on LI in packs of tens. I used to cringe when a pack would come thru my favorite anchorage for fear they would come by to say hello. They can turn a peaceful anchorage into a noisy, annoying and dangerous place.
 
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dLj

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Mar 23, 2017
3,414
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
I am a bit surprised to hear so many negative comments on the jet ski - they look like a major blast to me. I'd love to go zipping over the water on one of these at 90 mph... Wow! Talk about major fun! But, I guess as sailors we tend to have accepted 6 or so knots as a perfectly fine way to go from place to place. I do find the noise level less than desirable but I could see spending a summer or two with one of these have having tons of fun! If they were lighter and quieter might make a good dingy option (obviously not the case).

Heck, jump on the bandwagon with your wife, get two and go have fun!

dj
 
Nov 30, 2015
1,337
Hunter 1978 H30 Cherubini, Treman Marina, Ithaca, NY
While my youngest son is a jet ski offficionado with the ability to make his own major wake and then do a backflip for all to see…I assume this kind of activity never gets old or bring. But apparently as he ages, he’s more into crew stimulation with one of these:

646B7D49-A55A-4B87-816B-01471080CC0E.jpeg


So he came to visit over the 4th of July and we went sailing on a beautiful 5-10 knot day on Cayuga Lake and he brought his crew with him. He and she had never sailed before. They had a great time and never mentioned the need for speed. But we did compare fuel costs and noise generation. They thought it funny that you could hear the Bluetooth speakers and not spill the adult beverages.

462A3C10-3696-4B98-8ACC-0CB268350230.jpeg


If I really wanted to have my hair…or lack thereof on fire…I might want to try these: