Jet Ski is the brand name of personal watercraft (PWC) manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The name is sometimes mistakenly used by those unfamiliar with the personal watercraft industry to refer to any type of personal watercraft; however, the name is a valid trademark registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and in many other countries.[1] Jet Ski (or JetSki, often shortened to "Ski"[2]) originally referred to PWCs with pivoting handlepoles manipulated by a standing rider; these are now known as "stand-up PWC's." Today the term "Jet Ski" is often used when referring to WaveRunners, but WaveRunner is actually the name of the Yamaha line of sit-down PWC's, whereas Jet Ski refers to the Kawasaki line.[3][4] Recently, a third type has also appeared, where the driver sits in the seiza position. This type has been pioneered by Silveira Customs with their "Samba".
The "Jet Ski" was preceeded in 1929 by a one-man standing unit called the "Skiboard" which was guided by the operator standing and shifting his weight while holding on to a rope on the front, similar to a powered surfboard.[5] While somewhat popular when it was first introduced in the late 1920s, the Great Depression sent it into oblivion.[citation needed]
What the world now knows at the "Jet Ski" was first invented by Matt Bradley in 1968 while trying to invent a "Bus for the sea". He ran out of money in 1970 and was forced to give up on his plans, and in 1971 an unknown person managed to get the design and sold it to Kawasaki. In 1973 Kawasaki produced a limited number of Bradley's designed stand-up models, though at the time they did not know it was Bradley who had invented it. The 2 original models included the 1973 WSAA Jet Ski 400, and the WSAB Jet Ski 400. The WSAA featured a flat bottom design that stayed with the JS hull until 1994. The WSAB featured a V-hull which carves turns better, but is much less stable and harder to ride. Therefore only 500 of these WSAB Jet Skis were produced. Also, 1973-1974 models were made of hand-laid fiberglass. In 1975, Kawasaki began mass production of the JS400-A. The mass production JS was made of an SMC hull. JS400s came with 400 cc two-stroke engines and hulls based upon the previous limited release models. It became the harbinger of the success Jet Skis would see in the PWC market through the 1990s. In 1978, the Jet Ski 440 was introduced. It came with a new jet pump, handlebar mounted ignition controls, and a 440cc 2 stroke engine. The 440 engine was almost the same as the old 400, but had a bigger cylinder bore.
In 1982, the Jet Ski 550 became available for purchase. Not only did this new 550 have an engine that made more power than a 440, but the engine was identical to the 440, had a bigger cylinder bore, and had a new exhaust pipe for added power. The 550 also has a unique "mixed flow" pump which provides better low end thrust to get out of the hole quicker. The 1982 JS 550 was available in yellow paint with red decals. The 1983-1985 550s have red hulls with a left front exhaust exit. The 550s from 1986-1989 are red with a lower right front exhaust exit. The 1990-1994 JS 550sx models are white and have a rear exit exhaust. This line of JS watercrafts maintained very similar designs throughout their production from 1973-1994, and it is still the only watercraft to have remained in production for so long.
In 1986, Kawasaki broadened the world of Jet Skis by introducing a one person model with lean-in "sport" style handling and a 650 cc engine, dubbed the X-2. Then in 1989, they introduced their first two passenger "sit-down" model, the Tandem Sport/Dual-Jetters (TS/DJ) with a step-through seating area. Kawasaki began using four-stroke engines in 2003. Combining this with the use of other technologies such as superchargers has allowed some engines to be able to produce up to 260 horsepower (190 kW), as seen in the newly released Kawasaki Ultra 260X and Sea-Doo RXP, RXT and RXP-X.
Yamaha entered the PWC market in 1987. Bombardier entered the market in 1988. Arctic and Polaris entered the market in the early 1990s. As the riding of personal watercraft evolved through the 1990s, other companies such as Yamaha, Bombardier and Polaris, elevated the use of personal watercraft to worldwide sport in both racing and freestyle.
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