Probably the number one fear of many new jet ski owners is docking, especially on drive up lifts.
Docking is easy, but it does require some patience and practice. Don’t let the dock scare you, it’s easy.
In this post, I want to show you steps to dock a jet ski, best way to put them on a drive up lift, and tips I’ve learned from teaching many new owners about docking jet skis.
Number One Rule for docking
The number one rule when it comes to docking on your jet ski is to go slow.
When I say slow, I mean painfully slow at the dock. Almost like it feels wrong and people are judging your slowness – kind of slow.
The biggest mistake you can make when you’re about to dock is to go fast or to play with the throttle.
When in doubt at the dock, shut the engine off. Hit the START/STOP button if you get in a tight spot or don’t know what to do. Avoid taking the jet ski safety lanyard off, just in case you need to quickly restart the engine.
Keep in mind About Jet Skis
- Jet skis are direct drive, this means if the engine is on the impeller is spinning, and it’s always doing something.
- They don’t have a “true” neutral. Neutral is just a spot between forward and reverse. This means you have more control over the jet ski, you can even steer it in neutral.
- The nose of the jet ski will go the direction you turn the handlebars, no matter if you’re in forward or reverse. This is a bit confusing to some, as boats are not like this.
- When the jet ski is at the dock, and you’re holding onto the dock, shut the engine off. There is no true neutral, and letting it sit in neutral at the dock is not safe.
- Follow NO-WAKE ZONE laws!!! The white floating buoy or being within 100 feet of land is a no-wake zone. This means no throttle and going slow at the dock. Some no-wake zones are long, but you still need to go at idle speed. I know it’s annoying, but it’s for your safety and everyone around you when at the dock.
Point one is an important one, jet drives are always processing water. When doing jet boat test drives, I’ve had several “boat guys” tell me that shutting the engine off while at the dock is stupid. Their logic is true for normal boats with true neutral, but not with jet boats that lack a true neutral. The only time you can rest with jet drives are when the engine is off. This is the trade-off with jet drives, you have far more control when docking because you’re always processing water, but you also must kill the engine when docked.
How To Dock A PWC
- Before getting to the dock, put the PWC in neutral and see where the wind is blowing and what other people are doing.
- When it’s safe, and you understand the direction of the wind, head towards the dock. Try to use the wind to your advantage, go at an angle to the dock.
- Tap the forward and reverse/brake levers of the PWC back and forth to control the slow movement towards the dock. Do not give the PWC gas, only tap back and forth between forward and neutral. See the video below to understand the levers and their controls.
- You want to go slow, painfully slow. If you feel you’re going too fast, pull on the reverse lever to slow you down. It should feel like you’re docking a space shuttle in outer space, that is the slowness you want.
- Shut the PWC off if you can reach the dock or in a tight spot, but still close enough at the dock that you can reach.
If you’re ever in doubt, shut the engine off. PWCs don’t have a true neutral, and the only way to stop everything is to kill the engine.
A video showing you the steps to drive a PWC and what I mean about going back and forth on the levers:
Docking without reverse
To dock a jet ski without reverse is harder, but doable.
The trick with docking with no reverse is not use any throttle at the dock or no-wake area and, 20 feet before the dock, spin the jet ski in little circles.
Look around you to make sure no one is near you, and then spin the jet ski in a circle with NO throttle.
Spinning in a circle will kill all your momentum, and then point the jet ski where you want to go. When the jet ski starts to get back some momentum, you should be close enough to the dock, and you can shut the engine off. Once again, use no throttle when doing this, idle speed is what you want when around the dock.
Instructional Videos
Tips For Docking!
To get better at docking, you need to practice!
The best way to practice is to find a buoy out in the water and try to get as close to it without touching it with your jet ski. I like using the no-wake buoy, as there are a few near a dock, and it’s probably the safest area, as people should be going slow there anyway.
Tapping the throttle and reverse levers, try different approaches until you start to get the hang of it. Remember, go slow, only idle speed when near the dock on a jet ski. Do this a few times, and you’ll be an expert at docking a jet ski in no time.
Docking Jet Skis On A drive-Up Lift
Putting a PWC on a floating drive up lift is nearly the same as docking on any boat dock.
- Before getting to the lift, put it in neutral and see where the wind is blowing and what other people are doing.
- When it’s safe, and you understand the direction of the wind, head towards the dock and lift. Try to use the wind to your advantage.
- Lightly hit the center of the floating drive up dock lift.
- Try to center jetski with the lift if you’re not already.
- Give the jetski some gas to drive up.
- Wait a second to make sure you don’t roll backwards. If you do roll backwards, try again, it’s no big deal.
- If you don’t roll backwards, turn the jetski off and tie up. Tie at the dock itself and not the jetski lift.
Video Steps:
A lot of new jetski owners are afraid they’ll overshoot the lift and end up on their dock and damage something.
So long as you go slow, lightly touch the jetski lift and keep it straight, you should not over shoot the dock when giving it a little bit of gas.
It may require a few tries to get used to it and find the amount of much throttle you should give it, but you’ll get the hang of it. This is why you want to wait before turning the jetski off to make sure you won’t roll back off the dock and have to do it again.
