Navigating the open waters can be a thrilling experience, but it’s not without its challenges.
One such challenge is the visibility of personal watercraft (PWCs) — often zipping around with speed and agility. These vessels, while providing excitement for their riders, can pose a significant hazard to others due to their size and maneuverability. Basically, they’re difficult to see, even on a clear day.
In this post, we go into what one manufacturer is doing to increase visibility, and why they do it.
Why Do Jet Skis Shoot Water In The Air?
Jet skis shoot water high into the air as a byproduct of their propulsion system, expelling water through the jet nozzle to create a visible spray that serves as a safety feature, making them more noticeable to other boaters, especially on rough water between waves, and ensuring they remain visible.
Let’s go over each reason in their own section.
1. Visibility
Waverunners are tiny and nimble; It’s easy to lose sight of one, especially when the water is busy.
One solution Yamaha came up with is to use the jet pump to shoot a stream of water up to better see them during the day. Since there is a lot of power coming out of a jet pump, this water spout can go very high, above waves, thus making you more visible.
This water spout is how it gets its rooster tail look and since people can see them further away, it’s the reason people relate the tails to waverunners.
2. Trademark
It’s like how Harley-Davidson Motorcycles have their unique engine sound.
Or how a Mercedes-Benz makes that unique sound when you close the door.
Yamaha’s thing is shooting water out the rear to give it a rooster tail.
3. To Annoy Or Cool
One downside of a Yamaha shooting water up and out the rear is that if you pull a tube or skier, they get constantly hit with water.
Not only is it annoying for tow sports, but in group rides it annoys anyone near your waverunner. They don’t even need to be directly behind you, the wind can carry the water droplets all over the place and really make other riders annoyed.
The water can block their view and just be constantly annoying, so many Yamaha owners remove the rooster tail feature.
You Don’t Need It
While shooting the water up and behind your waverunner does make it more visible, it’s only slightly.
After a while, the slight visibility it gives you is not worth the annoyance.
1. Pull tubes
If you’re pulling someone on a tube or wakeboarding, the water spout will often hit people’s faces, making it harder to see.
This could be a good thing if you want to cool off, but it does get annoying quick.
2. Hits You
It’s not only the people you pull but if the wind gets you just right, or you hit a bump just right, you get wet from the spout.
It may seem funny to worry about getting wet on a waverunner, but not every moment you want to be wet or get water in your face.
3. Limits Accessories
The water spout also limits what you can carry at the rear, like a cooler or gas cans.
4. Riding Groups
That rooster tail of water can also anger others in your riding group for getting them wet or blocking their visibility.
5. Racers Remove It
Most of the people who race waverunners will remove this water spout.
It’s the thrust of the craft that pushes that water out the spout, and as a racer, you want full thrust for moving you forward. Plus, visibility is not a huge concern to jet ski racers, so a steady stream of water out the back is not needed.
How The Rooster Tail Works
The rooster tail is driven by the output of the jet pump.
A small tube takes water from the jet pump’s output and shoots it into the air.
This process doesn’t involve any special pumps or connections to the cooling system. This means it’s easy to turn off.
How To Turn it Off
While the stream of water shooting out the back of your waverunner helps with visibility, it can get very annoying, especially if you’re being pulled in a tube.
To remove the rooster tail from your Waverunner is as simple as removing a hose at the jet pump, as covered below. The hose has no other purpose, so it’s fine to remove it.
Does the rooster tail cause my jetski to bog down in the water? The drag that is created by the rooster tail won’t be noticed by any riders. So don’t feel like you need to remove it to gain speed because the difference won’t be much. Also, removing it won’t cause your jetski to take on water, either.
Not Apart Of The Cooling System
I keep seeing websites say a jet ski sprays water up because of the cooling system, and it’s not. The rooster tail you see on waverunners is apart of the pump, and doesn’t have anything to do with the cooling system. This means it has nothing to do with flushing the jet ski, either.
Removing it will not affect how your waverunner keeping its engine cooled. It’s a good thing it’s not used for the cooling system because the water coming out would be hot, and hitting the people you’re pulling on the tube with hot water is not a good idea.
The water you see is waste water, it’s water that was coming out of the jet pump, but a little bit was diverted up into a stream.
