Take the following quiz and see how much you know or “guess” you know (you have a 50-50 chance) about jet skis and jet ski rentals overall.

True or False:

(1)   The trademark registered name Jet Ski is a personal watercraft (PWC) invented by Clayton Jacobsen and mass-produced by Kawasaki for the first time in 1974.

Answer: False. Although Clayton Jacobsen is indeed the inventor of the Jet Ski, Kawasaki first produced the PWC for mass consumption in 1973.

(2)   The trademark registered name of Sea-Doo (a popular personal watercraft or PWC made by Bombardier) is coined from Bombardier’s trademarked name for its snowmobile, or the Ski-Doo.

Answer: If you answered “True” you are correct.

(3)   Most daily jet ski rentals are stand-up jet skis or solo crafts.

Answer: False. Most places that offer jet ski and Sea Doo rentals provide watercrafts with multi-passenger seating.

(4)   Jet skis rented from marinas that offer boat and jet ski rentals typically have 100 horsepower engines.

Answer: False. Most jet skis have a 150 horsepower capacity and are four-stroke, direct injection engines.

(5)   If you’re at least 18 years old, you do not necessarily need a driver’s license for a jet ski rental.

Answer: False. Not only should you be 18 years old to drive such a vehicle, you must have a driver’s license.

(6)   You are required to wear a personal flotation device (PFD) or life jacket when operating any craft in the water.

Answer: True. Don’t even think about going to any place that offers daily jet ski rentals and getting on a jet ski without one.

(7)   Another name for a sit-down PWC or personal watercraft is a solo craft.

Answer: False. The name for a sit-down type PWC is a sport craft.

(8)   Yamaha manufactures the Aqua Trax.

Answer: False. The Aqua Trax model is made by Honda.

(9)   Jet skis were originally designed with the idea in mind of facilitating the activity of water skiing without the boat.

Answer: True. The first jet skis were made so the rider stood up on the equipment, thus making it possible to “ski” across the water without the necessity of being pulled by a boat.

10) The WaveRunner line of jet skis is produced by Bombardier.

Answer: False. Yamaha has the distinction of manufacturing WaveRunners.

11) Using new technologies has enabled designers of jet skis to cut emissions by 50% over watercrafts with outboard motors.

Answer: False. Emissions have been sliced by a whopping 75%.

12) Jet ski rentals can harm marine and animal life.

Answer: False. Statistics reveal that jet skis have not proven to cause any undue turbulence in the water to bother marine animals nor have they been shown to damage sea grass beds.

13) The cost of jet ski rentals is lower when jet skis are rented from a marina or resort.

Answer: False. Normally the cost of renting jet skis is lower when you rent them from a shop. However, you still have to have a trailer to tow the jet skis to your destination.

How well did you guess? Or do you really know your stuff? Whatever wave you decide to ride in this regard, you can find out much more information about jet skis as well boat and jet ski rentals on the Internet.

photo credit: cookipediachef