Handy Hints for Teaching PWC (jetskiing):

PWC Practical Session Briefing:

Your student briefing needs to contain the following elements -

Safety - Hazards in area, Basic Road rules & byelaws (including slowing down to displacement speed i.e. 5 knots if another craft enters the operating area)
Aims - what you want them to achieve & why they are doing it.
Area - the course or area of operation
Direction of travel when going around a course
Distance - away from safety craft / between PWs
Duration - session length / number of laps of the course
Safe Speed awareness & the speed that you want them to carry out the exercise
Signals - whistles are difficult to hear over the noise of your students engine, therefore you need to create one of two scenarios - either set them a number of laps of the course to complete and inform them that they must slow down and return to you on completion OR brief them to look over at you on a regular basis, if you are giving them a hand-signal (i.e. arms ontop of your head or pointing & waving them in) then they must return to you at this point. For hand-signals to work effectively, you must position yourself in an obvious place, insight of your students. It may be worth purchasing a fog horn to gain their attention in an urgent situation.
Key teaching points of the exercise - How they are going to achieve the aims (Demonstration?)

Transiting from A to B:

Brief your students to follow you on your starboard side, in front of your wake, leaving a minimum of 3-5 PW lengths between them and the PW infront.. the pattern should look similar to the photo above.

The dangers of following directly behind each other is that if someone was fall from a PW or stop suddenly the PW behind will run straight into them. The reason for keeping your students to starboard is that they are then kept on the right side of any channels and away from other craft.

Swopping Passenger & Helm Over:

Something often overlooked is how to safely & effectively swop your students over on the helm. It is important to remember to keep them out of the water.. as soon as someone enters the water regardless of what country you're operating in they become at risk of being a casualty. This is due to their potential inability to re-board the PWC (due to fatigue, strength, cold etc), plus in rougher conditions it can become challenging to re-mount. Aside to this, if they lose contact with the PWC they run the risk of ending up in a real 'Person Overboard' situation that will require them to be recovered effectively by the person remaining on the PWC. In the UK & other places with similar climates we do not want our students to get cold too early so ensuring they stay as dry as possible, for as long as possible is also key.

The other consideration to make is: though as training centres we carry a spare kill cord onboard sadly our students don't always do this, it is a good moment to emphasise the importance of carrying a spare kill cord as there is always the possibility that one of the occupants may fall off (at any point during their ride); carrying a spare kill cord will allow the remaining person to start the engine and go back to safely retrieve the other if there have drifted away.

To do this: ensure the engine is turned off prior to swopping, the kill cord is removed and attached to the new helm before proceeding. Ask the helm to remain seated & lean out in an agreed direction whilst the passenger stands up and passes them on the opposite side. The helm simply slides back on the seat into their new position whilst the new helm sits down.

Are your students getting enough time afloat?

Sometimes its hard to figure out the best way to manage short vs. afloat sessions, especially when you review the course syllabus and how easy it is to perceive that theres alot of ‘theory sessions’ involved, so, how do we ensure that our students get enough time actually riding a PWC to meet the time requirements and ensure they gain enough PWC handling experience?

Whether you teach the proficiency course on a lake, the sea or from the back of a Superyacht the same rule of thumb applies, a minimum of 70% of our day should be spent afloat, this not only makes it more interesting for your students but also allows them enough time to truly get to grips with riding a PWC to be safe in the future on this relatively short course.

Here are some ideas of how to make this easier for you and allow the time to be used in the best possible way..

Cover ‘theory sessions’ 1:1 / 1:2 whilst the other PWC/s are carrying out the slow speed practical sessions, this is particularly relevant when running courses for 3 x PWC where only 2 PWC are on the course at any one time. However don’t forget to keep an eye on the practical sessions at all times!

Tidal streams & Weather are directly linked to sessions like MOB, CAS and Stopping distances/ Teaching these subjects as part of these practical sessions will help make them more relevant to the task at hand.

Knots: Why not get your students to practice their knot tying whilst waiting for their turn at a practical session? A great use of time and preparation for the towing session.

Buoyage: If you work in coastal waters then use the buoyage thats around you particularly during the ‘follow a planned route’ session rather than ‘talking about it’ in a classroom, this will not only make it quicker to cover, but also more relevant.

IRPCS: if you run your course in a busy patch of water then you will ‘see’ various IRPCS activities whilst transiting between locations whether that be ship movements or leisure craft heading out for the day.

Slipway Launching & Recovery: This is the perfect time to introduce a working knowledge of Tides, Depths / Chart Datum for fear that you will instead have your trailer stuck in the mud!

Types of PWC: If you are launching from an area where other people are using PWC’s use this an opportunity to show your students some different types of PWC. Alternatively if you are based near a PWC dealer why not pop in over lunch and have a look round.

Balance & trim: This subject that becomes quickly relevant when running slow speed familiarisation and can be enhanced during the planing speed exercises.

Capsize recovery/ Versa Docks / Launching - if you have a smart phone or tablet (in a waterproof case) why not get your students to watch the video/s (within the RYA eBook) whilst they are waiting for their ‘turn’ at a practical session

F.A.Q.s

What happens if my student does not stop when I show my hand signal?

- Move yourself into a more obvious area in direct eyeline with your student (not on a collision course!) so that your student can see you & show the hand-signal again, or just hold you hand up in a stop position.

What should I do if my student goes in far excess of the speed limit that I have set them?

- Stop the session immediately, recall your student & remind them of the initial briefing. Most PWC's have a speed guage onboard - for novice students, tell them a physical speed to follow i.e. 10 knots/mph/kmph - it is very difficult for new riders to know the difference between planing, displacement speed etc.

What should I do if my student does not follow the course I set-out for them?

- Stop the session immediately, recall your student & remind them of the initial briefing. You may need to demonstrate the course for them to have a full understanding of what is expected of them (especially with slalom exercises).

Another jetski/boat/craft is heading right towards my group & looks like it is going to cut through my course?

- Stop the session immediately, gather all of your students together in one group & wait for the craft to pass by. If your students paid attention to your briefing they should already slowed to displacement speed when they saw the other craft heading towards them.

Group control:

Teaching PWC courses creates an entirely new element to any thoughts you may have previously had on 'group control'. The main reason for this is the fact that you are looking after anything up to 3 PWC's and 6 students at any one time, all of which have the capability of going up to 70mph in opposite directions!

The key is in giving an effective briefing, but we are also going to have a look at the 'worst case scenario' and how you as the instructor can deal with this.

Prior to briefing - Answer the following questions to yourself:

What is a safe area to operate?
What type of course can I lay to keep my group safe, that I can be seen (& can see all my students), It needs to be out of any main channels & preferably away from the general public?
i.e. a box course means that you can be sat on your safety craft in the middle of the box - remember only 2 PWC's on a box course at anyone time, if you are doing 'an introduction to high speed' then only 1 PWC on the box at anyone time. The other students can join you in the middle of the box to observe.
What is a safe speed to beable to effectively run this exercise?
What is the ability/background knowledge of my students? (Never assume!)