jet ski vs rib

[ian parkes]

I was chatting to guy with a new jetski the other day . Big yam waverunner .

He told me that a group of them on similar ski's went to Scilly acompanied by a 6m rib .
He said they had pretty rough seas and the ski's were able to make better speed in the rough than the rib .
Dunno what sort of rib it was but i was surprised , i have never ridden a jetski but expected them to become hard work to keep up any speed in a rough sea .
Was I being spun a yarn is there any jetskiers out there who would agree .

If it true Iam going to have to try one out .

[Biggles]

Never tried one. Would love to.

But witnessed them going round the IOW (About 60 plus) recently accompanied by RIBs and they seemed to be making hard work of it. Maybe the bigger ones can hammer through the rough stuff, but I did notice a common factor amongst most of the guys (And I probably fit in somewhere here) they were all large, tough looking sort of guys. It certainly seemed to be a case of hanging on for dear life, lots of spray and loads of bouncing about. Whereas as I was able to blast easily though the surf. Maybe not quite as fast as the 1500cc Turbocharged jobs. But as fast if not faster than most of them.
I did ask for the MPG from one of the older guys and he said 1 Litre per Mile similar to RIB. I was interested in getting one if they were cheaper than a RIB to run but doesn't seem so.

Still if I had loads of money I would get one. But the RIB has in my opinion (For what its worth) is a better boat.

NR.

[Spike]

Ive had two Yamaha GP800R's & i would tend to agree with the guy they will whitewash a RIB or any other boat, you spend a lot of time airbourne & that is wareing after a while, a RIB stays more planted so is far more comfortable. Also it's bloody hard work to keep a ski nailed when the going gets rough, we used to go out for about 2hrs wave jumping (that's all the fuel gone!) & the next day you felt like you'd done a round with Tyson. Great fun though, just gets a little boring after a while as you are alone on one even if you are out with other ski's IMHO.

[codprawn]

Loads of jetskis run out of my local harbour. They leave me standing when it's calm but as the seas around here are seldom flat it's usually me leaving them behind. Once you get over about 4' waves they aren't much good - they can't get much power down when they are in the air all the time.

It's not fair - I try to have a play and they just bugger off - maybe they are scared of being run down but I don't drive that madly - I think!!!

[nugent]

i own a waverunner high out-put with few bolt on goodies, with my fat ass i still get 58 on gps, but in the rough you will never keep up with a RIB, possibly for ten mins, or so but no rider will be able to hang on long enougth,
i feel like i have been run over by a train after a good 2-3 hrs in the surf,

these new rxt's and similar will do 70+ in calm waters, but the fuel will be spent in 1-2 hrs fulll chat,,,,

[nugent]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Loads of jetskis run out of my local harbour. They leave me standing when it's calm but as the seas around here are seldom flat it's usually me leaving them behind. Once you get over about 4' waves they aren't much good - they can't get much power down when they are in the air all the time.

It's not fair - I try to have a play and they just bugger off - maybe they are scared of being run down but I don't drive that madly - I think!!!

come over minehead or there abouts thurs /fri we will have all the toys out my mates like a play,,

[Kernow Buoy]

Originally Posted by ian parkes

I was chatting to guy with a new jetski the other day . Big yam waverunner .

He told me that a group of them on similar ski's went to Scilly acompanied by a 6m rib .
He said they had pretty rough seas and the ski's were able to make better speed in the rough than the rib .
Dunno what sort of rib it was but i was surprised , i have never ridden a jetski but expected them to become hard work to keep up any speed in a rough sea .
Was I being spun a yarn is there any jetskiers out there who would agree .

If it true Iam going to have to try one out .

small world Parkesy, one of my mates was also on that trip! he described the conditions as a very large regular swell which kept their speed down, apparently seasickness was a problem the motion was that regular, they were delighted the rib was there as safety cover and wouldn't have gone without it, he certainly didn't mention the Rib was slower.

[blimp]

Used to have a Yam Waverunner GP760 which would comfortably do 80kmph. However in anything rough you really had to stand up to absorb the waves. You could keep this up for a fair amount of time into waves, but running with the waves caused a LOT of slamming and would shake the bejaysus out of you. Great fun and an incredible buzz when running at top speed, but I wouldn't move away from a rib now.

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Loads of jetskis run out of my local harbour. They leave me standing when it's calm but as the seas around here are seldom flat it's usually me leaving them behind. Once you get over about 4' waves they aren't much good - they can't get much power down when they are in the air all the time.

Pretty much the same observations having been out with one a couple of times - not somebody I know just happened to be out. We were flat out at about 38-39kt and he was just overtaking by about 1kt but was really making hard work of it even though it wasn't rough, the RIB was hardly moving but the ski was bang-bang-bang over every little wave crest, looked really uncomfortable and I doubt he could have kept it up for long but then we ran out of harbour anyway

[waverunner]

I have owned two jetski's a yam 1200XLT LTD 2-stroke, and a yam FX140 4-stroke and I have to say they are great fun. Both ski's are designed to carry three people, however, two realistically, and if you want out and out fun and exhiliration ideally one up. With two people on board it is difficult to stand up, but one up it is sheer fun but hard work in rough conditions. I have ventured out of Porthmadog in a force 5.
I went on the 2006 ribnet raid from Pwllheli North Wales and was the only ski that joined the flotilla and I was two up, and in moderate conditions I nailed almost all ribs bar one maybe two large ribs. Thanks to Top Banana he carried extra fuel, my wife and one of my two lads on his rib, I topped my fuel up at Barmouth but I am sure I would have completed the 75 mile round trip on a full tank on my 4-stroke. Just over 1Nm per Ltr. any distance longer than this, and someone would have to carry fuel for me.
Problem with ski's when you have a family is you cannot get everyone on board, and you have to keep returning to the beach to give rides. Ribs are far better for families, you can load up and go for the day.
I always carried a handheld GPS and VHF radio, problem being you do not get the 25 watt coverage with a handheld VHF. On a ski you always get soaked unless you are a wuss, whereas on a rib you more often than not stay relatively dry unless it P***** down.
One thing I have noticed with ribs compared to ski's is how hard the hull slams onto the sea in choppy conditions, not half as bad on a ski.
Still after all that, ski has been sold, and looking forward to owning my own rib. Probably a 5.8 Vipermax, I like the solid well built hull.