Riding Your Personal Watercraft With a Passenger

Personal watercraft, also known as PWC, are great for riding across the water by yourself, and some models are only designed for the operator to ride them solo. However, if you’ve got a model with modular seating for two, three, or even four passengers total, you can have a fun outing on the water with people who may not know how to operate a PWC, but would love to get on one! Here are some things to keep in mind when you add a passenger to your PWC.

PWC Weight Capacity

Remember: your PWC has a weight limit and a passenger limit, and this will be listed in your owner’s manual. Avoid overloading your watercraft with too many people, since this isn’t safe. Bear in mind that the weight of additional passengers will change how your personal watercraft operates, so you need to go slowly at first to allow yourself to adjust to this.

Passenger Responsibilities

Let your passengers know what they need to do in order to ensure the PWC ride is safe and fun for everyone. First off, all of you need to wear your own personal flotation device (PFD or life jacket) at all times, since even the best swimmers can become disoriented by falling into the water (which is very likely on a PWC). Instruct your passengers how to hold onto your waist or seat strap or grab handles to keep themselves upright. Establish a way to communicate while the watercraft is in motion, such as hand signals or tugs on the life jacket you’re wearing.

Come on down to our Pennsylvania dealership in Upper Darby to check out our wide array of new and used personal watercraft for sale. Crossroad Powersports is your Pennsylvania PWC dealer, serving Philadelphia as well as Wilmington, Delaware.