Reckless Jet Ski riders
Complaints going up as more and more watercraft are ignoring the rules
Right about now, you can bet someone in Fort Lauderdale is either riding a Jet Ski or complaining about one.
That’s because they’ve become one of the top complaints lately, right up there with the biker brats on souped up motorcycles breaking the rules of the road, city officials say.
Personal watercraft, commonly known by the brand name Jet Skis, are the motorbikes of the waterways, loved for their adrenaline-stoking speed and loathed for their high-pitched roar and the daredevil behavior of some who ride them.
Some riders obey the rules, but the hot rods zip and zoom past boaters on the Intracoastal Waterway and completely ignore posted speed limits, critics say. Others buzz docks and come dangerously close to water skiers and passing boats.
Now Fort Lauderdale is promising to crack down on reckless riders and bootleg operators who’ve been renting personal watercraft from city parks without a permit.
The problem with hotdog riders seems to have gotten worse in the past couple months, says Fort Lauderdale Vice Mayor Heather Moraitis, who’s fielded several complaints from people who live along the Intracoastal both north and south of Sunrise Boulevard.
“I’ve seen Jet Skis swerving in and out of the boat traffic,” she said. “They’re going fast, zigzagging, putting kids on the handlebars. Kids go tubing off the back of the boats, and when you have Jet Skis swerving in and out that’s a dangerous situation.”
Chris Gaba and his husband have lived in their home along the Intracoastal for a dozen years and can’t remember things being this bad.
“Here you go, jet ski flying,” Gaba told a reporter. “He’s doing doughnuts in front of my house. It’s the equivalent of motorcycles flying by in front of your house every day. They usually travel in packs, four or more.
I feel like I’ve turned into my dad. I’m [complaining] about the party next door when I used to be the party next door.”
As he chatted, Gaba stared in disbelief as one guy on a Jet Ski ran right into a no wake sign.
“He just slammed right into it,” Gaba said. “He did not fall; he wasn’t going fast. But it’s not a small sign. It’s 5 feet tall and 7 or 8 feet wide. These are not experienced boaters. Many times they are going too fast and not paying attention to the no wake sign. It’s probably tourists who are not even aware of that the rules are.”
Gaba has called marine patrol more times than he can count. But he’s not sure what good it does.
“The police can cite a Jet Skier, but they can easily leave town and not pay it,” he said. “It’s not like they’re going to track them down. There’s no real sting to a ticket. It’s not like it’s going on your permanent record and following you around.”
In response to complaints from residents like Gaba, the Police Department’s marine patrol unit has stepped up its presence on the Intracoastal, Assistant Chief Frank Sousa said.
Sousa declined to say how many officers are assigned to the unit, citing department policy that prohibits him from discussing staffing levels.
“In 2021, we issued 32 citations and 75 written warnings,” Sousa said. “That was solely to Jet Skis. Our officers are seeing speed zone violations, inexperienced operators and operators not slowing down for wake zones.”
Fines range from $73 for not having the proper registration to $90 for speeding and other infractions.
The city has already shut down some bootleg operators who were renting jet skis at George English Park in the 1100 block of Bayview Drive without a permit. Next up is figuring out whether to allow Jet Ski rentals there at all.
Sousa said three rental companies have been caught operating at the park without a permit: Aqua Flight, Jet Ski Rentals Fort Lauderdale and YOLO Boat Rentals.
Aqua Flight stopped operating out of George English Park, Sousa said. The two other companies have been given seven days to comply or face $150-a-day fines.
Sousa said city officials are still in discussions about whether to allow Jet Ski rental companies to operate at George English.
Fast and loud
Chris Williams, president of the Coral Ridge Homeowners Association, doesn’t think it’s a good idea.
“These things are basically like a motorcycle in the water, and they come zipping by people’s homes,” Williams said. “It’s loud. The faster they go, the louder they are.”
As head of the Coral Ridge Homeowners Association, Williams represents 2,000 homes and condos between Sunrise and Oakland boulevards, bordered by the Intracoastal on the east and the Middle River on the west.
“Just yesterday a Jet Skier came flying by,” Williams said. “People renting them have no clue what damage they can do. The wake that’s thrown off can cause docked boats to start rocking hard against the dock. They’re zipping around boats. They’re not obeying rules. They’re a danger to boaters and themselves.”
Increasingly congested waterways are part of the problem.
Jet Skis have seen a huge spike in popularity due to the pandemic and Spring Break too, experts say.
An estimated 2 million personal watercraft are in use nationwide, with nearly 140,000 in Florida alone. And they’re sharing the waterway with at least 960,000 registered vessels in the state.
“When COVID-19 hit, boating has exploded,” said Peggy Mathews, the Florida spokeswoman for the American Watercraft Association. “It’s the only thing people could do to get out. More people are out on the water, from the Panhandle down to the Keys.”
They can be deadly
A ride on the water can turn fatal for people who don’t know what they’re doing.
The U.S. Coast Guard reported 46 deaths and 614 injuries related to water scooter accidents nationwide in 2019, the latest year available. In Florida, six people died and 169 were injured that year.
That’s one reason the state requires boater education courses, Mathews said.
Under Florida law, anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1988, is required to complete a boating education course or temporary certificate exam to legally operate a Jet Ski.
You have to be at least 14 years old to drive a personal watercraft in Florida. And you need to be at least 18 to rent one.
A water scooter’s standard speed is 40 to 60 mph, but turbo-charged models can go much faster, buzzing along north of 100 mph.
“There are some rogue rental companies renting them out to tourists who don’t know what they’re doing,” said John Fiore, a boating expert and longtime member of Broward County’s marine advisory board. “They are incredibly fun. But your IQ drops about 30 points as soon as the engine starts.”
Cheap to rent
Many can be rented for as little as $100 an hour — another part of the appeal.
“Some people use them to go cruising up and down the Intracoastal,” said Wolfgang Tweraser, manager at the Fun Center Fort Lauderdale, one of several water scooter rental shops near George English Park.
But Tweraser is well aware that some daredevil riders have given Jet Skis a bad rep.
“Trust me, I’ve seen a lot of crazy things,” he said. “Some people take off like they’re on a rocket from Elon Musk.”
That’s why his store installed speed control on its personal watercraft along with GPS — all the better to track riders who get lost.
“We make sure our customers are following the rules,” Tweraser said. “We give instructions twice. We even have a video running that shows what to do. We’re probably a little different than the rest.”
In recent months, Tweraser said he’s noticed bootleg operators renting water scooters from George English Park.
“Some are coming in with a U-Haul truck,” he said. “There’s no company name on the truck or the Jet Skis. I saw it even today. Sometimes it’s the wild Wild West in Florida. I want everyone to do it by the books. And if they don’t, the city should enforce the rules. We follow them, but a lot of other people don’t.”