RE: [Paddlewise] feed the jetskiers acorns, they'll thank you for it

At 03:16 PM 4/16/01 -0500, Joyce, Thomas F. wrote:
><snip>
>
>"a jet ski doesn't have a prop. nora propeller shaft.  The reason that it's
>*called* a jet ski is because it's propelled with a "jet" of water.  The
>engine will have a water intake and the motor is connected a kind of turbine
>that spits the water back out."
>
>Don't worry about spoiling my glee; our family has chuckled many times
>thinking about that incident.  There was definitely some spinning shaft at
>work under the ski, involving rotation at high speeds, because as soon as he
>revved it up, the line was reeled in:  instantly, tightly, irreparably, with
>a wonderfully inappropriate "What the hell was that?" sound.  If it was
>acting more like a jet, maybe the line was somehow sucked up into the intake
>valve or turbine mechanism.

That was probably the case.  One of the advantages, or disadvantages depending
on your perspective, of the jet drives is that stuff like ropes and large
debris doesn't foul the propeller and, because a large propeller isn't hanging
down, the watercraft can be operated much shallower.  In other words, they
can go places that previously only was navigable by a canoe or kayak.  I 
hadn't really thought about it much until I kayaked a class II/III river in
the Adirondacks a couple of years ago.  The river fed into a large reservoir
and there were a bunch of jet skis coming up from the lake into the last
rapid before the takeout.
  


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