The craft
Governing: RYA PW Proficiency scheme. Leads to: L1.2 controls and kill cords.
What you are dealing with
A personal watercraft is a small, fast boat driven by a water jet. Water is drawn through an intake grate under the hull, accelerated by an impeller driven straight off the engine, and thrown out through a nozzle at the stern. Turn the handlebars and you swing the nozzle; the reaction of the jet turns the craft. There is no rudder and no propeller outside the hull, which is why a PWC is relatively kind to swimmers and very unkind to anyone who assumes it will steer when the throttle is closed.
| Type | Typical use | Yacht relevance |
|---|---|---|
| Sit-down runabout, 1-3 seats | Leisure, towing, guest rides | The normal yacht toy |
| Stand-up | Freestyle, single experienced rider | Rarely carried; hard for guests |
| Supercharged performance models | High speed, heavy | Popular with owners; demand a strict speed brief |
The parts that matter
- Intake grate under the hull. Ropes, weed and plastic get sucked into it. A blocked intake means no thrust, no steering and overheating.
- Impeller and wear ring. Sand and gravel erode both; performance fades slowly, so riders rarely notice.
- Nozzle and reverse bucket. Many modern craft have a reverse and neutral bucket, and some have an electronically controlled brake and reverse.
- Kill cord (safety lanyard). Clipped to the rider, it stops the engine if they fall off. Lesson 1.2 deals with it.
- Sponsons, bow eye, stern eyes and boarding step. You use them for towing, lifting and reboarding.
Where the RYA course fits
The RYA Personal Watercraft Proficiency course is a one-day, mainly practical course. The RYA sets a minimum age of 12, and riders aged 12-16 must ride only under the supervision of a responsible adult. It covers weather, safety and courtesy, launching and familiarisation, handling, emergencies, rules of the road, basic navigation, and recovery and aftercare. You come away with the RYA's PW handbook and a certificate.
What the certificate is not: a universal licence. The RYA says many UK harbours want to see an RYA qualification before you launch, and that the certificate can be used as evidence of competence for an ICC if you ride abroad. Whether a Spanish, French or Italian officer on a patrol boat accepts it is a matter of local law, covered in Module 3.
TIP — What employers actually ask for Deckhand adverts regularly list "PWC" next to Tender Driving: Powerboat Level 1 and 2. The PW Instructor ticket (Lesson 4.3) is the one that makes a crew member useful to a yacht that runs guest training.
The yacht angle
On a yacht the PWC is simultaneously a guest toy, a piece of work equipment and a liability. The old Large Yacht Code (LY3) reminded operators that PWC use must comply with the law of the state whose waters you are in, and listed "safe use and qualification of users for personal watercraft" among the procedures a yacht's safety management system should contain. Treat that as the minimum: a written procedure, a named person responsible, and a record of who rode, when and after what briefing.