Jetski safety campaign welcomed

A Tauranga jetski club is backing a jetski safety campaign but believes most of the problems on the water involve inexperienced riders.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council safety campaign is aimed at reducing the number of jetski incidents on the region's waterways and is urging jetski users to keep others in mind when they are out on the water.

Tauranga Jet Sport Association secretary Leanne Brown said the association supported the safety campaign.

"Obviously we endorse safety at all times. That's part of the reason the clubs exist."

During her 10 years involved in jetski clubs, Ms Brown said no major accidents involving the watercraft had involved any club members from around the country.

In January 2010, Rotorua teenager Bishop Thompson died in Lake Okareka after being hit and knocked off the back of a jet ski by another jet ski.

"Often it's people hiring or borrowing jetskis that have no regard for the rules," she said. "You can buy a motor car and drive on the road but you have to have a licence which takes two to two-and-a-half years. You can buy a jetski and put it on the water this afternoon and go 80km/h."

The idea of licensing had been talked about at length but would be a massive undertaking, she said. Ms Brown said a licensing system would have to apply to all water vessels, not just jetskis. Dinghys were the cause of the most deaths on the water, she said.

She encouraged anyone with an interest in jetskis to join a club.

"It's a matter of education. Mostly common sense but also education ... In a club they get to learn the right and wrong way."

Wearing lifejackets might not be compulsory but jetskiers would be silly not to, she said.

"I would be very disappointed that someone on a jetski wasn't wearing one. It's the equivalent of a seatbelt."

Ms Brown said it was important for jetski users towing skiers to have a pillion passenger, with a life jacket on, watching the skier.

It was also important that, like all boats, jetskis obey the law and only travel at 5 knots within 200m of the shore or 50m of another vessel, she said.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council's summer campaign is aimed at improving the behaviour of jetski users on the region's waterways.

Harbourmasters, maritime officers and volunteers would be out in force this summer to remind jetskiers of the rules and encourage them to wear life jackets.

Most jetski incidents involved males aged 17 to 30 and in most cases it came down to inexperience, a council spokesman said.

The campaign would remind jetski users of the rules governing the use of jetskis and will encourage them to wear life jackets rather than just stow them on board.

Jetski users need to comply with the same maritime rules as boaties.