A History of the Personal Watercraft

Anyone who loves to chase fast-paced adrenaline rushes out on the water will love what a personal watercraft (also called a PWC) has to offer. These exciting “aquatic motorcycles” were developed specifically to give thrill-seekers a safer way to reach high speeds and cruise quickly over the water’s surface. Here’s a brief history of how the personal watercraft was developed, in case you’re curious.

Development

Early attempts at personal watercraft were made in the 1950s in Europe, where small “water scooters” with handlebars allowed people to coast at slow speeds around the water, but they were never put into heavy production. 

Norwegian-American inventor and avid motorcyclist Clayton Jacobson II is responsible for creating the first recognizable personal watercraft that eventually led to mass production. Having recently crashed a motorcycle into a ditch, Jacobson wondered if there was a better way to get the same high-octane thrills with a lessened risk of injury. So he created a couple of prototypes of a vehicle that could be ridden on the water in a standing or sitting position.

Manufacturer Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), the makers of the Ski-Doo® snowmobile, took Jacobson’s design to create a big yellow watercraft they christened the Sea-Doo®, but its clunky design didn’t lead to much enthusiasm.

1980s Advances

It was only in the 1980s when Japanese manufacturers such as Kawasaki® and Yamaha® came on board with their iconic JET-SKI® and WaveRunner® personal watercraft that the idea really took off. Soon, BRP re-released their Sea-Doo® with an improved design that made it more popular, and PWC expanded in production during the 1990s and into the new millennium.

Stop by our dealership location in Lynchburg, VA, today to view our current stock of new and used PWC for sale. Virgil Naff's proudly serves our Virginia customers in the cities of Roanoke and Charlottesville.