More Minnesota Jet Ski users are lacking an important skill: knowledge

Risks are inherent in any activity outdoors, motorized or otherwise. More so when people are doing things without all the skills — such as know-how and awareness.

Conservation officers in the Department of Natural Resources who spend some of their warm weather days patrolling state waters say those two skills are increasingly lacking among personal watercraft (PWC) operators and owners they encounter.

Numbers back it up: Officers have written up more citations and warned more riders through mid-July than the entire 2022 season, ending Oct. 1.

"It amazes me the amount of people that have total disregard for the watercraft regulations or have no idea what they are," said Kipp Duncan, a 22-year-plus officer, in the Duluth area. He called them out in one of his recent weekly area reports published by the DNR's law enforcement division.

PWCs, like Jet Skis and WaveRunners, made up 8.6% of all registered motorized watercraft in Minnesota five years ago. Last year, there were 60,392 registered, or about 9.8%. Some officers have noticed the uptick and said the violations transcend age group and gender.

Too close to shore: Duncan encounters many riders, too, who blow through a common rule on most waters: a no-wake speed within 150 feet of shore (that's about three-quarters the length of a hockey rink). Lake Minnetonka's distance is 300 feet for all watercraft, said CO Brent Grewe, who patrols there on a PWC.

Eric Evenson supports the 300-foot rule on Lake Minnetonka, brought forth by the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District. Evenson, the lake association director, said the group backed the change with the goal of providing an extra level of public safety.

In most cases, local governing bodies will bring a proposed water use provision to the DNR, which the agency exhaustively examines before either denying the proposal or sending it back for the governing unit to take up. The public has access to the lake and river ordinances across the state, some put in place through the process decades ago.

"We're asking: What is going to be in the best interest of the majority of boaters, the lakeshore, the environment?" said Adam Block, the DNR's boating law administrator.

"The majority of operators do feel like going out for an evening spin and that is OK — up until an hour before sunset. They've got to be off. They just keep running.

"Any lake I drive by after dinner will have Jet Skis, and when that hour before sunset comes, it doesn't seem like they disperse at all," he said.

Duncan, his colleague in Duluth, said part of his current frustration stems from witnessing reckless behavior during his off-hours when he is recreating with his family. He felt compelled to call out it in the context of public protection.

"If you fall off, [a child] is done," he added about the power and tricky, jet-propelled handling of the machines. PWCs can't be steered without hitting the throttle.

Most people who crash them are going at slow speeds, Lawler said, letting off the gas and turning the handlebars and not getting any response.

Lawler said new owners and inexperienced renters who don't know the rules or the capabilities of machines that can hit 75 miles per hour are common. Operators often imply that the dealerships should have done a better job of educating them. His reply: You have to know these things before you do these things.

Evenson, the lake association director, found it ironic that governing bodies are sometimes pressed to ease rules, when current behavior says otherwise.

"It'd be tragic if [operators'] actions turn somebody's weekend into a disaster," he said.