Key PWC Features and How They Can Enhance Your Ride

How to use your craft's features to your advantage

Cruise control, no-wake mode, “slow” modes, and trim have become almost the status quo on many of today’s personal watercraft. Still, many of us fail to use them to their potential. Time to take a new look at your craft’s features…and how they can make it an even better ride.

Cruise Control

With the advent of electronic throttle, manufacturers wasted little time in introducing cruise control. The feature allows the driver to select a speed and then simply push a button to lock it in. The driver then simply squeezes the throttle fully to allow the craft to maintain the set speed, a speed which can typically be adjusted up and down in small increments to dial things in to perfection.

Electronic throttle gives you the ability to choose a cruising speed and lock it in.

One of the biggest benefits of cruise control is simply eliminating throttle-finger fatigue. On a long-distance ride, holding the throttle with your index finger – while the rest of your digits grip the handlebars to stay in control – can be quite tiring. Cruise control lets you alleviate the stress by fully squeezing the throttle and essentially gripping the handlebars with your entire hand. Maintaining a steady speed can also reduce fuel consumption, as well as eliminate unexpected surging.

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Tip: Use cruise control to enhance towing performance. Whether you’re pulling a tuber, wakeboarder, or slalom skier, your rider will greatly appreciate the predictable speed provided by a cruise-controlled pull. Not worrying about keeping the speed steady also allows the driver to place his concentration where it belongs – on the water ahead.

Cruise control is a huge help when it comes to tow sports.

No-Wake Mode

Essentially cruise control at low speed, no-wake mode enables a driver to maintain a controlled, approximately 5 mph no-wake speed, perfect for those long slow-speed zones. Unlike cruise control, no-wake mode requires no throttle input. Riders can simply steer, making for comfortable, no-hassle driving…and eliminating the temptation to speed up before you’ve reached the end. To disengage the system just apply throttle.

No wake mode allows you to maintain a coltrolled speed without squeezing the throttle.

Slow Keys/Modes

Whether activated by a secondary key, lanyard, or dash-mounted button, “slow” modes have multiple uses. For one, they act as speed governors, great when turning over your craft to a novice rider in order to keep speeds to a minimum. Slow modes also are a means to conserve fuel, taming the engine’s powerful response and limiting it from reaching top speed, where it burns far more fuel.

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When you hand your craft off to a beginner, a slow key will give you peace of mind.

Tip: Try using your craft’s slow mode or key next time you have to ride a long stretch of rough water. As throttle response is tamed, you won’t get the powerful surges common when jumping in and out of the waves but instead a gentler, less-tiring ride.

Trim

By angling the force of water exiting the jet pump, trim allows the driver to adjust the running attitude of their craft, nosing the bow down to enhance cornering ability or raising the bow up to put less hull in the water and increase top speed. Trim is typically controlled electronically, via a button mounted at the handlebars. Yamaha’s trim solution is mechanical, with a handlebar-mounted twist grip linked to the nozzle via cable.

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Adjusting the trim on your craft can drastically change the ride.

Tip: Though trim has obvious handling benefits, try playing with it for things other than hard cornering or straight-line speed runs. Trimming the bow up can produce a much smoother and drier ride in rough conditions, allowing the hull to skip across the waves rather than drop in and out of them. Trimming the bow down can also be used to compensate for a heavier load of passengers, or when pulling a heavier rider out of the water on skis or a wakeboard. Want the most playful ride? Trim up as high as possible to give the hull a slightly looser feel.