Same with bikes. I remember friends racing Ninjas and Gixxers in 90 or so and we were amazed at the roll on wheelies at crazy speeds coming out of the turns. Those things were nothing compared to what's out there today. I've had Harleys and rockets. My 07 Busa was just insane.
You can't argue that jetskis are a blast. I loved my GTX951 and the 650SX stand up I had. I'd never crowd anyone though. It's just like everything else. Tools ruin it for the rest of us. Politicians included.

I was into jetski's back in the late 80's, had a kawi 650 standup then got into the kawi X2 around 91 and transitioned into the sea-doo HX in 95 and finally got out of it around 99 or so. I keep getting a waverunner hear and there just to fix and flip but never got into them like the old school stuff. Nothing i have been on jumps waves like the X2 or the HX (although ive never ridden the seadoo 3D)
I will say that boaters can be just as bad on the water as the lake lice........i was almost run over buy a guy on a 32-ish size fountain as he was taking a WIDE right hand turn not paying attention to whats in front of him and the spray from the boat knocked me off my ski! I was in about 4' of water in an area that boats never venture into and he shouldn't have been there to begin with .....
needless to say ive seen both sides of the coin...had a dummy on a waverunner turn right in the last second in front of me at LOTO once as a group of 4 boats were running down the lake to Dicks at around 65mph....I have never turned any boat that hard before and thought i was gonna spin or filp the boat! The guy (not a kid) on the waverunner was white as ghost afterwards cause im sure his life flashed before his eyes! And i needed a few minute to calm down after that one too!

I had a mid '90s GTX back in the 90's. It was a ton of fun, but in Lake Huron you don't get too many flat days and wave jumping was more fun than going straight anyway. Ended up pretty well destroying it in a few seasons, sold it for next to nothing and forgot all about it, until now. I was thinking I needed to relive my youth this summer so I bought a used Sea Doo Spark. I didn't want fast (that's what the boat is for) I just wanted something similar in size and weight as the old GTX. Honestly it is a ton of fun to get wet on, I like the size and maneuverability compared to most others available today.

I couldn't imagine going 80+MPH on a PWC, I'd love to give it a try though!

My favorite.. AIR time!!

My son had an older Seadoo GTX that would maybe do upper 50's and all his buddies got newer and faster skis last year so we helped him get a newer faster one and bought a 2016 Yamaha FZS that's been modified pretty good and holy **** is this thing fast!!!
Our son is 17 and been riding for years but I've warned him since he started riding that water is like concrete at a certain point! Ski is a blast to ride and I had it to probably 85 mph or so ( speedo stops at 80, it pegged really fast and was still accelerating). Its not so much that its that will run 80+ but its how fast and hard it accelerates to get there. These newer skis even stock are rocket ships for sure!
You defiantly have to have some respect for these newer skis and I do hop on his every now and then to go play around on it.

Holy chit guys. Here: www.pwcforum.com
This whole discussion reminds me of the punch line to this saying. "Whats the hardest part about rollerblading...."

Of course, I am joking thru all of this, I owned two wave runners at different points in the last 10 years. But this is OffShoreOnly, I mean cmon. LOL

got this for my kids to ski and tube behind. modded the motors put in some better impellors and it runs at 62 gps. now its scary in one foot chop but its taken out more than a few family style performance boats. mom and the kids dont care but i'm sure the dad driving is dying inside. lol
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...761b00d300.jpg

We have one similar to that, twin 110 HP 2 stroke screamers. Fun little boat. I modified the shifter so you can go from forward to reverse without having to take the motors to idle.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...b2a9e7f11.jpeg

Wonder if related to the Donzi guy ? :)


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...d3b93a0e6.jpeg

HA! i've been in that position more than a few time back in the day! :D I came very close to breaking both of my shins once when the ski went up and my arms were straight out and i couldn't throw the ski away from myself.....had to ride it down....ski hit the water first and went back to flat and both my shins came down on the back ledge....the worst pain ive ever had in my life so far! (Luckily never broken a bone so far ...knock on wood) only thing that helped at the time was that it was very early in the season and lake Michigan was still ice cold....i must have floated in the water crying (yes i'll admit to it!) for a good 5min till the cold water numbed the pain :D
And like the Donzi...i did end up breaking my ski in half from the abuse it went through! LOL