How to Drive a Ski Boat

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Greg Lawrence with lakelessons.com and this is how to drive a ski boat, or a wake board boat. Now, the first thing that you should do is consult with the individual who either owns the boat, or is selling you the boat and go over all of the safety features that you need to know before you actually start getting into the boat. Having said that, once you've done all of that first thing obviously you're going to do is turn the ignition. Now, a ski boat is very much like a car, in that it's going to have a gas powered engine in it, and instead of a pedal on the floor for your gas, or a pedal for brake, all you have is a throttle that goes both forward and backwards. This is the throttle right here. On most boats the throttle has a safety mechanism in which you must pull up on that safety mechanism in order to engage that throttle into gear. Now, when pulling a skier, one of the most important things to that you need to be aware of is, where's you rope, and where' the skier? So, when driving a ski boat, the first and the most important thing I teach is make slow mistakes. If you make a fast mistake, meaning you accelerate too quickly either close to a dock, or you decelerate too quickly, you're going to either throw people out of your boat or you're going to cause your momentum to either harm your boat or someone else. So, when you're driving a ski boat, always think about safety first. It's important to have someone out there with you watching, and it's also very important to think through your moves well in advance. As you might notice, these boats do not have brakes and you can't always count of your reverse to stop you, because sometimes the motor will die. So, think ahead, make small and short, or, excuse me, slow mistakes, and you will have a fun and safe time driving your ski boat."