One fine morning recently, Heather Manock, MODE’s Office Manager; Jeanine Jandecka, MODE’s Production Manager; and I descended upon Dennis Mulroy of Harrisburg Wave Rentals, Inc. to test out his jet skis. (Throughout this article I will use ‘jet ski’ and ‘wave runner’ interchangeably, as there is no difference between the two crafts. They are simply the brand names for two of the biggest personal watercraft manufacturers.) Harrisburg Wave Rentals is located on City Island and operates May to October, seven days a week, from 10 am to dusk. You can rent a one, two, or three-seater jet ski for $35 for a 1/2 hour or $60 for the full hour. Dennis also rents 24-inch pontoon boats that hold 10 – 12 people and have their own gas grills (handy for cooking up some burgers while you’re partying down in the middle of the river), fishing boats, paddleboats, hydrobikes, canoes, and kayaks. You can call and make reservations at 238-WAVE or just stop by his stand near the Beach House.

Heather and Jeanine, being wave runner novices, chose to have me chauffeur them around a few times before deciding to venture out on their own craft. Before hitting the water, however, we had to watch a six-minute safety video and carefully read all the rules and regulations which govern Dennis’ rentals. Having operated wave runners before, I still found the video to be concise, informative, and very helpful.

After donning our lifejackets, we zoomed off to roam the rollicking river. At least, part of it. Harrisburg Wave Rentals allows riders to take the jet skis in the area between the Harvey Taylor and Walnut Street Bridges on the Harrisburg side. It’s an area that gives you about a 3/4 mile run and is certainly enough area to let the jet ski show you what’s its got. Top speeds vary between craft, but you can easily hit a cool 45 – 55 mph on the faster craft.

We swerved, we splashed, we rode through, up, and over the various waves. Both Heather and Jeanine settled in pretty quickly despite their early misgivings and really enjoyed the ride. Heather stated, “it was different than what I expected. It’s not like driving a car at all.”

The nice thing about riding on the River, especially on a weekday, is that there isn’t a lot of boat traffic and you can really get up to speed. When riding a jet ski on the ocean, you’re of course dealing with the waves, which is a different type of fun, but it doesn’t allow you to really open it up. Surprisingly enough, once you reach a certain speed, you tend to cut through the waves, not bounce over top of them as one would expect. The craft are extremely stable and it would take some doing to actually capsize the things. In fact, the ride was so smooth (thanks to my fantastic driving) that we were able to take the camera along and get some great shots from the back of a speeding jet ski. We didn’t get wet at all. Falling off, however, is a different story (no, we didn’t do that, I was careful). But, there’s no avoiding all the waves, even if you try. And most people don’t try, although there is no jumping of other craft’s wakes (the waves created by another craft’s passage through the water) allowed. “That’s when people tend to get hurt,” says Dennis. “In fact, it’s illegal to jump another craft’s wake unless you have specific permission to do so from the craft’s operator. The other watercraft can block too much of your oncoming field of vision which creates a hazard.”

Jet skis are extremely versatile watercraft. You can launch them from shore or tie them to another boat and haul them around with you. In fact, you can even waterski off of the bigger craft. Dennis states he doesn’t allow people to waterski off his jet skis due to the “shallow nature of the River. I have allowed it in years past, but with the increased boat traffic and the low levels, I’ve decided against it.”

Jet skis are so versatile, in fact, that in some places you can go sightseeing on them. I know you can explore the Everglades, and I even once took a three hour tour (yes, Gilligan, a three hour tour) of St. Maarten via wave runners and it is still one of the highlights of my life.

My parents own a three-seat jet ski they run on Lake Raystown. They’re perfectly content to putter up and down the Lake, avoiding the waves, and have themselves a nice time. But, if you’re looking for a faster, wetter, wilder ride, jet skis will give you all that and more. Just ask the fish wearing the glasses my dad lost when I took a wave rather sharply and dumped his butt into the Lake. Oh, well. Sorry, Dad.

Jet skis are tremendous fun and a great way to cool off on a hot, summer day. But, jet skis are not toys. They can be dangerous if they are not ridden in a courteous and safe manner, which means following all regulations and keeping control of your craft at all time. According to Dennis, next year, everyone who owns a wave runner and everyone to whom they lend their jet ski must pass the course. A certified Personal Watercraft Instructor, he states that “the new laws do not affect jet ski rental, however. What it will amount to for us is a supervised test ride on top of our other safety instructions. I can legally rent to a 16 year old, but my personal rules don’t allow anyone under 18. Passengers can be any age, of course. I had my son out when he was six months old, but drivers must be responsible adults.”

“We run a ‘no warning’ system,” adds Dennis. “If I see you doing something dangerous or stupid, you’re done. As far as I’m concerned, you watched the video, you read the rules, so you’ve already been warned … We’ve managed to remain injury-free for five years, and I intend to keep it that way. You get some loose canons, and it’s a wonder I have any hair left, but that’s a risk you have to take with such a high liability item.”

When I asked Dennis “what’s the biggest problem new riders have with jet skis?” He replied, “People don’t understand there aren’t any brakes on these things.” Friction from the water alone stops the jet ski. “We’ve had some fiberglass damage from people running into things even though they’re supposed to stay 100 feet away from any other craft. These things aren’t bumper cars. Plus, you’re travelling at speeds up to 55 mph without a helmet, no brakes, and without two tons of steel around you as in a car.” Water can feel like concrete when you hit it at speed and you get to see what a skipping stone feels like when it’s hurled over the surface of the water.

I, personally, never had problem with the “no brake” thing, but I do occasionally have trouble trying to remember that you have to have forward momentum to turn the darn things. The jet ski’s direction is controlled by the stream of water pushed out by the engine. If there’s no stream of water, there’s no turning. You just keep going in whatever direction you were pointed before you let off the gas, no matter what you try to do with the handlebars.