Chris Manthos serves as executive director of the American Watercraft Association. When not riding, he dedicates his time to educating regulators and other officials on the realities of personal watercraft, in contrast to the fantasy world of the no-access crowd. He mows his own lawn, washes his own truck, served his country, pays his taxes, picks up trash on public roads, opens his own beer bottles, reads books, hunts, feeds his own dogs, doesn’t need government to tell him right from wrong, and deplores sanctimonious hypocrites, bullies, and know-it-alls, particularly the political kind.

Wiley Russell Jr. is the dealer coordinator of the AWA and works closely with personal watercraft dealers nationwide, promoting PWC access for all enthusiasts, as well as promoting dealerships. He is a Virginia native and enjoys riding PWC as much as possible.

John Donaldson is not the longest serving PWC government relations guy, but he’s close. He had been in the power sports industry for over a decade when his then employer decided his gift for gab and ability to write completely confusing letters were a perfect match for dealing with politicians and legislators. Since the course change in his work history, Donaldson has worked for two of the biggest PWC manufacturers as well as having a turn at running the Personal Watercraft Industry Association. Donaldson says that these government relations experiences have helped him understand that it sure isn’t the government one learns about in a text book. Further in Donaldson’s past was his service in the U.S. Coast Guard and a few years as owner of a major power sports dealership in Southern California. This diversity of government, manufacturer, and retail experience qualifies Donaldson to help keep AWA members and others informed on the latest activities of government impact on the use of PWC in the PWC Nation.

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Thursday, February 21, 2008

History of the PWC Nation – Part II
posted by John Donaldson

OK, the Spring semester is underway, so let’s take a look at our second round of History of the PWC Nation.
As a quick review of Part 1, I talked about the rapid conversion of the PWC fleet from 2 stroke engines to 4 stroke engines, and about the embracing of mandatory boating safety education.

This lesson will be about two of the most comprehensive and well used programs involving use of PWC in an occupational arena, versus strictly recreational use. These applications of PWC are the public safety loan programs and the adaptive watersports programs.

The public safety loan program was launched by Kawasaki waaay back in the last century, 1989 to be exact. The good idea initiated by the JET SKI® watercraft company was soon followed by other manufacturers, even including participation by Arctic and Polaris in their day. The concept remains simple to this day, more cops visible out on the water will result in boaters operating their vessels more responsibly and being more observant of boat operating rules. Kawasaki reasoned at the time that they couldn’t hire more officers for the public safety agencies but that they could provide boats if the agencies were willing to use them.

To say that the program for the industry is a success is stating the obvious. In the 19 years of just Kawasaki’s program, over 1500 individual agencies in all fifty states have borrowed in excess of 5,800 JET SKI watercraft, valued at more than $36 million. Statistical surveys of the participating agencies show that hundreds of lives have been saved by the use of the loaned watercraft, and tens of thousands of dollars of property have been saved. Other manufacturers’ records show similar success records. One of the more recent examples of a dramatic rescue success story is found at http://www.awahq.org.

Another occupational application of PWC are the adaptive watersports programs run by a variety of organizations around the country. An adaptive watersports program provides opportunities for those with significant disabilities to find a sense of freedom and enjoy the things most of us take for granted, a day of enjoying water activities like water skiing and riding a PWC. Many of the adaptive programs acquire their PWC by purchase or in a few cases, the public safety loan program. The programs are structured primarily around the water-ski activity. The experience and equipment involved allows almost every level of disabled adult to have a safe and very fun day at the lake.

For those of you in the PWC Nation with an adaptive program in your community, you may think about becoming a volunteer. From the Dean’s personal experience, working a weekend adaptive program will give you a personal uplifting feeling like few others.
These two programs of community involvement, and safe and responsible boating, are yet more reasons why the PWC Nation is a valued part of the boating world. Stay tuned for Part III.

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