Better to be Safe than Soggy

By: Michigan Interactive

I pressed the button and the engine roared to life. My hand tightened around the throttle as I backed the jet ski out of the hoist, put it in gear, and set off across the lake. It was the first time I was able to take the jet ski out on my own. Immediately I drove out of sight of the house before kicking the speed up and churning up the water around me to jump. As the water around me began getting rough, I drove the jet ski straight into the wave.

Pulling on the handle bars as the jet ski hit the wave, I could feel the machine lift up off the water, as my body left the seat itself as well. The split second that I was in the air felt like an eternity. I felt like I was on top of the world...then I came down. When I hit the water, the jet ski listed to it's side. I panicked in that moment, placing all of my wait on the opposite side of the jet ski to keep it from flipping over.

I remember thinking to myself, of course this happens the first time I take out the jet ski alone, of course this is only the third summer that we have had the jet ski, of course I was going to be the one to ruin the jet ski. My mind immediately raced back to a few years prior to when we got our first jet ski. My sister and I were ecstatic when my grandpa pulled into the driveway towing a red and black jet ski behind. As soon as the jet ski was wheeled into the garage, we counted down the days until it was launched into the water.

Once the jet ski was in the water, my dad took my sister and me on multiple rides. We began riding every day, it was all we wanted to do. One of the days, when my dad took me out on the jet ski, we started making circles in the water to jump through the waves. After the third or fourth wave, I apparently didn't get the message that we were going around again and I was thrown off the back of the jet ski, pulling my dad along with me.

The key pulled out of the ignition, stopping the jet ski in its tracks. We swam over to the jet ski to climb back on, tears falling down my eight year old face. When we pulled back into the hoist, I vowed never to go back on the jet ski. I didn't want to get thrown off ever again...and that won't happen if I don't get back on, but of course that changed within a few days. I snapped back into reality as the  jet ski miraculously remained upright and I stayed on. 

A wave of relief washed over my entire body. In that moment I decided I wasn't going to try and jump the waves anymore...or at least anymore that day. After this ride I really started to think about the saying it's better to be safe then sorry. In this situation it's entirely applicable. I have never really thought about this saying much because why in the world would I have thought about having to take extra safety precautions on the jet ski, but I learned you really do. This ride had the potential to end badly, but I was lucky enough that it didn't, and in the end it really is better to be safe then sorry.