Quote:
Originally Posted by Kawiski
Kawi can make 80 mph ski (and so does other brand) and they want to, really bad. The hold-up is not the technology or anything that has to do with Kawi. The brake (or rather throttle limiter) has been placed by NTSB and USCG.
In May of 1998, the National Transportation Safety Board addressed many of the safety concerns arising from the increasing use of personal watercraft and recommended that the pwc industry and Coast Guard take affirmative steps to address this saftey problem, mainly stemming from high speed operation of PWC. In responding to that, in June 1999 USCG Capt. Michael F. Homes, chief of the Office of Boating Safety had requested that all PWC manufacturers agree to a voluntary 65 mph speed cap on their machines. This was started as a result of Bombardier, who in April 1999. agreed not to make a ski that would do over 65mph. Initially Kawi did not want to (acutally could not) agree because their 1999 Ultra 150 already exceeded the 65 mph limit, (I think I GPSed at about 67), however, later they decided to follow the agreement on their future production models. Basically USCG was interested in forming a panel that would set technical standards for PWC and those standards could include the top speed if the manufacturers can't agree on a limit themselves. Ironically, in 2004, Bombardier bailed out of the agreement with the intro of the RXP while other pwc manufacturers are still holding on to it today.
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BRP didn't bail out on the self-imposed speed liimit. An RXP will do 67 mph, but that's within the 8% margin that they agreed to. The new RXTX is electronically limited to 68 mph to stay within the agreed limit too. I don't agree with the limits as there is no speed limit in the ocean!! If it's a safety issue, then put speed limits in congested areas.
Now they have low-speed lanyards and even brakes. It's time to get rid of the speed limit or at least raise it to 75 mph.
03-08-2010, 03:37 PM
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