For most adventurers, zooming off on a jet ski into the open sea sounds like heaven. It’s an adrenaline-pumping experience that thousands look forward to every year.
However, riding a jet ski in the sea isn’t as easy as you think. You need to be prepared for all possible scenarios if things go south. Understandably, you’ll have lots of questions to ask yourself, one of them being, “How far can a jet ski go offshore?”
Well, we’re here today to answer all of your questions. Hop on!
How Far Can A Jet Ski Go Offshore?
So, how far can a jet ski really go offshore? Considering all the regulations and possible dangers, this is an important question for many jet skiers.
Of course, the answer to your questions varies according to several factors. These factors include consumption of fuel, how fast the jet ski is going, and weather conditions.
However, most jet skis are able to go 25-50 miles offshore without the aid of extra fuel. This is probably true for your jet ski.
Why Is It So Low?
For some people, this fuel range seems way too low. If you’re wondering why, this is mostly due to two reasons: the high fuel consumption, and the somewhat small fuel tank.
Most gas tanks hold around 8-21 gallons of gas. This can support you for up to 75-150 miles. However, we wouldn’t recommend using up all of your fuel when going offshore with your jet ski. It’s best to keep the fuel range at average levels, as you never know when you’ll need it.
As a rule of thumb, you should use ⅔ of your fuel for your trip, and leave ⅓ of it for safety reasons. That means that you’ll have to:
- Use ⅓ of your fuel to travel,
- Use ⅓ of your fuel to get back to shore
- keep the final ⅓ of your fuel just in case
How to Calculate Miles per Gallon
If you want to know how far your jet ski can go on one tank, you need to calculate miles per gallon (MPG). Of course, not all jet skis are able to travel the same distance. There are multiple factors playing at the same time: the number of passengers, the location, and how frequently the throttle is opened.
The MPG is equal to the miles you rode divided by the gallons refilled. To properly calculate it, you have to take the following steps:
- Fill the gas tank completely
- Reset the odometer
- Ride your jet ski until you empty the tank
- Refill the tank again
- Finally, divide the number of miles you traveled by the number of gallons you refilled the tank with
Of course, there are many factors that vary from one day to another, such as how fast you ride, the engine, and the weather. To get an accurate number, we’d recommend measuring the MPG on different days.
How Far Should A Jet Ski Go Offshore?
In some places, there’s a certain distance you must travel on your jet ski before you can get to play around. This guarantees the safety of swimmers and others who might be within your vicinity.
To travel the right distance offshore, you just need to do some quick maths: divide the distance by time, and you’ll get speed.
For example, say you’re traveling 60 miles offshore at a speed of 2 m/s. In this case, all you need to do is divide 60 miles by the speed, which will give you a time of 30 seconds.
That means you need to drive slowly for 30 seconds before you can really get into it.
How to Know How Far Your Jet Ski Has Gone Offshore?
If you want to know how far you’ve gotten offshore, then you need to calculate gallons per hour (GPH). You find out what’s the GPH by dividing the gallons of gas burned per one hour of riding.
Many people opt for calculating the GPH over calculating the MPH. This is because they prefer to measure how long they’ve been out in the sea, rather than how many miles they’ve crossed.
Now, you can determine how you’ve been out in the sea by looking at the amount of fuel you’ve consumed. For example, after spending 30 minutes with your jet ski, you should have about half of your tank left.
As a general rule, the time most jet skis can spend in the water averages at around an hour — after that, your fuel tank will be in a bit of a problem.
The standard GPH of a jet ski has an average number of 6.5 GPH-8 GPH at a cruising speed of 35 MPH. Notice how we especially specified “cruising speed”: there is a very big difference between cruising speed and full throttle. On full throttle, a jet ski has an average GPH of 20 GPH-25 GPH.
Why You Need to Be Careful When Going Offshore on Your Jet Ski
Don’t get too excited just yet. While it might sound like one big adventure, you need to be careful when going far out in the ocean on your jet ski. Don’t underestimate how quickly things can go south.
After all, there are many reasons why many jet skiers prefer to stay close to the shore. There’s a long list of things that can ruin your fun, like a malfunctioning engine or an empty tank. The latter is especially important. If your fuel runs out half-way through your trip, you need to be able to swim safely back to shore.
Another reason to stay close to shore is unpredictable weather. If the weather rapidly changes, you want to be able to safely get back to shore. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provides reliable weather forecasts through the National Weather Service. With the NOAA, you can get a marine forecast up to 25 miles out for the area you’re in.
More importantly, if you plan to cruise, then you might want to consider looking up the off-shore or high seas forecast.
Conclusion
Taking a jet ski into the open ocean is a new experience that comes with its own set of challenges. However, that isn’t to say you can’t conquer them all. Nevertheless, you can take your jet ski 25-50 miles offshore without having to worry about anything.
Have fun riding your jet ski!