Young Users - Under 16 but over 12 years of age.

16 years of age is generally considered to be the minimum age that insurance will be provided for someone to ride a “jetski”. It probably follows the rules for riding motorbikes on a public road and on the face of it makes sense. Some insurers, of course, have higher age constraints, restricting to users 21 years and over.

At RJP we have our own take on this based on our many, many years of experience when we have allowed riders under 16 to be insured and seen no higher incidence of accidents than for all other riders of all ages. We do accept though that having some rules and controls is a good idea and we have chosen to follow the Royal Yachting Association guidelines which encourages those aged between 12 and 16 to take up the sport but to take a training course before they do so.

We therefore say that any one between the age of 12 and 16 years can be covered to drive a PW provided that they have the owners permission of course, are physically strong enough to do so, and have taken the RYA PW Proficiency course with a certificate to prove it. We also require that the youngster in question is named on the policy and has therefore been approved by us. That gives more peace of mind to those organisations asking for confirmation that cover actually applies to the youngster when riding on their waters. We also require that the youngster is actively supervised whilst using the craft. That tends to be just common sense (who wants their children riding alone or with other inexperienced people? There should always be someone on the bank just in case something goes wrong whatever your age) but we don’t require that the supervision is by someone on the craft itself.

How does the youngster take the course on your craft and be insured if they haven’t taken the course???? Hmm, good question!.. It’s simply a case of booking the RYA course, telling us when it’s to take place, where and who is taking it. We will allow the cover to extend to the youngster when taking the course and then issue an endorsement noting them as named users once you’ve confirmed that the course has been completed and we’ve received a copy of the Certificate.

Don’t be fooled by any other policy stating that “anyone” is allowed to ride the craft. Almost certainly there will be rules about who is and who isn’t allowed to ride and the lower age limit will certainly be one of them.

When applying for cover using our on-line facility cover can be effected for the craft under our standard terms but the young rider isn’t covered until we have a copy of the RYA PW certificate and have issued the proof of insurance with their name on it. If you have a young rider who has already got the Certificate you can include their details on the on-line form and email the certificate over to us. We will then consider and approve the request and release the documents including the youngster normally within 1 working day. There is no additional premium applied for younger users.

If you have any queries just give us a call. You can find out more about RYA PW courses and where to find one here: PERSONAL WATERCRAFT PROFICIENCY COURSE.

You may wish to take the course yourself regardless of how old you are. Many people do and most say that as a result they get even more enjoyment out of their craft and learn plenty.