I had a couple jetskis going back into about 2015-16, and both me and my GF did the class through BOAT-US, since NY recognized that certification. Better yet, it was free. It was more of a general safety, with some navigation, and a little jetski stuff added kind of class, and they would not let you move past a chapter until you passed it. Definitely not a "zip through it" class, and they had controls in place to prevent you from just paging through the lessons to get to the test. Did the whole thing from our computers. I liked it, and had no problems, but my GF had to retake a chapter once or twice. If you understand Red-Right-Return, you already know most of it, but they did include things like how larger commercial vessels display lights while underway, and stuff like that. It took about a week to do all the chapters and get the final certification, and I now have that anchor on my driver's license.
The big thing that most don't get about the jetskis, is that there is no steering unless you are under power. The jetpump isn't a rudder, and it only changes the direction of travel when on the throttle, when the pump is pumping. People think it's fun to zoom at someone, then turn away last second, but if they're just coasting, the ski doesn't turn, and they collide. You always hear how they tried to turn, or the ski stopped working. A kid that I coached in Little League and Wrestling was renting jetskis at the Jersey Shore with his dad, and someone else rammed the dad full speed. Almost killed him and he was in the ICU for a couple weeks. The kid told me that when he swam over, his dad's eye had popped out and he was like holding a bag of broken sticks. Renters are supposed to get a quick lesson, but I doubt anything sinks in.
We sold our jetskis during COVID for about 25% more than I paid for them. People were paying like crazy for stuff back then. They're a lot of fun for an hour, but we both liked fishing, so that's what we do now. We can do that all day long.
