got my pineapple 3up on valentines day, sort of a present me and the mrs can enjoy.
I will try explain as much as I can with my experience so far.
being my first pwc and first time ever on a pwc, I thought it was a bit too much for a
bigginer but being a rev head and having little fear of water after 10mins I was fine and loving it.
now being 135kgs plus in weight it probly wasn't the best choice of pwc but once you get to no the limit of the spark you can adapt and ajust to its light weight.
once I was out I was fine hitting some half meter to meter swells last night getting about a foot or two of air was fun.
being plastic my friends who have 255 or 260 supercharged skis were waiting for me to break it in half lol. they were very surprised how the spark played in the surf with there skis and once they had a crack on it were quiet impressed.
the good:
fuel consumption so far
price
easy to tow
power to weight
the not so good but def not bad:
very light, does rock around at low speeds and could feel unstable, maybe my weight/experience
it does need the ibr as putting it on the trailor was a bit of a pain, as it likes to get tail happy on idol with it getting pushed around with little waves, again maybe my weight/experience is a factor
there is a good 2second delay on instant throttle so you have to always think ahead when turning into the waves and make sure you have a good 2secs of time
were your feet sit it fills up with water and it makes it abit harder to jump in specially if your carrying extra weight and don't weigh like 70kgs lol
words from 255 and 260 charged owners:
its hard on the body
you get arm pump lol
very light
very fun
if the tune gets rid of the slight 2sec delay it will be perfect
owning a 260 is a luxury pwc, but the spark is and can be changed into a fun sport wave chasing ski.260 and spark are 2 very different skis and can not be put in the same context in any comparisent. the 260s have there faults but have the power to make you forget them, the spark just needs abit more power to forget its faults.
there is about 30 of us that have skis and me being the first spark owner out of the group plus being my first pwc plus being the most unfit, I was not being babysitted by the other 3 skis last night, so with some weight loss and more experience and abit more power to the ski you can defenatly add one to your pwc collection or not be worried to buy one and join friends who have top end skis with loads of power/luxuries..
all in all I think seadoo will kill it just wait until the yanks get there summer back so for now us lucky aussies don't have to wait to long to purchase one but I sure hope by the time usa gets there summer a newer better version of the spark wont come out lol.
going out again tonight so I might take some pics
Welcome..
I think most of what you've listed above you will work out yourself once a little more riding is done.
I'm like you, around 135kg currently...
That "unstable" feeling you get, really does go after you get the hours up (think i've done around 14 hours on the water now), and in a similar situation this is the first ski I have owned..
The reverse / no-IBR thing you will get used too.. i started off manually loading my ski onto the trailer when I got back to the ramp, the past 4 or 5 times I now drive it on.. it's just about getting your lead in right, keep things at idle, line up the trailer and give it a little if needed.. if you find your out of line, swing hard right and throttle, then try again.
That 2 second delay you speak of, i've not noticed it on mine.. it is a little sluggish in touring mode, but sport mode is very snappy.. vtech tune should be an improvement though!
Water in the foot wells - you'll work that out, I found the same the first couple of times out, once you get your placement right when boarding the ski you'll avoid the foot wells filling up... re-boarding in deep water is a challenge with this as once the footwells fill the ski becomes unstable, you need to centre your weight and get back on the seat as quick as you can..
First time I had mine out was in about 1m of chop on port phillip bay.. god I was in pain the days after.. but like anything you get used to it the more you go out..
Wait until you get it out on flat water, and start sliding the thing around, you'll work out the right balance and be able to hold power slides back and forth..
Where about's you riding from? I mainly launch at Patterson River..
