The End of an ERA – Kawasaki to Bench the Jet Ski

Kawasaki has recently announced that 2011 will be the last model year for their single-passenger, stand-up Jet Ski 800 SX-R. Kawasaki the last year of production will be commemorated with a special edition ?Commemorating 37 Years of Jet Ski? graphics kit. Finished in Jet White and Ebony with a bright red handle pole and graphics, the 2011 800 SX-R will also feature a commemorative ?37 Years? logo on the handle pole. There will be no mechanical updates. As Kawasaki and surely Yamaha pull out of the mass production of single passenger units we will be able to watch the continued evolution of our sport.


Finished in Jet White and Ebony with a bright red handle pole and graphics, the 2011 800 SX-R will also feature a commemorative ?37 Years? logo on the handle pole. The 800 SX-R is mechanically the same as the 2010 model. No price was announced.

In past seasons Kawasaki and Yamaha were allowed to average the emissions of these engines with those of their models powered by four-stroke engines, which account for 95 percent of PWC sales. A new emissions law put a hard cap on two-stroke emissions, which can not be met by the engines used in the 800 SX-R and the SuperJet. Old-style two-stroke outboards left the market in 2010, but the stand-up PWC got a two-year dispensation from the EPA that ends on Jan. 1, 2012. In most markets, dealers will be able to sell stand-up models after January 1 if they were delivered before that date.

Kawasaki built a few prototypes of the stand-up watercraft, which was designed with the input of inventor Clayton Jacobson II, in 1972 and 1973, and considers 1974 to be its first year of real production. Kawasaki worked tirelessly to promote its new product through racing, waterfront stunt teams, and appearances on television and in movies.

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