Mercury jet outboards boost safety at yacht club

The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (RPAYC) is replacing the standard outboards on its RIB fleet of sailing tenders with Mercury jet drives. A club-wide safety review was apparently behind the decision to turn to jets.

Brendan Rourke, the RPAYC’s Sailing Manager, said the club holds a lot of learn-to-sail classes and other sail training activities involving 7-16 year olds, with its coaches operating the support RIBS.

"The concern is the proximity if someone capsizes in a dinghy, for example. We use prop guards, of course, but if you have jets then the risk of a prop injury is removed entirely."

The club has fitted the 80hp Mercury jet drive to one of its RIBS and is set to follow suit with another three of the units.

With jet drives, Mercury offers a four-stroke outboard range from 25-80hp, with the latter on the RPAYC boats a 2.0L SOHC engine.

The jet outboards are a popular power choice in North America for shallow-water operation and safety, but this is the first application we've heard of with the new four-stroke motors locally.

The Mercury jet drives have other benefits — you can spin a boat on its own length, stop and reverse direction instantly, and there are no more concerns about bent prop blades.

Because a jet drive has no lower unit extending below the hull, it can operate in water that's inaccessible for a propeller-driven outboard.

"As part of our sail-training activities we regularly come ashore at a beach so now we can drive the RIB onto the sand without worrying about the risk of breaking anything," Brendan said. 

Of course, a jet-powered RIB handles differently, but the RPAYC’s coaches have apparently been getting the hang of things after 10 minutes or so at the helm.

The RPAYC is a breeding ground for elite sailing athletes, as well as thousands of chummy crew, and succesful young sailors.

More on the jet outboard range at

Mercury Marine.