Performance and reliability testing were also done in software. "PTC has a stress analysis package in Wildfire that allowed us to look at certain areas that are thin in the hull," Ryan explains, adding that the software let Powerski perform an area analysis of volume through the jet pump, examine air intake in the snorkel, and study the effects of various fin placements.

Repeated testing and resultant changes produced the unique look and handling of the Jetboard. Testing meant heading out to San Diego's Mission Beach, where employees put the Jetboard through its paces and showed it off to visitors and potential distributors. There was also more fine-tuning done while on the water, Ryan adds: "There's a lot of assembly on the fly in the engine and hull design, and we did that quickly on the laptops. We'd input changes right there for the ride plate, hull design, rails, and the seals on the hatch and hood."

For CAD on the beach, the team toted the abovementioned "laptops" -- Compaq Evo N800w mobile workstations with 2.4GHz Intel Pentium 4-M CPUs with 512K of Level 2 cache. The N800w can hold up to 2GB of RAM and contains a 5,400-rpm, 60GB hard disk. Its 15-inch UXGA display is powered by a 64MB ATI Mobility FireGL 9000 graphics controller (with full 3D OpenGL support) that supports 1,600 by 1,200-pixel resolution in 32-bit color.

"The mobile workstations held up great on the water," recalls Ryan. "Actually, we tended to have more problems on land, when our mechanics would reach for the first thing at hand to work on the engine and didn't bother trying to distinguish a hammer from a laptop."

The Result

The 8.3-foot Jetboard looks like a surfboard on steroids, with a 4-foot cable that emerges from the nose and ends in a handgrip control handle. It weighs in at 165 pounds, though PowerSki plans on going into production with advanced composites that cut that figure to 125 pounds.

Ryan says the look of the board has changed significantly through testing: "We collected data from the beta boards, taking all the geometry we created and tested and putting it into final form. We made some big design changes over time, [such as] dropping the nose of the hull four inches and reducing the thickness of the board."

The Jetboard puts its center of gravity under the rider's feet, less than six inches above the surface of the water, rather than behind or in front of the rider as in other watercraft. This allows the curved hull to roll predictably in response to the rider's movements.

The control "armpole" consists of steel cable and a sleeved wire harness covered by injection-molded rubber. It's topped off by the handle, which consists of the grip, starter, throttle, speedometer, fuel gauge, and safety kill switch.

Riding the Jetboard requires mounting it with a sideways stance, starting the engine, squeezing the throttle, and hanging on. With enough speed, the board planes on its two-stage stepped hull; with only a 24 by 6-inch plane surface touching the water, the watercraft skims like a hovercraft.

All the effort put into the design was aimed at balancing the forces at play when operating the board to ensure a unique experience. Rolling into a turn at maximum speed, riders can use their hands to hydroplane on the water, feet planted on the board thanks to centrifugal forces in a turn that can pull 3 to 6 G's. Since the control handle is at end of a long cable, riders can even "hang ten" -- walking out to the nose of the board and enjoying the ride with nothing in front of them but water.

From Prototype to Production

As the widespread release approaches, the task doesn't lighten for Steve Ryan or the other engineers: "The toughest part of the process is the one that's going on now -- herding the manufacturers. I feel like a conductor and the musicians aren't in view."

The final stage involves getting the production team and the manufacturing team together. A prototype that has undergone numerous changes must be finalized into an ultimate design. The control components, engine parts, seals, and hull all have to be produced, coordinated, and assembled by their respective manufacturers. Last-minute design changes need to be communicated to all effected parties.

"This is the stage where we're pulling all the resources together to get the thing launched," notes Ryan. "So everyone needs to be in constant communication, and any delay in manufacturers getting back to us or a slip in getting the information is costly."

To keep chaos at bay, PowerSki uses PTC's Windchill to centralize its collaboration with the assorted manufacturers of the hull and engine. Windchill uses a Web-based interface to the production team to post information to be shared with manufacturers globally. All parties can log on to a secure site to track the latest updates and communicate in a central location.

Ryan credits Windchill with cutting down on communication time and eliminating the need to deal with disparate groups individually. "The big benefit of Windchill is that I don't have to e-mail everyone each design change. The manufacturers can access the site and track each change."

Since this summer, PowerSki has cleared the last few hurdles to releasing the Igniter 2000, gaining the necessary clearance from the Coast Guard for PWC distribution, lining up distributors around the world, and arranging promotional events to get the word out.