After eight years of research, Sea-Doo finally unveiled the GTX Limited iS 255, the first personal watercraft (PWC) with on-water braking. Traditional PWCs make up less than 10 percent of recreational boats yet account for 24 percent of all accidents, in large part because they have no brakes and cannot be steered when the throttle is released.
Traditional personal watercraft merely slow to a stop after you let go of the throttle, but when a rider squeezes the Sea-Doo's bicycle-like handbrake, a computer cuts the power so the forward jet quickly stops thrusting. The computer also calculates the precise amount of thrust needed to counter the forward momentum, and drops an aluminum gate up to two inches below the hull, creating drag and reversing the thrust to slow the craft down.