Yamahas venture to the marine water craft began as early as the 60s but the companys production of the personal water crafts came in later, in 1986. There are several reasons why Yamaha decided to produce PVC. One of them was the increasing interest of the public with Kawasakis Jet Ski and Bombardiers Sea-Doo. (The names Jet Ski and Sea-Doo have become the generic terms for stand-up and sit-down personal water craft respectively.) The sales of the two brands kept on rising that prompted the entry of the WaveRunner into the marine recreation picture.
The very first Yamaha PVC at the same time the very first sit-down PVC was the WaveRunner 500 or the Marine Jet 500T. Although the Sea-Doo first released the sit-downs, the WaveRunner set todays sit-down market.
A year later, the WaveRunner was shortly replaced with the name WaveJammer 500 or the Marine Jet 500S. This model was considered as the worlds first solo riding sit-down PWC. Same with the WaveRunner 500, the WavaJammer was very agile with its combination of small hull and fixed steering column.
The sit-down model was still very popular during the 90s and resulted to the introduction of the WaveRunner...