When riding a personal watercraft, the driver typically straddles the seat and locates his/her feet on footrests on each side of the seat. To maneuver the watercraft, the driver steers the handlebar in the direction he/she wishes to go. The driver can additionally use his/her body weight to accompany the turning operation by leaning forward and/or laterally. To lean, the driver typically grips the seat with his/her legs and forces laterally on the handlebar.
In high speed buoy courses, leaning solicits greatly from the upper body of the driver. As a result of over stimulation of the upper body, the agility, the concentration and the driver's reaction time may become compromised.
In addition, leg room available to the driver for stabilizing his/her feet is limited due to the bottom of the footrests to reduce water accumulation. This in turn limits the operation of the watercraft since the driver can only arrange his/her feet in a limited number of positions.
In cases where the driver is actively pressing against a front of the seat, it is often contemplated that he/she find his/her knees abutting the helm assembly instead of the seat. Current seats are too short for allowing the driver to comfortably and reliably perform certain types of maneuvers such as sharp turn at high speeds.
Therefore, there is a need for an element or a combination of elements of a watercraft whose design would increase maneuverability and would reduce forces experienced by the upper body of a driver when steering the watercraft.