Years ago on British Television there was an advertisement that posed the question “Can you tell the difference between Stork (margarine) and butter?”

I was reminded of this question in a rather oblique manner following on from a conversation I had with a complete stranger when I was capturing this image from the Moat Wall of Calshot Castle Southampton on the 6th of May 2022. His question to me was what in particular did I like to photograph, to which I replied anything that floats but particularly Jetskis such as the one immediately in front of me. He then said that what I was looking at was in fact a WaveRunner because Jetskis are craft that you mainly stand on when driving whereas WaveRunners are craft that you sit on. There are exceptions however to the Jetski stand on only rule. Confused or what?

This information took me back because I had always referred to such craft as Jetskis irrespective of who or what company manufactured them.

On returning home I carried out an Internet search which proved that my new found friend was absolutely correct. Jetskis are manufactured by Kawasaki whereas WaveRunners are made by Yamaha. My one consolation was that the Internet revealed that the term Jetski is often used in a generic sense to describe any personal watercraft irrespective of manufacture.

I am now fully able to tell the difference between a Jetski and a WaveRunner although the difference between margarine and butter still alludes me.

The image of the Yamaha WaveRunner featured, was captured using my Canon EOS R5 camera and Canon RF 100-500mm zoom lens. I think the craft was being used for training purposes because I have a number of images taken on the same day showing it to be ridden by a number of different riders.