At Rides & Drives, we love to talk to badass women in the business. When Sea-Doo offered me the opportunity to see Chicago from a new perspective, in celebration of International Women’s Ride Day with help of our guide, the badass Alvean Azurin, I, of course, couldn’t say no.
I have some experience with several different vintages of personal watercraft (PWC — the catch-all term for vehicles like Sea-Doo and its competitors). However, it’s limited to a small inland lake in Michigan, near but not on the 22,300 square miles of water that make up Lake Michigan, the fourth or fifth largest lake in the world (depending on whether you count the Caspian Sea as a lake). Yes, I’ve been on boats along the Chicago river and waterfront, but I have never been at the helm.
This invitation marked my first time personally piloting a small craft out in Chicago’s open water — a little nerve-wracking. The lakefront is cold and windy, often busy with boat traffic, and incidentally, my next-door neighbor happens to be a captain on both a tour boat and a Chicago Fire Department boat — so I get to hear the insider’s perspective on all the weird stuff that goes wrong out there. The first rule of thumb to staying safe on the water, at least according to the professional perspective of my neighbor, is not to be an idiot. Which, of course, seems easy enough. There’s always opportunity for error, though, and I’m the anxious type.
As it turned out, I had no real reason to be nervous. Our designated meeting spot, Diversey Harbor, sits about 20 minutes up Lake Shore Drive from my home on the South Side. When I arrived and started chatting with the other women in our group, I discovered my minimal experience was more than most, and I was surprised to find myself reassuring them. We looked over our watercraft and gear while we made introductions and got ready to hit the water.
Alvean is a Sea-Doo ambassador, has ridden Sea-Doos and other powersports vehicles all over the world. This trip, however, was her first time seeing the city of Chicago by water. The event was organized in collaboration with Next Wave Powersports and Uncharted Society, a program backed by BRP (Sea-Doo’s parent company) to encourage outdoor exploration via motorsports and powersports. Uncharted Society works with a variety of outdoor outfitters and adventure companies to curate tours and trips on various BRP vehicles, which also include Ski-Doo snowmobiles and Can-Am three-wheelers and all-terrain vehicles. Uncharted Society adventures are available around the world with select partners, and can vary from a half-day equipment rental to multi-day tours.
More simply, and perfect for our case, Uncharted Society specializes in helping people take the first step toward a powersports-driven adventure. The evident expertise and confidence of our group leaders helped ease the anxiety of the more nervous riders in our group — even Alvean, who’d only just ventured into Lake Michigan for the first time the day before. Lake Michigan is so big that by boat or watercraft, it might as well be an ocean, but even oceans don’t faze Alvean, as I’d soon learn.
Our first official task was to shimmy into some neoprene. Sea-Doo required us to wear appropriate apparel, including neoprene shorts and neoprene long-sleeved shirts. As I tugged the thick, rubbery black shorts over my thighs, I berated myself for not bringing one of my many, many pairs of board shorts for a more attractive outer layer. So be it. We strapped ourselves into life jackets, provided by the rental company, and tucked our phones and water bottles away into the Sea-Doos’ various storage cubbies. There’s even a waterproof phone compartment.
Diversey Harbor had a fleet of 2025 Sea-Doo GTX Pro 130s ready to go. It’s a rental-spec model, which means it’s a little more robust to stand up to first-time, infrequent, or possibly abusive riders, as well as a little less powerful than what an experienced rider would want for personal use. That’s fine — I, personally, was never looking for more power during our trip. Sea-Doo equips these PWCs with a Rotax 1630 Ace engine found elsewhere in the brand’s marine craft lineup. Its 130 horsepower was perfect for our needs, as amateurs, but there are higher-horsepower versions of this engine, including a couple of supercharged versions suitable for boats. Most of us rode solo, but this Sea-Doo is capable of seating three riders and carrying a maximum of 600 pounds.
Most of my experience on PWCs is on models older than I am, and there was no reversing back in the day. You had to pull a tight turn or simply hope the water carries you in the right direction. One of my biggest learning curves on the 2025 Sea-Doo was getting used to the reversing in a crowded marina, among a flock of other riders doing exactly the same thing. It’s definitely a nice feature to have, though, and we didn’t experience any collisions. With just a little practice, it got much easier to use the shift lever and figure out when to reverse and when to stay in neutral, especially while waiting as a group to get access to the harbor exit and entry. The sensation of moving backwards at slow speed over water is a little unsettling, and it helps to take a few minutes to practice the controls and get accustomed to idling in neutral — you’ll drift, perhaps unpredictably, rather than staying still like you would in a car.
Those unfamiliar with riding a PWC, or riding in a new area, should ask their guide or their rental service about the procedure and guidelines for safely exiting and entering the marina area as well as what to expect in terms of local water traffic.
There’s a fun little underpass and a curvy little canal-like structure that connects Diversey Harbor to the Chicago lakefront and big-ass Lake Michigan. It’s a thrill to round that corner and hit the open water, where the glorious skyline came into view. It was particularly hazy that day, the result of smoke from Canadian wildfires, but that only added extra drama to the scene. We had a few minutes to play around and get used to the controls and the sensations, before pulling into formation and heading south toward Navy Pier.
Chicagoans call it touristy, but there’s no denying Navy Pier is an iconic part of our waterfront, proven by the dense boat traffic nearby. In addition to the famous Ferris wheel, Navy Pier is home to a water taxi station, numerous charter boats, and the Chicago Fire Department’s marine outpost. We frolicked nearby for a while to take in the sights and pose for photos, then continued southbound.
Our next destination, and the southernmost point of our route, was the waterfront between the Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium. I used to frequently walk or ride my scooter to this area, just for the fantastic views of Navy Pier and the skyline, and true to form, there were a ton of people around. Whether they were visiting museums, posing for graduation photos, or simply enjoying the scenery, our group got a ton of attention as we frolicked on the water, zipping back and forth between the seawalls protecting the museums, and then over to the lighthouse and seawall on the outskirts of the pier area. Here, I was able to hit speeds approaching 40 mph — the occasional sailboat or rogue wave kept me from wanting to go much faster.
Along the last leg of our trip, we headed to the big lighthouse about two miles offshore, the farthest, by far, I’ve ever been from land on a PWC. It’s exhilarating scooting across the water, toward a destination you can only barely see on the horizon, while the only land in sight is quickly disappearing in your side view mirrors. The Sea-Doo gave me the opportunity to see a Chicago landmark that really can’t be seen up close by any other method.
Here, though, it got cold and choppy. I reduced my speed to cope with the increasingly rough waves, especially as I realized I’d need to pee long before we returned to the harbor.
“Just go in the water,” Alvean laughed, “there’s a ladder you can pull down to climb back on.” I’m certainly not reluctant to pee in a lake while necessary, but it was a little different to flop awkwardly off a Sea-Doo like a circus seal done with its tricks, while being circled by strangers who clearly knew what I was doing. Even better when I caught our group’s pro photographer aiming her camera in my direction.
After a quick group photo session, we headed back northwest, toward Diversey Harbor, exhausted but enthralled. A sense of accomplishment fell over the group as we idled along the shore, waiting for our turn to cross into the harbor and dock our new favorite motorsports vehicles.
