Just skimming the surface

For someone whose No. 1 fear is drowning, I'll admit: Silverwood Lake wasn't the most logical choice for a day trip. Nor was renting a 135-horsepower water rocket. But I believe the best way to confront a fear is to head right into it. I'm also a motorcyclist. So I combined my fear of water with a general enthusiasm for power sports and motored through my anxiety aboard a blazing yellow Sea-Doo.

The 1.5 million Americans who ride these "personal watercraft," better known as Jet Skis, Sea-Doos and WaveRunners, probably don't share my fear. For them, it's fun. Fun!

And there are lots of places to do it -- if you own one yourself. Many lakes in Southern California allow personal watercraft. It's a rare lake, however, with facilities that rent them. Silverwood, 90 minutes from downtown L.A., is one of those places. The rentable Sea-Doos are available by the hour or by the day through Get N Wet, which is based in Anaheim but rents various water thingies on Silverwood from a shack at the water's edge.

During the summer, Get N Wet is open seven days a week, starting at 9 a.m. That's about the time I arrived with a motorcyclist friend, who didn't share my anxiety for water but was merely curious about the personal watercraft experience. After several waivers, one thumbprint and enough cash for an all-day ride, we were each handed our life vests and led to matching yellow machines, where a tanned young man sporting a shark tattoo on his shoulder and a pork-pie hat on his head counseled us on various do's and don'ts for our eight-hour rental.

* Do attach the quick-release key to your life vest, the young man told us. That way, if you and your watercraft unintentionally part ways, the key can be found and the craft can be re-started.

* Don't start the watercraft too close to shore, lest it suck up sand, silt and rocks and destroy the motor, costing you (the renter) $3,000 to repair.

* Do keep your speed low until you've passed the marina buoys. After that, feel free to crank the throttle and kick up as much lake spray as you like.

My friend and I followed the rules, firing up our four-stroke motors and riding at a tugboat-slow 5 mph until we hit the main drag that would take us around the lake and its 13 miles of shoreline. We hit the buoys and . . . my friend was gone. Unencumbered by fear, he'd squeezed the throttle with his thumb and gone blasting across the H2O toward the large riding area at the far end of the water.