Jet-boat operator KJet has applied for permission from the Queenstown Lakes District Council to allow the public to drive one of its boats.
KJet director Shaun Kelly yesterday said there would only be the participant and a KJet driver in the boat during the self-drive experience, in a scenario identical to the company's driver training regime.
Mr Kelly said the company would not be proposing the activity if it were not safe.
''It's really a demand that we have had over the years for our conference and incentive market.''
The application, dated November 12, said the activity involves ''a specific KJet boat (KJet 1) being driven by a customer for a short period of time under strict supervision of a senior KJet driver aboard the vessel'' and participants would be ''extensively briefed'' before undertaking the trip.
Terms and conditions of the trip include clients being aged 16 or over, having a full and current driver's licence from the driver's country of origin, staying at least 5m away from any other vessel, raft or person in the water, staying at least 5m from the shoreline and staying within the confines of the upper Kawarau River in the vicinity of the KJet helipad.
The company has consent to operate on Lake Wakatipu and in the Kawarau and Shotover Rivers and the application to alter a resource consent would allow paying customers to have around 15 minutes driving a commercial jet-boat.
Radio communication would ensure the self-drive vessel stops and gives way to all commercial trips, the application said.
It added the self-drive boat would stop and allow private river users to safely navigate past.
The self-drive boat, KJet 1, has a removable divider between the driver's cockpit and the front seat and during self-drive trips this would be removed and the KJet instructor would sit beside the participant driver at all times.
''With the divider removed, the KJet instructor/supervisor will have access ... and can take control of the vessel at any time,'' the company said.
