Moffat Beach's only public ramp tips you onto open surf. Learn the ski on the Pumicestone Passage first, a short drive south at Golden Beach.
Moffat Beach has one public ramp, at Seaview Terrace beside Eleanor Shipley Park, and it launches straight onto the open beach. That's a big ask for a new rider. Maritime Safety Queensland doesn't even record it as a boat ramp. It lists it as a canoe launching point and flags it Low Tide Restricted. So most Moffat riders learn somewhere else first. Our Caloundra venue is a short drive south in Golden Beach, on the Pumicestone Passage. You do the theory online, then get one-on-one time on a supplied ski. The surf can wait until you know the machine.
Ask a Moffat Beach local where they'd put a jet ski in and they'll point at the beach. It's the obvious answer when you live here. It's also the hardest launch on this stretch of coast for someone who has never ridden, and it helps to know why before you buy a ski or book a course.
The Seaview Terrace ramp is State-owned and it's the only public ramp in the suburb. Council's register codes it a boat ramp. MSQ's facilities database records the same spot as a canoe launching point, with a Low Tide Restricted flag. Two government lists, two different answers. For a rider, both readings point the same way: this is an open-coast beach launch, exposed to whatever the swell is doing, and at low tide it gets harder again.
Think about what that means with a ski on a trailer. You're reversing onto sand with waves arriving. The ski wants to swing and float off before you're ready. Then you have to get back on it, in moving water, and ride out through the break. Coming home is the same job in reverse, usually when you're tired. ABC's own ramp guide has a line for this. Always keep a line on the bow, so if the craft floats off the trailer in deep water you don't have to swim after it. It also says to walk any ramp you haven't used before, because it may drop off or be slippery. At Seaview Terrace both bits of advice earn their keep.
The other way onto the water from here is a drive. Kings Beach at Margaret Street is the nearest spot MSQ itself types as a boat ramp, and it's Low Tide Restricted too. Further south, council records six active boat ramps in the Golden Beach locality, every one of them on the Pumicestone Passage. That's the water you train on.
There's a reason we'd rather you met the ski on the Passage than in the break. The Passage is tidal and shallow, with about 80% of it under two metres, so it asks you to read the water. It doesn't throw a wave at you while you're still working out the throttle. The course runs from our Caloundra venue in Golden Beach. You finish the online theory at home. On the day there's a recap and the theory assessment, then your practical on the ski.
The ski is a Sea-Doo with braking, reversing and a learner mode, picked because it gives a new rider a head start. It's also very stable, which makes the docking and figure 8 tasks in your assessment easier to get right. The Caloundra centre publishes the jet ski practical as roughly 45 minutes, one-on-one.
Which course do you book? It turns on one question. Do you already hold a current Queensland recreational boat licence? If you do, the jet ski course on its own adds the PWC licence. If you don't, book the Boat and Jet Ski Combo, because riding a ski legally takes both licences. Plenty of Moffat households find that out after the ski is already sitting in the carport. Either way you walk out knowing where you stand, and if you need more time on the water to feel competent, we'd rather you took it.
Then there's the view from the headland. From Moffat you can see where the Passage meets the sea, and it's tempting on a ski. MSQ's guide to the Passage says Caloundra Bar is extremely shallow and dangerous, and that most vessels can't cross it because there isn't enough water. The entrance has moved as well. In 2022 the sea broke through the northern tip of Bribie Island and made a new opening about 1.4 kilometres south, and the old bar closed over. None of that is on the licence assessment. It's local knowledge, and we'd rather you had it early.
The course itself is the same wherever you sit it: the theory online first, in your own time, then a day on the water with a trainer before the assessment. You need a licence for any boat with an engine over 4.5 kilowatts, which is nearly every tinny, runabout and cruiser. Pass, and the Queensland licence never expires. Pick the date that suits you and book online.
Seaview Terrace is the suburb's only public ramp, so it's where people start.
It's an open-coast beach launch, and MSQ records it as a canoe launching point that's restricted at low tide. A first-time rider has enough to think about without waves on the trailer.
Learn the ski on the Pumicestone Passage at our Golden Beach venue first. Once you can handle the machine without thinking, a beach launch is a much smaller step.
On an exposed beach the water lifts the ski before you've got a hand on it, and a light craft drifts fast.
Swimming after a ski in the break is dangerous and embarrassing, in that order.
ABC's launching guide is clear: keep a bow line on so it can't get away from you, and walk an unfamiliar ramp before you drive onto it.
Seaview Terrace and the Kings Beach ramp at Margaret Street are both flagged Low Tide Restricted by MSQ.
Launching is only half the trip. Retrieval is where a bad tide catches you, when the ramp has run out of water.
The ramp guide's advice is to time your retrieval so the tide has come back up before you pull the craft out. Check the tide table before you leave home.
From Moffat headland the mouth of the Passage looks close and easy on a fast, light ski.
MSQ says most vessels can't cross Caloundra Bar for lack of water, and the opening has moved south since 2022.
The licence doesn't teach bar crossings, and ABC Boating's bar guide says if in doubt, don't. Get current local advice before you go anywhere near it.
Riders carry the jacket and plan to put it on if things get rough.
Crossing a designated coastal bar, anyone in an open area of the craft must be wearing the lifejacket, and a jet ski is all open area. Caloundra Bar is on that designated list.
On the course you wear a supplied lifejacket the whole time, so it becomes habit before you ride off Moffat on your own.
Where you train
Caloundra
Churchill Street, Golden Beach QLD 4551
Your trainer's provider is on the public record. The Queensland Government's BoatSafe register lists Australian Boating College at Caloundra under 0427 110 025. The course is nationally accredited, delivered by Australian Boating College, trading name of ABC Licence Training Pty Ltd, RTO 3399. The jet ski, lifejackets and all equipment are supplied. You bring photo ID, sun protection, a towel and a change of clothes. In Queensland a marine licence can only come from an approved BoatSafe provider, so that listing is the one that counts. The training organisation behind the courses, Australian Boating College, is current on the national training register. Every approved provider works to the same floor: trainers hold a commercial marine qualification and pass a criminal history check, the training vessel is commercially certified and carries sun protection, and the organisation running it has to carry public liability cover of at least 20 million dollars. Maritime Safety Queensland audits providers and can suspend one that cuts corners.
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Approved by Maritime Safety Queensland to deliver the BoatSafe recreational marine and PWC licence courses.
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Courses are delivered under the registration of Australian Boating College, RTO #3399, so the training is nationally accredited.
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Part of the Australian Boating College network, which delivers boat and PWC licence training across Australia.
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From Moffat Beach, near Moffat Beach and the Moffat Headland surf break, it is a short drive south past the headland to the sheltered Passage water at our Caloundra base. Moffat Beach fronts the open surf coast, so the licence course trains on the sheltered Pumicestone Passage a short drive south at Caloundra. We run the jet ski licence there with all equipment provided, so Moffat Beach locals can get licensed close to home.
Tell us the date that suits you near Moffat Beach and our team will come back to you, usually within one business day. Prefer to talk it through? Give us a call.
It's a public ramp, State-owned, next to Eleanor Shipley Park. It launches onto the open beach, and MSQ flags it Low Tide Restricted. A licensed rider can use it, but it asks a lot. Pick a small swell and a rising tide, and have your launch and retrieval sorted before you rely on it.
Council and MSQ keep separate registers. Council codes Seaview Terrace a boat ramp, while MSQ's boating facilities database records the same place as a canoe launching point. We can't tell you the reason behind each label. What we'd take from it is that the ramp was never a smooth trailer ramp into still water.
Kings Beach, at Margaret Street, and it's also Low Tide Restricted. South of that, council records six active boat ramps in the Golden Beach locality, all on the Pumicestone Passage. That's the same water our Caloundra course trains on.
Yes. When crossing a designated coastal bar, everyone aged one or over in an open area of a craft must be wearing a lifejacket. On a jet ski there's nowhere that isn't open. Caloundra Bar is one of the designated bars, though MSQ says most vessels can't cross it at all.
Marine Rescue Queensland has a Caloundra unit, QF4. MSQ's bar crossing checklist tells you to log on and off with a volunteer marine rescue group by marine radio before you cross. Save the details before you ride, not after you need them.
It gets you ready to handle the ski. You'll learn control, docking and the figure 8 on the Passage, and those skills carry over. Surf riding is a separate step. ABC tells students plainly that you may not be competent in just one day on the water, and the surf is where that honesty matters most. Build up to it.
No, they are separate classes in Queensland, and they are not independent: the jet ski (PWC) course assumes you already hold a current recreational boat licence. If you hold one, you can book the jet ski course on its own. If you do not, the Boat and Jet Ski Combo covers both licences in one day.
You must be at least 16 to hold a recreational marine or PWC licence in Queensland. You can operate a powered boat without holding one at any age, as long as someone with a valid marine licence is supervising you on board. Sixteenth birthdays are a popular time to book, so it is worth getting the course done early.
Pick whichever is most convenient, since the course and the qualification are identical at all three. Caloundra trains on the sheltered Pumicestone Passage, Maroochydore on the sheltered Maroochy River, and Noosa on the Noosa River. You can view dates for every location on our Course Dates page and book the one that suits you.
What a personal watercraft licence covers in Queensland, how it differs from a boat licence, the age rules, and how to get your jet ski licence in a day on the Sunshine Coast.
A simple checklist for your boat or jet ski licence course day on the Sunshine Coast: ID, what to wear, sun protection, and what we provide so you can just turn up and learn.
Your ramp faces the surf, so give yourself a head start on water that won't push back. Book a Caloundra date on the calendar, or call 0427 110 025 and tell us where you want to ride. We'll tell you which course you need.
