Back in 1966, a San Jose, California inventor unveiled what may be the first fiberglass personal watercraft ever floated in American waters. That mad scientist was a rally racer named Harvey Snow, and his $295 Hydro Cycle predated the first jet-driven Sea Doo by a year. With a bulbous front end, motorcycle handlebars with hand throttle, a two-person bench seat, and a transom for outboards from 14- to 25-horsepower (which you bought and installed separately), the 90-pound machine strongly resembled an aquatic snowmobile. Its six-foot, seven-inch molded fiberglass hull was polyurethane foam injected like a Whaler so it wouldn’t sink. Snow claimed a Hydro Cycle would hit 26 knots with a 14-horse hung off the back. In 1969, Snow redesigned the machine—extending it to nine feet and calling the now 200-pound PWC The Barracuda. Lower-slung and sleeker, Snow offered it for sale through select boat and even motorcycle dealers in the U.S. and Australia—with up to 35-horsepower outboards and proclaimed 31-knot top speeds (considering its weight, it was probably faster). A flyer shows a fleet of Hydro Cycles screaming through what looks like Florida’s cypress-filled Lake X. Lanyard-and lifejacket-free jockeys haul ass through the trees, leap wakes and cross paths like figure-eight track racers, ignoring blades of death mere inches below.
On June 2, 1969, Snow achieved an advertising coup when a Barracuda-graced cover reached the million-plus readers of Sports Illustrated. The photo shows a hapless one-piece clad girl barely hanging on as her beau launches into the sky. But despite the promotion, and apparently sales in the thousands, interest in this ahead-of-its-time machine eventually waned. Snow’s son Michael Drier posted to the YouTube video A Forgotten Icon of the 60s: “Most days after High School, I was his test pilot; my job was to try and flip them over as Harvey watched from the shoreline. Like many things he invented, once perfected he would lose interest and move on to something new. He did not finish grade school, but was one of the most intelligent and creative men I have ever known.”
This article originally appeared in the August/September 2025 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
