It would seem that the apparent complexity might be a turn-off (all you do with a waverunner is press a button). Having sailed for 10 years or so - mostly on monohulls- I still am confused why people think sailing is so complex and difficult to learn. If I have guests on my monohull they think that pulling on all the lines is "complicated." Maybe it is just me- but once you understand that you can't go straight into the wind you have sailing pretty much figured out (more or less, of course). After you understand that then you have fun figuring stuff out from there on out. But then again, I probably make it look really easy
now ... with racing? To be honest, hanging around boats for a while, next to a yacht club, and talking to some racers- they always seemed supremely stuck-up and I never wanted to be a part of that crowd. Only recently have I started crewing on a monohull with a really great skipper who is, for the most part, laid back (with the occassional... GODDAMN IT! GET THE SPINNAKER UP! and THIS IS NO SOCIAL HOUR!) and I am having a great time.
I wish there were more inexpensive boats and easy/safe places to keep them- ideally keeping them on a beach somewhere with the mast up (difficult to get trailer, difficult to rig all the time from the trailer) but people seem a little more intolerant of this.