The Department of Land and Natural Resources will relaunch its “thrill craft” certification program online for jet ski and personal watercraft owners in Hawaii.

Windward Community College’s virtual certification course will be live starting Monday, DLNR’s Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation announced. Normally conducted in classrooms, the course was temporarily canceled because of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hawaii.

The course was “re-tooled” for online in a collaboration between Maria Elena Diaz, interim director of WCC’s College of Career and Community Education, and Renee Wallace-Silberstein, DOBOR’s boating safety education specialist.

“One positive result of the coronavirus pandemic is that classroom course providers everywhere were forced to rethink how they deliver course content,” Diaz said in a statement. “Forgoing in-person instruction has forced everyone to embrace new and emerging technology. … The virtual certification course offered by WCC can reach out to potential students anywhere around the world, as long as there are no language barriers.”

Jet skis and PWCs are considered to be “thrill crafts,” and DOBOR requires users to get trained and obtain a certification to legally operate those crafts in state waters.

Both the old and new course feature “the topic of risk management in the context of thrill craft operation” to increase safety.