2023 New York Laws › NAV - Navigation › Article 4 - Vessels › Part 3 - Pleasure Vessels › 73-A - Regulations of Personal Watercraft and Specialty Prop-Craft.

§  73-a.  Regulations of personal watercraft and specialty prop-craft.
1.  Personal watercraft and specialty prop-craft.  a.  No  person  shall
operate  a  personal  watercraft  or  a specialty prop-craft unless each
person riding on such vessel  is  wearing  a  securely  fastened  United
States Coast Guard approved personal flotation device.
b.  No  person  shall  operate  a  personal  watercraft or a specialty
prop-craft unless such vessel is  equipped  and  fitted  with  a  United
States Coast Guard approved device for arresting carburetor backfire.
c.  No  person  shall  operate  a  personal  watercraft or a specialty
prop-craft unless such vessel is equipped with:
(i) at least two ventilators fitted with cowls or their equivalent for
the purpose of properly and efficiently ventilating the bilges of  every
engine  and  fuel tank compartment in order to remove any inflammable or
explosive gases provided, however, if the vessel is so constructed as to
have the greater portion of the bilges under the engine and  fuel  tanks
open and exposed to the natural atmosphere at all times such vessel need
not be required to be fitted with such ventilators; and
(ii) an efficient sound producing mechanical appliance, except sirens,
capable  of  producing a blast of two seconds or more in duration and of
such strength as to be heard plainly for a distance of at least one-half
mile in still weather; and
(iii) a fluorescent-orange distress flag which shall be a  minimum  of
one  foot square or other appropriate United States Coast Guard approved
visual distress signal.
d.  Any  person  operating  a  personal  watercraft  or  a   specialty
prop-craft  equipped  by  the  manufacturer  with  a lanyard type engine
cut-off switch shall attach such lanyard to his or her person, clothing,
or personal flotation device as is appropriate for the specific vessel.
e. No person shall  operate  a  personal  watercraft  or  a  specialty
prop-craft at any time from sunset to sunrise.
f.  No  person  shall  operate  a  personal  watercraft or a specialty
prop-craft within five hundred feet  of  any  designated  bathing  area,
except in bodies of water where the opposing shoreline is less than five
hundred  feet  from  such  designated  area and in accordance with speed
regulations and restrictions as provided by local law or  ordinance  but
in  no  event  at  a  speed  in  excess of ten miles per hour, provided,
however, that nothing contained in this subdivision shall  be  construed
to prohibit the launching of such vessel from designated launching areas
or sites.
g.  Every  personal  watercraft  and specialty prop-craft shall at all
times be operated in a reasonable and prudent  manner.  Maneuvers  which
unreasonably   or   unnecessarily  endanger  life,  limb,  or  property,
including, but not limited to,  (i)  weaving  through  congested  vessel
traffic,  or  (ii)  jumping  the  wake of another vessel unreasonably or
unnecessarily close to such other vessel or when visibility around  such
other  vessel  is  obstructed,  or  (iii)  swerving at the last possible
moment to avoid collision  shall  constitute  reckless  operation  of  a
vessel, as provided in section forty-five of this article.
h.  The  provisions  of  this section shall not apply to any performer
engaged  in  a  professional  exhibition  or  any  person  preparing  to
participate   or  participating  in  a  regatta,  race,  marine  parade,
tournament, or exhibition authorized under section thirty-four  of  this
chapter.
i.  The  provisions  of this section shall apply to the operation of a
personal watercraft and a specialty prop-craft on any waterway  or  body
of  water  located within New York state and not privately owned and any
part of any body of water adjacent to New  York  state  over  which  the

state  has  territorial jurisdiction, including all tidewaters bordering
on and lying within the boundaries of Nassau and Suffolk counties.
j.  The provisions of section forty of this chapter shall not apply to
personal watercraft or specialty prop-craft.
2. Liveries. Notwithstanding the provisions of section  forty-nine  or
seventy-one-d  of  this  chapter, no livery shall lease, hire, or rent a
personal watercraft or a specialty prop-craft to any person unless:
(a) such person is sixteen years of age or older.
(b) the operator of such livery, or his  designated  agent,  prior  to
permitting  the  use  by  such  person  of  such  personal watercraft or
specialty prop-craft, explains and demonstrates to such person by  video
or  actual  in  water  demonstration  the  operating  procedure  of such
personal watercraft or specialty prop-craft and the use of such vessel's
safety equipment;
(c) such person, after receiving  the  explanation  and  demonstration
required  pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subdivision, demonstrates to
such livery operator or to such designated agent the ability to  operate
such vessel and use the applicable safety equipment;
(d) such person has presented genuine proof of identification and age;
and  except  as  provided  in  paragraph  (f)  of  this subdivision, has
demonstrated compliance with section forty-nine of this article, to such
livery operator or the livery operator's designated agent prior  to  the
time of leasing, hiring or renting such vessel;
(e)  such livery operator or his designated agent, at the time of such
leasing, hiring or renting, records the name, address  and  age  of  the
user of the leased, hired or rented vessel, and the model, year, name of
manufacturer, and state registration or federal documentation numbers of
the leased, hired or rented vessel. Such records shall be maintained for
a period of not less than one year; and
* (f)   notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  paragraph  (d)  of  this
subdivision and subdivision one-a of section forty-nine of this article,
a person over eighteen years of age may operate such personal watercraft
or specialty prop-craft without the  certificate  required  pursuant  to
section  forty-nine of this article when such operation is restricted by
the operator of such livery, or the livery operator's designated  agent,
to  a  specified  area,  no part of which shall be more than twenty-five
hundred feet from the livery location, or, if removed  from  the  livery
location,  not  more  than five hundred feet from the livery operator or
agent assigned by the livery operator to supervise  such  operation  and
such  personal  watercraft  or  specialty  propcraft and/or the personal
flotation device of the operator is clearly marked in such a  manner  as
to  be  distinguishable  by  the  operator  of such livery or the livery
operator's designated agent within the permitted areas of operation.
* NB Repealed January 1, 2025
3. Penalties for violation. (a) Every person convicted of a  violation
of  this section, other than a conviction for a violation of subdivision
two of this section, shall for a first conviction thereof be punished by
a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than two hundred dollars;
for a conviction of a second violation, both  of  which  were  committed
within  a period of twenty-four months, such person shall be punished by
a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than  four  hundred
dollars;  upon  a  conviction of a third or subsequent violation, all of
which were committed within a period of twenty-four months, such  person
shall  be  punished  by  a fine of not less than two hundred dollars nor
more than five hundred dollars and the revocation of the registration of
the personal watercraft.
(b) Every person convicted of a violation of subdivision two  of  this
section  shall  for  a first conviction thereof be punished by a fine of

not less than one hundred dollars nor more than two hundred dollars; for
a conviction of a second violation, both of which were committed  within
a  period of twenty-four months, such person shall be punished by a fine
of not less than two hundred dollars nor more than four hundred dollars;
upon  a conviction of a third or subsequent violation, all of which were
committed within a period of twenty-four months, such  person  shall  be
punished  by  a fine of not less than four hundred dollars nor more than
eight hundred dollars.