Connecticut Administrative Code › Title 15 - Navigation and Aeronautics › 121 - Boating Safety › Section 15-121-A15 - Personal watercraft safety restrictions

Current through July 10, 2024
(a) The use of
			 personal watercraft, as defined in section
			 15-140j
			 of the Connecticut General Statutes, shall be subject to the following
			 operation restrictions:
(1) All persons
			 aboard personal watercraft shall wear a United States Coast Guard approved PFD
			 and no operator of a personal watercraft shall allow any person who is not
			 wearing a PFD to be aboard such personal watercraft. No person aboard a
			 personal watercraft shall use an inflatable PFD to meet the requirements of
			 this section.
(2) No person shall
			 operate a personal watercraft, or be on board or towed by personal watercraft
			 operated by another, between sunset and sunrise.
(3) No person shall operate a personal
			 watercraft towing a water-skier and no person shall water-ski while being towed
			 by a personal watercraft, except under the following conditions:
(A) The personal watercraft towing a
			 water-skier shall have:
(i) A capacity label
			 permanently affixed by its manufacturer on the personal watercraft indicating
			 that the vessel is designed for and capable of carrying at least two persons in
			 addition to the operator;
(ii) a
			 minimum length overall of 119 inches, a minimum width overall of 46 inches and
			 a minimum horizontal seat surface length of 39 inches for three person
			 capacity. For personal watercraft with greater than a three person capacity
			 noted on the capacity label affixed to the personal watercraft by its
			 manufacturer, for each additional person the minimum horizontal seat length
			 must be increased by at least 13 inches; and
(iii) handholds at or near the rear of the
			 seat suitable for use by a rearward-facing observer to conveniently hold on to
			 with two hands;
(B)
			 whenever a skier is being towed, there shall be an observer, who is at least
			 twelve years old, other than the operator, onboard the personal watercraft
			 towing such water-skier, who shall face the skier at all times;
(C) the number of persons on board the
			 personal watercraft towing a water-skier added together with the number of
			 water-skiers being towed shall not exceed the "persons" carrying capacity, as
			 indicated on the capacity label permanently affixed to the personal watercraft
			 by its manufacturer; and
(D) the
			 operator of a personal watercraft towing a water-skier and the skier being
			 towed shall, in addition to the requirements of this section, comply with all
			 provisions of section
			 15-134
			 of the Connecticut General Statutes and section
			 15-121-A9
			 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.
(4) No person shall operate a personal
			 watercraft at a speed in excess of Slow -No - Wake within two hundred feet of
			 shore, or of a dock, pier, float or anchored or moored vessel, unless said
			 personal watercraft is approaching such float, dock or shore for the purpose of
			 enabling a person engaged in waterskiing to take off or land.
(5) No person operating a personal watercraft
			 shall cross or jump the wake of another vessel, when within one hundred feet of
			 the vessel creating such wake, in such a manner that the hull of the personal
			 watercraft jumping the wake completely leaves the water.
(6) No person less than sixteen years of age,
			 who has not been issued a certificate of personal watercraft operation on or
			 before March 9, 2004, shall operate a personal watercraft without the onboard
			 supervision of a person who is at least eighteen years of age and in possession
			 of a certificate of personal watercraft operation.
(7) No person shall operate a personal
			 watercraft equipped by its manufacturer with a device for shutting off the
			 engine, known as a "shut-off lanyard", unless such device is attached via a
			 lanyard to the operator, his clothing, or his personal flotation device in a
			 manner which will shut off the engine in the event the operator is ejected from
			 the personal watercraft while underway.