N.Y. Navigation Law § 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, 2027

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.