Section 15-121-A15 - Personal watercraft safety restrictions(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.(b) Any operator of a vessel less than sixteen feet in length designed so that the operator and passengers ride on the outside surface of the vessel as opposed to riding inside the vessel, and in which the operator and passenger may in the normal course of use fall overboard, and which has an internal combustion engine powering a propeller as its primary source of motor propulsion shall be subject to the restrictions in subsection (a) of this section. Any such operator shall in addition have his vessel equipped with a device for shutting off the engine, known as a "shut-off lanyard", which device shall be 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 vessel while underway.Conn. Agencies Regs. § 15-121-A15
Effective May 19, 1994; Amended September 8, 1998; Amended March 9, 2004; Amended January 3, 2007; Amended March 16, 2018