AGE/HORSEPOWER RESTRICTIONS
"Operate" means to be in control or in charge of a motorboat, sailboat, or vessel while it is underway.
"Underway" means all times except when the motorboat, sailboat, or vessel is anchored, moored, or aground.
No person under 16 years of age shall operate a vessel powered by a motor of greater than 15 horsepower, except for a vessel that does not exceed 30 feet in length and is designed to use wind as its principal source of propulsion, or a dinghy used directly between a moored vessel and the shoreline or between a moored vessel and another moored vessel.
No person 12, 13, 14, or 15 years of age shall operate a vessel powered by a motor of greater than 15 horsepower, or a vessel that exceeds 30 feet in length and is designed to use wind as its principal source of propulsion, unless the person is accompanied in the vessel by a person who is at least 18 years of age and who is attentive and supervising the operation of the vessel.
Exemptions:
- A person who operates a vessel as a performer in a professional exhibition.
- A person engaged in an organized regatta, vessel race, or water ski race.
- A person engaged in an authorized marine event.
COURT ORDERED BOATING SAFETY COURSE
- Any person who has been ordered by the court to complete and pass a boating safety course shall submit to the court proof of completion and passage of the course within seven months of the time of his or her conviction.
- The proof shall be in a form that has been approved by the department and that provides for the ability to submit the form to the court through the United States Postal Service.
- If the person who has been required to complete and pass a boating safety course is under 18 years of age, the court may require that the person obtain parental consent to enroll in the course.
- If the person does not complete and pass the boating safety course, the court may extend the period for completion or impose another penalty as prescribed by statute.
WILLFUL AND MALICIOUS ACTS
- Every person who willfully and maliciously cuts, breaks, injures, sinks, or sets adrift any vessel of less than ten gross tons, which is the property of another, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
- Every person who willfully and maliciously cuts, breaks, or injures any vessel of ten gross tons and upwards, which is the property of another, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
- Every person who willfully and maliciously sinks or sets adrift any vessel of ten gross tons and upwards, which is the property of another, is guilty of a felony.
- Every person who willfully and maliciously burns, injures, or destroys any part of, or the whole of any pile or raft of wood, plank, boards, or other lumber, or cuts loose or sets adrift any such raft or part of a raft, which is the property of another, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
- Every person in command or charge of any vessel, who, within this state, willfully wrecks, sinks, or otherwise injures or destroys it or any of its cargo, or willfully permits the same to be wrecked, sunk, or otherwise injured or destroyed, with intent to prejudice or defraud any person, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years.
- Every person, other than those embraced within the last section who is guilty of any act specified in that section, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.
- Every person who prepares, makes, or subscribes any false or fraudulent manifest, invoice, bill of lading, ship's register, or protest, with intent to defraud another, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.
- Every person who moors any vessel to, or hangs on with a vessel to, or who wilfully removes, damages, or destroys, any buoy or beacon, placed by competent authority in any navigable waters of this State, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
BUOY OR BEACON
It is illegal to moor any vessel of any kind, to any buoy or beacon placed in the waters of California by authority of the United States Coast Guard, or to hang on to the same, with any vessel, or to willfully remove, damage, or destroy any such buoy or beacon, or any part thereof, or cut down, remove, damage, or destroy any beacon or beacons erected on land in this state
It is prohibited to maliciously throw, hurl, or project any object by manual, mechanical, or other means at a vessel or any occupant of a vessel on any of the waters within or bordering on this state.
UNSAFE VESSELS
Any peace officer authorized to enforce the boating laws may order the operator of an unsafe vessel to remove such vessel to the shore or to a safe moorage or anchorage in accordance with the requirements of this subsection. An officer may order an unsafe vessel so removed where it is being operated with one or more of the following hazardous conditions, where such conditions cannot be corrected on the spot, and where, in the judgment of the officer, continued operation of the vessel would create an immediate danger to life, limb, or property.
- Boat being used without sufficient personal flotation devices;
- Boat being used without sufficient firefighting devices;
- Boat does not display required navigation lights between sunset and sunrise;
- Boat has fuel leakage from either the fuel system or engine, or both;
- Boat has accumulation of fuel in bilges or compartment other than a fuel tank;
- Boat does not have legal and serviceable ventilation system;
- Boat does not have proper backfire flame control system;
- Boat is overloaded to such an extent that there exists so little freeboard the danger of sinking or capsizing may be imminent.
Any person operating an unsafe vessel, as specified in this subsection, shall remove it to the shore or to a safe moorage or anchorage as directed by the peace officer.
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