§ 35013. Operation of personal watercraft
(a) The purpose and scope of this section is to protect safety by establishing rules of conduct governing the operation of personal watercraft, by promoting voluntary compliance with the rules, and, when necessary, by deterring, through fines and penalties, non-compliance with the rules. The Town of Chatham intends to improve, through this chapter, the safe and appropriate use of personal watercraft.
(b) No person shall operate a personal watercraft except in a safe and prudent manner, having due regard for other waterborne traffic, posted speed and wake restrictions, and all other attendant circumstances, so as not to endanger the life, limb or property of any persons.
(c) No person shall operate a personal watercraft if such person is --
(1) Under the age of sixteen (16), or
(2) sixteen (16) or seventeen (17) years of age without first having received a safety certificate evidencing satisfactory completion of a training course in safe operation conducted by the United States Power Squadron, the Division of Law Enforcement or such other entity approved in writing by the Director of the Division of Law Enforcement.
(d) All persons on board a personal watercraft shall wear, at all times, a Coast Guard-approved Personal Flotation Device (PFD) -- Type I, II or III.
(e) No person shall tow a water-skier or a person in any other manner from a personal watercraft.
(f) No person shall operate a personal watercraft between the hours of sunset and sunrise, as determined by the chart set forth at 323 CMR 2.00, Appendix I (state regulations), or when vision is unduly restricted by weather.
(g) No person shall operate a personal watercraft in a negligent manner. The following are examples of negligent operation.
(1) Unreasonable jumping or attempting to jump the wake of another vessel.
(2) Following within one hundred and fifty (150) feet of a water skier.
(3) Weaving through congested vessel traffic.
(4) Speeding in restricted areas.
(5) Crossing unreasonably close to another vessel.
(6) Operating a personal watercraft in such a manner that it endangers the life, limb or property of any person.
(h) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, no person shall operate a personal watercraft --
(1) Within one hundred and fifty (150) feet of shore except at headway speed.
(2) Within one hundred and fifty (150) feet of a public bathing area.
(3) Between one hundred and fifty (150) feet and three hundred (300) feet of a public bathing area except at headway speed.
(4) Within one hundred and fifty (150) feet of a swimmer in the water.
(5) Within the boundaries of the Cape Cod National Seashore as set forth in Public Law 87-126, 7 August 1961, as most recently surveyed by the U.S. Department of Interior, and on the tidal waters of Pleasant Bay and Chatham Harbor contiguous to the Cape Cod National Seashore to a line running westerly from the southern most boundary of the Cape Cod National Seashore at the southerly tip of Nauset (South) Beach, west to Monomoy Island, including but not limited to Muddy Creek (Monomoy River), Crows Pond, Bassing Harbor, Ryder’s Cove, Aunt Lydia’s Cove, and any adjoining river, inlet, cove, pond, embayment or harbor.
(6) On the tidal waters of Nantucket Sound southerly of the Stage Harbor Channel (as most recently dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) to the “SH buoy” (LLN 138555 in position 41 degrees 39.15'N / 070 degrees 00.0W’), then easterly of a line drawn from the “SH buoy” along 70 degrees 00'W south to 41 degrees 36'N, then northerly of a line drawn from 41 degrees 36'N / 70 degrees east to Monomoy Island.
(i) Every person operating a personal watercraft equipped by the manufacturer with a lanyard type engine cut-off switch shall attach said lanyard to his person, clothing or personal flotation device as is appropriate for the specific craft.
(j) A personal watercraft may be operated in the areas described in sub-section (h) above for search and rescue, or other emergency uses, provided it is under the direction of a duly authorized Federal, State or local law enforcement or emergency response agency.
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