§ 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, 2025

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.