Boating Rules

While there are lots of pamphlets on boater safety issued by various govermental agencies, it is very tough to find exact laws about boating in Washington. If one were to go to www.wa.gov, and search the Washington State codes, the only thing you will find is that you must be 14 to be able to drive a Jet Ski.

At the 2004 Annual Meeting, I asked the local Sheriff Deputy in attendance what the rules really were. It seems that the rules are all county regulations (except for the jet ski thing).

For Stevens County, I am informed

• Kids 10 and above can drive a boat of less than 10HP.   (Note that boats of this sort are Not required to be registered.)
• Kids 14 and above can drive any Jet Ski. (Which in my opinion is nuts, but the Jet Ski people have a bigger lobby in Olympia than I do.)
• You must be 16 or above to drive a boat over 10HP. 

In any boat, powered or not, kids under 12 must WEAR a life jacket. (There is an exception for really large boats, but none of them are on our lake.) Of course, in all boats, there must be available life jackets for all people in the boat.