§ 8-31. General operation of boats and personal watercraft.

(a)

All boats and motorboats shall, whenever possible, keep at least three hundred (300) feet behind any boat towing a skier and shall stay clear of, by at least one hundred (100) feet, any boat or motorboat anchored or used for fishing. When a ski jump is in use, all other boats shall, whenever possible, stay at least one hundred (100) feet away on either side and five hundred (500) feet behind the ski jump.

(b)

No person shall operate any boat recklessly, overload any boat, indulge in any motorboat race, make sudden turns at excessive speed, follow too closely to other boats, or operate any boat in such a way that it may endanger other boats, life or property.

(c)

All motorboat operators shall sit within the confines of the boat and shall require that their passengers do likewise. Bowriding and gunwhale riding are strictly prohibited.

(d)

Care shall be taken by the operators of all motorboats and personal watercraft to prevent damage from their wash, bow wave or stern wave, or from objects towed by such boats to other boats, docks, piers, shorelines and boathouses. Boats, motorboats and personal watercraft shall not create a wake while operating within a canal, or within one hundred (100) feet of the shoreline, docks, piers, bridges or boathouses, or any other object arising from the water (excluding ski jumps or slalom courses) except when picking up or dropping off a waterskier. The one hundred-foot distance shall be measured from the boat, motorboat or personal watercraft itself or from any extension thereof, including but not limited to, a skier, aquaplane or other device being towed.

(e)

All boats and motorboats towing water skiers, aquaplanes or other devices shall operate in a counterclockwise direction of the waterway whenever possible.

(Code 1965, § 4-5; Ord. No. 83-37, § 5, 9-19-83; Ord. No. 95-19, § 3, 7-25-95)