WATER SKIING

Always follow safe towing procedures. The term skiing or towing implies you are pulling a person or persons behind your boat. This includes pulling skiers, wakeboarders, tubers, kiters, or any other evolution where a person is in the water and being pulled by a boat. The person being pulled must always wear a properly fitted life jacket.

Never allow teak-surfing as the potential for carbon monoxide poisoning and propeller injury are significant.

Safe towing practices include: having a responsible, dedicated observer who is in a position to observe the progress of the skier. Using a wide-angle mirror to keep an eye on the skier and raising a skier flag anytime a skier is in the water.

Never tow someone close to shorelines, boathouses, boatramps, or under bridges. Maintain a clear skiing corridor, giving ample room to maneuver both the boat and the skier in a safe manner.

Operator permitted to tow water skier

In New Jersey, the operator of a PWC designed to accommodate three or more persons is allowed to tow a water skier, provided that the personal watercraft has the capacity to allow one of the persons to face the stern of the PWC for the purpose of tending to a ski rider; and that the person tending to the ski rider shall be present during the towing of the ski rider.

All operators of power vessels underway and towing ski or aquaplane riders must:

• Keep at least 200 ft. from any wharf, marina, dock, pier, bridge, structure, abutment, or persons in the Water
• Keep 100 ft. distance from any other craft, shore, aid to navigation or mooring
• Have a competent observer on board (wide angle mirror not accepted).
• Towlines shall not be less than 35 ft. nor more than 75 ft. in length.
• Waterskiing, aquaplaning or towing of skiers or aquaplanes will be permitted only from sunrise to sunset.
• All skiers shall wear a USCG Approved Type I, II, III or Type V Hybrid life jacket

The term “waterskiing” means anything with a rider, being towed by a power vessel by means of a towrope, tow line or training boom.

• All ski boats shall display a signal pennant which shall be orange in color and triangular in shape and not less than 12 inches in any dimension.
• The pennant shall be displayed at least four feet above the highest structure on the boat during each of the following activities;
• While pulling or retrieving a skier
• While a skier is in the water; or
• While a tow line is in the water.

A person shall not display the pennant at any other time other than while conducting any of the activities described above in number.