This is probably state specific, though it could be interesting to know what laws are in other areas too. This weekend we lent our PWC to a friend (also a boater and fairly familiar with the law) and she was stopped for not following the proper direction of travel (no ticket). She was traveling fairly close to the shore on the main body of the lake with her port to shore. The cops said she had to keep to starboard. This makes sense in a channel, but the main body of our lake is many miles long and a couple miles wide. It would mean miles of extra travel if you left a cove and wanted to go to the marina or another cove nearby but were facing the "wrong" direction.
I was not able to find anything in the game & fish regulation book about this other than it says that the general travel direction on lakes should be counter-clockwise. And actually that is what she was doing. I suspect it was just an excuse to stop a PWC and make her take an alcohol test. The cops here are fairly well known for both incompetence and making up laws on the spot in order to stop people.
Any other AZ boaters know the law on this?
The last time I wrote to the Sheriff's department about a law that seemed to be improperly used on our lake, they didn't bother to reply. Anyone have suggestions on other ways to get a clarification on this directly from a responsible agency?
I was not able to find anything in the game & fish regulation book about this other than it says that the general travel direction on lakes should be counter-clockwise. And actually that is what she was doing. I suspect it was just an excuse to stop a PWC and make her take an alcohol test. The cops here are fairly well known for both incompetence and making up laws on the spot in order to stop people.
Any other AZ boaters know the law on this?
The last time I wrote to the Sheriff's department about a law that seemed to be improperly used on our lake, they didn't bother to reply. Anyone have suggestions on other ways to get a clarification on this directly from a responsible agency?
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