Mission Bay Has New Rules for Boaters

In an effort to improve boating safety on Mission Bay, the San Diego Lifeguard Service is implementing several new regulations today concerning the use of personal watercraft.

The regulations affect the two areas to the north and south of the entrance to Fiesta Island.

Lifeguards will enforce a counterclockwise pattern for all personal watercraft, such as jet skis and wave-runners, used in the southern area of the waterway during busy periods, and those using the northern area of the bay on weekends.

In addition, a permit will be required to use the northern area on weekdays. The permits will authorize qualified persons to set up temporary buoyed courses with patterns they design. The buoyed courses will not be permitted in the southern area at any time, according to Larry Hart, president of the San Diego Personal Watercraft Assn.

Those who do not follow the regulations, which were written in accordance with the San Diego Municipal Code, will be cited.

“Despite their unique design, personal watercraft are motorboats, and their operators have all of the related legal rights and responsibilities of any motorboat operator,” said Capt. B. Chris Brewster of the Lifeguard Service. “We expect that these new regulations will have the twofold benefit of simultaneously increasing the safety and capacity of Mission Bay.”

Personal watercraft users will not be limited to the southeast corner of Mission Bay, which will be off-limits to motorboats, but are encouraged to use that area.

Motorboats pose a hazard to personal watercraft users, said Lt. Ken Hewitt, who is in charge of boating safety with the Lifeguard Service.

“This is just another option where personal watercraft users can be in an area and use their craft without the hazard of propellers,” Hewitt said.

This is the first time a directional pattern has been enforced in the southern and northern areas. The new regulations were devised with input from the San Diego Personal Watercraft Assn. and an ad-hoc citizen committee on Mission Bay Water safety.