Improper Speed or Distance

Maine law designates the following dangerous operating practices as illegal.

Improper Speed or Distance is not keeping a proper speed and distance while operating a watercraft.

• You may not operate at a rate of speed that is not reasonable and prudent for existing conditions.
  • Operators must regulate their speed to avoid endangering, injuring, or unnecessarily inconveniencing another watercraft and its occupants, whether anchored or underway.
  • Operators must also consider the effect of their watercraft’s wake on waterfront piers, floats, other property, or shorelines.
• You may not operate a watercraft at greater than “headway speed” while:
  • Within 200 feet of any shoreline, including islands.
  • Within a marina or an approved anchorage in coastal or inland waters.

Exception: Watercraft may operate at greater than headway speed in the areas stated while actively fishing or while following a direct course to pick up or drop off skiers.