Modoc County Municipal Code Ch. 8.12 Boating Regulations

The following definitions apply to this chapter:

A. "Aquaplane" means any aquaplane, plank, surfboard, waterski, or other device used for the transportation, conveyance or carrying of persons, which is towed or pulled by any boat by means of a rope, chain, cable, wire, or other flexible connection.

B. "Boat" means and includes any boat, raft, canoe, rowboat, inboard or outboard motorboat, motor vessel, commercial boat, barge, float, pontoon, sailboat, launch, ship, yacht, or any other device in or upon which persons or property may be transported, conveyed or carried upon or over the surface of any lake or reservoir in the county.

C. "Motorboat" means and includes any boat as defined in subsection B of this section, which is propelled, operated, powered or moved by means of motors, other than electric motors, including internal combustion engines, and including boats temporarily or permanently equipped with detachable motors, the length not to exceed sixty-five feet, unless specifically authorized in connection with the commercial or government operation.

D. "Person" means and includes any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, estate, trust or organization of any kind.

E. "Sheriff" means the sheriff, or his authorized deputy, of the county.

(Ord. 167-A, 2006; Ord. 167 §1, 1959)

It is unlawful for any person to operate a boat with an outboard or inboard motor on Lily Lake, Cave Lake, or Pine Creek Reservoir, at any time.

(Ord. 167 §3, 1959)

It is unlawful and a misdemeanor:

A. To use or operate any boat on any lake or reservoir in the county unless there is actually present in the boat not less than one life preserver, life ring, life jacket, ring buoy, or buoyant cushion of a standard design for each person of the prescribed or intended capacity of the boat; provided, however, that in lieu of such life-saving equipment, the boat may be constructed with sealed air tanks permanently affixed to and made a part of the boat, providing the buoyancy is sufficient to keep the boat afloat if overturned or swamped when loaded to capacity;

B. To operate or use any boat, unless the boat shall be equipped with a portable fire extinguisher of a foam, carbon-tetrachloride or carbon-dioxide type, approved by the Board of National Fire Underwriters, which shall be fixed and attached to the motorboat by brackets, hangers or clips in an easily accessible place in the boat; provided, however, that no such fire extinguisher shall be required for a motorboat, the motor of which is portable and detachable from the boat, commonly known as an "outboard motor";

C. For any person to propel, use, drive, or to operate any boat other than a motorboat on any lake or reservoir in the county between the hours of one-half hour after sunset and one-half hour before sunrise of the following day, unless the boat shall at all times during such hours be equipped with, carry and exhibit a bright white light aft to show all around the horizon for at least a distance of two miles, together with a combined lantern or light in the fore part showing green to starboard and red to port, so fixed as to throw a light from ahead to two points abaft the beam of their respective sides;

D. To operate or use a motorboat on any lake or reservoir in the county unless the motor furnishing the motor power to such motorboat is equipped with and muffled by a muffler or other silencing device that deadens the noise of escaping gases and vapors from such motor, excepting from this subsection motors with underwater exhausts which are not equipped with a cutout, and racing boats participating in authorized races in designated areas;

E. For any person to use, operate, drive or propel any motorboat upon any lake or reservoir in the county at a speed in excess of ten miles per hour between the hours of one-half hour after sunset and one-half hour before sunrise of the following day;

F. For any person to operate or use any boat at a speed in excess of five miles per hour in any of the following areas:

1. Within three hundred feet of any boat-landing area,

2. Within three hundred feet of any person who is bathing or swimming,

3. Within three hundred feet of the boundaries or limits of any fish spawning area marked or designated as such by the State Fish and Game Commission or by the United States Forest Service,

4. Within three hundred feet of any swimming float, diving platform, or lifeline, or within three hundred feet of any way or landing wharf to which boats are made fast and which is used for the embarkation or discharge of passengers,

5. Within three hundred feet of any buoy or boom;

G. To take, use or operate any boat without the consent of the owner or person in charge thereof, or to be an accessory to the taking, use or operation of any boat without the consent of the owner or person in charge thereof. The consent of the owner or person in charge of a boat to its taking, use or operation shall not be presumed or implied because of such consent on a previous occasion to the taking, use or operation of the boat by the same or different person;

H. For any person to use a siren on any boat used, operated, driven or propelled, except, however, a police boat or a boat used by an authorized officer in the performance of his duty may use a siren;

I. To shoot any type of firearm from a boat; except shooting of firearms shall be allowed on all waters of the county for the shooting of migratory waterfowl during the migratory waterfowl open season of each year;

J. To dump human waste, motor oil, garbage, trash or other debris from a boat into the waters of any lake or reservoir in the county;

K. To operate or permit to be operated any boat towing or pulling an aquaplane unless there is, in addition to the person steering or operating the motorboat, not less than one additional person, who shall attend to and observe the aquaplane being towed or pulled;

L. To tow or pull any aquaplane during the period between one-half hour after sunset and one-half hour before sunrise of the following day.

(Ord. 177 §1, 1962; Ord. 167 §2(A), 1959)

Every person who uses or operates a boat upon any lake or reservoir in the county under the influence of intoxicating liquor or narcotic drugs is guilty of a misdemeanor.

(Ord. 167 §2(B)(2), 1959)

Any person who uses, operates or drives any boat upon any lake or reservoir in the county in wilful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless operation, which is declared to be a misdemeanor.

(Ord. 167 §2 (B)(1), 1959)

Any person violating any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, which is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not to exceed six months, or by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or both fine and imprisonment.

(Ord. 167 §4, 1959)