Which boats attract what infringement notices?

The most common reason for copping a fine on the water relates to safety breaches, such as having out-of-date flares or a torch with flat batteries.

The fines handed out for distance and speed infringements such as passing too close to another vessel, going too close to swimmers and being too heavy on the throttle lever in speed-restricted zones comes a close second.

Key points:

However, certain types of vessels tend to attract very different classes of infringements, which is in itself a handy guide for how to avoid them.

We’re going to look at the data provided for Victoria over a three-month period earlier this year to see which types of vessels are prone to falling foul of what parts of the laws that govern how we use them on the water.

It is based on accumulated Maritime Safety Victoria data over a three-month period that breaks down infringements by the type of boat, and the section of marine law to which the infringement relates.

Of note, four out of every five infringements over the survey period related to dinghies, open boats and runabouts.

Half of all the infringement notices given to jet ski riders in the three-month period we’re looking at were handed out for speed and distance breaches.

In terms of speed, Victoria and NSW both have rules in place for certain areas that require the rider to travel slowly in a straight line a certain distance offshore before they can crank up the throttle.

Judging how far you are offshore can be tricky, but luckily we’ve already prepared this handy guide on how to judge your distance from the shore.

Jet skis also tend to congregate around swimmers, so keeping alert as to where people are in the water will help you avoid a hip pocket hit.

Be aware that you also need to keep a minimum distance between jet skis. Come closer than 50 metres, and by law, you need to slow down to 5.0 knots. Ensure you leave a decent separation between jet skis if you’re travelling in a convoy.

Jet skis had the highest incidence of unlicenced skippers detected and also tended to venture into prohibited areas more than any other class of vessel.

Not having the right safety gear on board was also one of the more common reasons for copping a fine.

We’ve also heard of jet skiers copping fines even when sitting on a jet ski while it is stopped in the water.

Previous surveys also have shown jet ski owners can be a rather forgetful bunch when it comes to ensuring their registration is paid up before hitting the water.

If you’re going to get pinged for anything on a dinghy or a runabout, there’s a very strong chance it’s going to be for a breach of the safety requirements.

This can relate to anything from having a set of expired flares on board, to flat batteries in a torch, a split bailing bucket, missing paddle, rusty fire extinguisher and more.

Given this, safety equipment is something that should be audited in the driveway at home before each trip out.

It pays to have a checklist that you can run through each time and mark off that all the required safety gear is on board, correct for the body of water you’re visiting and in serviceable condition.

Other infringements were pretty evenly divided between two other areas, speed and distance – so passing too close to other boats or people in the water or coming in too hot to the jetty – and a new one, personal flotation devices.

In Victoria, wearing a lifejacket is compulsory up to a certain length of boat and for children up to 10 years of age. If you’re sprung not wearing one, it’s a hefty fine.

Anyone being towed behind a boat must also wear a life jacket, so if you’re hooking up an old tractor tyre tube to the back of the tinnie make sure the rider is also equipped with a PFD.

Fines could also relate to not having the right number of lifejackets on board for the number of people on the boat.

Previous surveys indicate boat registration is often overlooked by skippers.

Almost all the fines handed out to half-cabin boat skippers related to not having the right safety gear on board.

Once again, it comes down to a proper checklist of everything safety-related before you head out of the driveway.

Half-cabins tend to be larger boats, so tend to be able to go places that are inaccessible to smaller boats. It's important to remember that if you plan on venturing more than 2.0 nautical miles from the shoreline, you need to carry extra safety gear including parachute flares and an EPIRB.

The other source of a number of fines for half-cabin boats was over lifejacket use.

On boats large enough to not have to wear lifejackets at all times, it’s important to ensure that you have enough lifejackets for everyone on board so that if the boat should sink or swamp, everyone can put one on. Have too few and a safety audit uncovers a shortfall, and you're in trouble.

The lifejackets have to be serviceable and suited to the person that will need to wear them, so there is no thinking that a child's lifejacket will be adequate for an adult under the letter of the law.

It’s also important that skippers are aware that everyone on board should wear a lifejacket at times of heightened risk.

The definition of heightened risk is a bit vague but think about it as any situation outside the usual clear day with miles of line of sight.

Some places, such as The Rip at the entrance of Port Phillip Bay, have a lifejacket mandate such that you need to wear a PDF even if the weather is perfect and the water glassy.

But in most cases, lifejackets should come out if the running lights have to go on, if there’s fog or heavy rain, if the boat has an unexpected leak, if the engine stops … anything out of the ordinary is a trigger.

There are also a few fines handed out for unlicenced skippers, so ensure the person behind the wheel has the right ticket to be there.

Just like every other category of boats we’ve looked at so far, motor yachts have their fair share of safety equipment fails when an on-water audit is conducted.

But here we also see a significant number of skippers falling to a new class of infringement – expired registrations.

Roughly half the motor cruisers copping a fine during the survey period were pulled up for rego irregularities, hinting that having a boat out of sight on a mooring also potentially means having registration papers out of mind in a drawer at home.

The bigger boats also tend to get pinged for speed and distance infringements. Adhering to speed limits and no-wake zones is more important for bigger boats throwing up much bigger wakes than smaller vessels.

Another potential means of falling foul of the law is opening up the throttles too early when leaving the marina.

Maritime Safety Victoria has a handy online explainer that spells out exactly what type of safety gear needs to be carried on what boat, and in which location.

The best idea is to look at this list and see what applies to your boat. Use it to draw up a checklist you can laminate and then go through before each time you head out on the water.

In terms of speed, electronic aids such as the Navionics boating app also show the speed limits that apply to the particular body of water that you’re in. They can also indicate no-go zones for particular types of vessels.

Transport Safety Victoria also has an interactive online map that allows skippers to check waterways and see where speed and other restrictions apply throughout the state.

What about lifejackets? Get in the habit of wearing one all the time. Modern inflatable lifejackets are comfy, slimline, easy to self-service and if it's always worn, how can you get in trouble for not having one?