Official California Interactive Boating Safety Course

California Boating Laws and Regulations

As of January 1, 2018, the California Division of Boating and Waterways requires all boaters to carry the California Boater Card while operating a recreational motorized vessel (including powered sailboats and paddlecrafts) on California waterways. The card can be obtained after successfully completing an approved boater education course. The education requirement will be phased in over a span of eight years.

There is no minimum age requirement to take this online course.

Age and Operator Restrictions

California law requires a person to be 16 years of age or older and in possession of his/her California Boater Card to legally operate a vessel powered by a motor of 15 hp or more, including personal watercraft (PWCs).

Exceptions to this law are:

• Persons 12 to 15 years of age may operate a vessel powered by a motor of 15 hp or more, including PWCs, if they are supervised on board by a person at least 18 years of age and in possession of his/her California Boater Card.
• There is no age restriction for operating a sailboat under 30 ft. long (with wind as the main source of propulsion) or a dinghy used between a moored vessel and shore or between two moored vessels.

It is illegal to permit a person under the age of 16 to operate a vessel powered by a motor of 15 hp or more, including PWCs, without onboard supervision by a person 18 years of age or older who is in possession of his/her California Boater Card.

Additional Information

Any person convicted of any moving violation in the Harbors and Navigation Code, the Federal Rules of the Road and regulations adopted by the California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways while operating a vessel must be ordered by the court to complete and pass a boating safety course approved by the California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways. Proof of completion and passage of the course must be submitted to the court within seven months of the time of the conviction. This boating safety course will satisfy court‐ordered mandatory boater education required by California law when a boater is convicted of a moving violation.

Do I Need a California Boater Card or a Boating License?

The California Boater Card is proof that you have successfully completed all of the components of an approved Boating safety course and allows you to go boating. Because the California Boater Card does not expire and does not need to be renewed, it is not called the California Boating License.

California Approved