How old do you have to be to drive a boat in florida?

Question

How old do you have to be to drive a boat in florida?

Answer 1

There is no minimum are requirement for "boats" - However, there is a minimum age of 14 for (PWC's) Personal Water Craft, (jetski).  And... for everyone under 21, for all motorized vessels - Florida does have a mandatory boater safety course... The law is as follows:

Anyone 21 years of age or younger, is required to either have successfully completed a National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) approved boating education course or have passed a course equivalency or temporary certificate examination and have in their possession a boating education ID card and a photo identification card before operating a vessel with a motor of 10 HP or more in Florida.  Identification cards for persons completing the course or the equivalency exam are good for a life time. Temporary Certificate exams are made available to the public through contractors. The temporary certificate is valid for a period of 12 months from the issue date.

The law does provide for some exemptions to the boating education requirements. The following are exempted from the requirements of boater education:

  

Persons operating on a private lake or pond.

Persons accompanied in a vessel by a person exempt.

A person must be at least 14 years of age to operate a personal watercraft (PWC) in this state.

A person must be at least 18 years of age to rent a personal watercraft in this state.

It is unlawful for a person to knowingly allow a person under 14 years of age to operate a personal watercraft (a second-degree misdemeanor).

You can review Florida's Boating requirements at the link below:

http://myfwc.com/boating/safety/educatio...

Happy & Safe Boating!