30.61 Lighting equipment.

(1) When lights required; prohibited lights.

(a) No person shall operate any motorboat at any time from sunset to sunrise unless such motorboat carries the lighting equipment required by this section and unless such equipment is lighted when and as required by this section.

(b) No owner shall give permission for the operation of a motorboat at any time from sunset to sunrise unless such motorboat is equipped as required by this section.

(c) No person shall exhibit from or on any motorboat when under way at any time from sunset to sunrise any light which may be mistaken for those required by this section.

(2) Lights for motorboats of classes a and 1. All motorboats of classes A and 1 when under way at any time from sunset to sunrise shall carry and have lighted the following lamps:

(a) One lamp aft showing a bright white light all around the horizon.

(b) One combined lamp in the fore part of the motorboat and lower than the white light aft, showing green to starboard and red to port and so fixed that each side of the combined lamp throws a light from directly ahead to 2 points abaft the beam on its respective side.

(3) Lights for motorboats of classes 2 and 3. All motorboats of classes 2 and 3 when under way at any time from sunset to sunrise shall carry and have lighted the following lamps:

(a) One lamp in the fore part of the boat as near the stem as practicable, so constructed as to show an unbroken bright white light over an arc of the horizon of 20 points of the compass and so fixed as to throw the light from directly ahead to 2 points abaft the beam on either side.

(b) One lamp aft showing a bright white light all around the horizon and higher than the white light forward.

(c) On the starboard side, one lamp showing a green light, and on the port side, one lamp showing a red light, both fitted with inboard screens of sufficient height and so set as to prevent these lights from being seen across the bow. Each such side lamp shall be so constructed as to show an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of 10 points of the compass and shall be so fixed as to throw the light from directly ahead to 2 points abaft the beam on its respective side.

(4) Sailboats with motors. Sailboats equipped with motors and being propelled in whole or in part by such motor must comply with sub. (2) or (3), whichever is applicable. Whenever such a sailboat is being propelled entirely by sail at any time from sunset to sunrise, it shall have lighted the lamps showing the colored lights specified in sub. (2) or (3), but not the lamps showing the white lights, and shall carry ready at hand a lantern or flashlight showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to avert collision.

(5) Sailboats without motors and rowboats. Every boat propelled by muscular power and every sailboat not equipped with a motor, when under way at any time from sunset to sunrise, shall carry ready at hand a lantern or flashlight showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to avert collision.

(6) Certain moored, anchored or drifting boats; other structures.

(a) Except as provided under par. (b), any moored, anchored or drifting boat or any other fixed and floating structure outside designated mooring areas or beyond 200 feet from the shoreline is required to be lighted from sunset to sunrise by a white light visible all around the horizon.

(b) This subsection does not require any light to be shone from duck blinds constructed on emergent vegetation.

(7) Performance specifications for lamps. Every white light prescribed by this section shall be of such character as to be visible at a distance of at least 2 miles on a dark night with clear atmosphere. Every colored light prescribed by this section shall be of such character as to be visible at a distance of at least one mile on a dark night with clear atmosphere.

(8) Optional lighting requirements. Any boat may carry and exhibit the lights required by the federal regulations for preventing collisions at sea, 1948, federal act of October 11, 1951, (33 USC 143-147d) as amended, in lieu of the lights required by subs. (2) and (3).

(9) Department to promulgate rules. The department shall promulgate rules modifying or supplementing the lighting requirements of this section as necessary to keep the requirements in conformity with the lighting rules adopted by the U.S. coast guard.

(10) Operation of personal watercraft.

(a) Notwithstanding subs. (1), (2), (8) and (9), no person may operate a personal watercraft at any time from sunset to sunrise.

(b) If a person operates a personal watercraft in violation of par. (a), the operation shall be subject to additional penalties for any failure to comply with the applicable lighting requirements under subs. (1), (2), (8) and (9).

History: 1973 c. 302; 1979 c. 275; 1985 a. 243; 1987 a. 399; 1989 a. 359; 1991 a. 257.