The Coast Guard Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance has recently received numerous inquiries concerning operations involving water jet devices, or WJD and recently published a marine safety information bulletin to identify where a passenger for hire operation exists, the licensing requirements and the safety-related procedures specifically for navigable waters over which the Coast Guard has jurisdiction.

For the purposes of the MSIB, the acronym “WJD” includes Jetpaks™, Jetlevs™, Flyboards™, Jetovators ™, HydroliftTM and JetsurfTM, and other similar devices where individuals ride a hydro-powered apparatus above the surface of the water while connected to a personal watercraft or other power source that supplies thrust to the WJD through a hose connecting the two devices.

Please read MSIB 04-15 for full details.

This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official source documents, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These documents remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.