I was just checking up on some regs for live vests. I have a 3 year-old that I always put a live vest on when underway. I've had to incidents in the past, though. One time after my boat was launched and while at the dock, I put my kid in the boat but hadn't gotten the vest on her yet. Some cop on a loudspeaker yells at me for not having a vest on the kid. I put it on - end of story.
A couple of weeks ago we got back to the dock. We had two 3 year-olds with vests on. After tying up, we took the vests off the kids and then one adult got out of the boat with them and stood on the doc for maybe 30 seconds before walking to the parking lot. While standing there, a San Diego lifeguard yells at us for not having vests on the kids while at the dock. I figured that's b.s., but whatever. End of that story. Now as I'm researching something, I find this:
http://www.boat-ed.com/ca/course/p4-7_pfds.htm "California law requires children under the age of 12 to wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved PFD while underway (unless tethered to a sailboat or in an enclosed cabin) in a vessel 26 feet long or less."
So am I wrong or both the cop and lifeguard probably just trying to be cautious but ignorant about the law? I was not underway. And besides - as far as standing at the dock, that dock is connected to a beach. I'm sure people that hang out at that dock have kids that walk up on the dock all the time.
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