A boater finished an equivalent boating safety course before July 24, 2005. What does section 79A.60.640(2) allow?Answer: A boater education card on application and payment, without a new course or exam. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(2)
A nonresident carries a current boating card from home in Washington. What must be true of it?Answer: It is equivalent to the rules adopted by the commission. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(3)
A person aged twelve or older rents a twenty horsepower boat in Washington with no card. What must that person complete each time before operating it?Answer: A commission-approved motor vessel safety operating and equipment checklist. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(3)
A visitor who is not a Washington resident runs a twenty horsepower boat there. For how long may the visitor do so without a card?Answer: No more than sixty consecutive days. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(3)
A Washington boater born before which date is not required to carry a boater education card?Answer: January 1, 1955. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(3)
A Washington boater is cited for having no card. What happens to the penalty if the boater shows the court a card within sixty days?Answer: The penalty is waived. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(5)
Show all 90 questions (84 more)
Boater education card, continued
A Washington law enforcement officer asks a covered boater for the boater education card. What does the statute require?Answer: The boater carries the card while operating and presents it on request. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(4)
A Washington operator has no card. Under whose direct supervision may that person still run a boat of fifteen horsepower or more?Answer: A person sixteen or older who has a boater education card in possession. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(1)
A Washington resident has just bought a boat. For how long does a bill of sale in the buyer's possession stand in for the card?Answer: Sixty days from the purchase. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(3)
Before a Washington business rents out a boat of fifteen horsepower or more, what must be reviewed with the renter and anyone else who may operate it?Answer: All the information in the motor vessel safety operating and equipment checklist. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(6)
By which date did Washington's phased program require every boater who is not exempt to obtain a boater education card?Answer: January 1, 2016. Source: RCW 79A.60.630(1)
Educational materials on which wildlife subject must be part of Washington's boating safety education program?Answer: Whale watching guidelines. Source: RCW 79A.60.630(1)
May a boating safety education course be taken online for a Washington boater education card?Answer: Yes; the commission approves and accredits courses offered online. Source: RCW 79A.60.630(2)
Washington's boater education card rule applies to motor-driven boats and vessels of what mechanical power?Answer: Fifteen horsepower or greater. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(1)
What must the commission develop as an alternative to the boating safety education course?Answer: An equivalency examination. Source: RCW 79A.60.630(2)
Which body is the commission that runs Washington's boater education program?Answer: The state parks and recreation commission. Source: RCW 79A.60.010
Which license holder need not carry a boater education card while operating the vessel that license covers?Answer: A person with a valid marine operator license from the United States Coast Guard. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(3)
Which of these is one of the ways section 79A.60.630 lets a boater obtain a boater education card?Answer: Passing an equivalency exam. Source: RCW 79A.60.630(1)
Which training must Washington's boating safety education program include, by statute?Answer: Training on preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species. Source: RCW 79A.60.630(1)
Who issues a certificate of accomplishment in chapter 79A.60?Answer: A boating educator, to a person who has completed an accredited course. Source: RCW 79A.60.010
Who may operate without a card while practicing for a permitted racing event in Washington?Answer: Any person, including those less than twelve years of age. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(3)
Whose courses does section 79A.60.630(2)(d) name among those the commission may accredit?Answer: The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary and the United States Power Squadrons. Source: RCW 79A.60.630(2)
Whose standard must Washington's minimum standard of boating safety education be consistent with?Answer: The National Association of State Boating Law Administrators'. Source: RCW 79A.60.630(2)
Ages and supervision 4
How old must the card-holding supervisor of a Washington operator without a card be?Answer: Sixteen or older. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(1)
Section 79A.60.190(4) sets a floor in years for anyone at the controls of a personal watercraft. What is the floor?Answer: Fourteen. Source: RCW 79A.60.190(4)
To a person under what age may a personal watercraft not be leased, hired or rented in Washington?Answer: Sixteen. Source: RCW 79A.60.190(6)
What is the youngest age at which a person may operate a boat of fifteen horsepower or more in Washington?Answer: Twelve. Source: RCW 79A.60.640(1)
Life jackets 9
A flotation device on a Washington vessel is not in good and serviceable condition. How does section 79A.60.140 treat it?Answer: It is not considered a personal flotation device under the chapter. Source: RCW 79A.60.140(2)
For a child twelve and under, when does Washington count a flotation device as readily accessible?Answer: Only when the child wears it while the vessel is underway. Source: RCW 79A.60.160(4)
How may Washington officers enforce the child flotation device rule?Answer: As a primary action, with no other suspected offense needed. Source: RCW 79A.60.160(5)
On which vessel is a child excused from Washington's wearing rule because of an inspection?Answer: A Coast Guard inspected passenger-carrying vessel on navigable waters of the United States. Source: RCW 79A.60.160(4)
Section 79A.60.160(1) sets how many personal flotation devices a Washington vessel carries. How many?Answer: One for each person on the vessel. Source: RCW 79A.60.160(1)
Section 79A.60.160(4) draws an age line for wearing flotation gear on boats under nineteen feet. Where is the line?Answer: Twelve years old and under. Source: RCW 79A.60.160(4)
Section 79A.60.160(4)(a) names a place aboard where the wearing rule for a 10-year-old does not reach. Which place?Answer: Below deck or in the cabin of a boat with an enclosed cabin. Source: RCW 79A.60.160(4)
Section 79A.60.160(4), on life jackets for children, covers only boats below a set length. What length?Answer: Under nineteen feet. Source: RCW 79A.60.160(4)
What must be true of each personal flotation device carried on a Washington vessel?Answer: It is in serviceable condition, of an appropriate size and readily accessible. Source: RCW 79A.60.160(1)
Negligent and reckless operation 8
A Washington boater commits the same infraction under chapter 79A.60 for the third time in 365 days. What does the third violation become?Answer: A misdemeanor. Source: RCW 79A.60.020
Besides the person at the helm, who else is an operator under Washington's definition?Answer: A person who exercises actual authority to control the person at the helm. Source: RCW 79A.60.010
How does chapter 79A.60 define acting recklessly?Answer: Acting carelessly and heedlessly in a willful and wanton disregard of the rights, safety or property of another. Source: RCW 79A.60.010
What are motor-driven boats and vessels in chapter 79A.60?Answer: All boats and vessels which are self-propelled. Source: RCW 79A.60.010
What does it mean to operate a vessel in a negligent manner in Washington?Answer: Operating in disregard of careful and prudent operation or careful and prudent rates of speed. Source: RCW 79A.60.030
What is darkness in chapter 79A.60?Answer: The period between sunset and sunrise. Source: RCW 79A.60.010
Which of these does section 79A.60.030 name as something a careful and prudent speed takes into account?Answer: The effects of vessel wake. Source: RCW 79A.60.030
Which of these is not a vessel under chapter 79A.60?Answer: An inner tube or air mattress used by swimmers. Source: RCW 79A.60.010
Water skiing and swim platforms 15
A person holds onto the swim platform of a motorboat that is underway in Washington. What does section 79A.60.660 call that?Answer: Teak surfing or platform dragging. Source: RCW 79A.60.660
A person teak surfs behind a motorboat in Washington. What may the operator not do?Answer: Operate the boat or have its engine run idle. Source: RCW 79A.60.660
Can one person fill both required roles in a boat pulling a skier, under section 79A.60.170(3)?Answer: No; the observer and the operator shall not be the same person. Source: RCW 79A.60.170(3)
During which period is water skiing prohibited on Washington waters?Answer: From one hour after sunset until one hour prior to sunrise. Source: RCW 79A.60.170(5)
How large must Washington's skier-down flag be?Answer: At least twelve inches square. Source: RCW 79A.60.170(2)
How long must the pole of Washington's skier-down flag be?Answer: Not less than twenty-four inches. Source: RCW 79A.60.170(2)
Section 79A.60.170(2) sets the least crew for a boat that pulls a skier. What is it?Answer: At least an operator and an observer. Source: RCW 79A.60.170(2)
What color is the skier-down flag in Washington?Answer: Bright red or brilliant orange. Source: RCW 79A.60.170(2)
What counts as water skiing in chapter 79A.60?Answer: Being towed behind a vessel on skis, an aquaplane, a kneeboard, a tube or a similar device. Source: RCW 79A.60.010
What is bodysurfing in section 79A.60.660?Answer: Swimming or floating on the stomach or back in the wake directly behind a boat that is underway. Source: RCW 79A.60.660
What must a person wear to engage in water skiing in Washington?Answer: A personal flotation device. Source: RCW 79A.60.170(4)
What must every remote-operated personal watercraft used for towing have attached in Washington?Answer: A flag that meets the skier-down flag requirements. Source: RCW 79A.60.170(2)
When may a person be on the swim platform of a Washington motorboat whose engine is running?Answer: For a very brief period while helping with docking or departure, or while exiting or entering the vessel. Source: RCW 79A.60.660
When must the observer on a Washington ski boat display the flag?Answer: Right after a towed person falls into the water, and before skiing while the person is still in the water. Source: RCW 79A.60.170(2)
Who is excused from Washington's observer, flag, flotation device and night rules for water skiing?Answer: Persons in tournaments, competitions or exhibitions authorized by the agency having jurisdiction. Source: RCW 79A.60.170(7)
Personal watercraft 7
A Washington business rents out a personal watercraft. What must it provide for the operator to wear?Answer: A personal flotation device and a lanyard attached to an engine cutoff switch. Source: RCW 79A.60.710
The factory fitted an engine cutoff to a personal watercraft. What does section 79A.60.190(2) forbid anyone to do to that fitting?Answer: Remove it or disable it. Source: RCW 79A.60.190(2)
Section 79A.60.010(22) gives a hull length that a personal watercraft must stay under to fit its definition. Which?Answer: Less than sixteen feet. Source: RCW 79A.60.010
Section 79A.60.190(1) says who aboard a personal watercraft wears flotation gear and whose approval the gear needs. Which pairing is right?Answer: Each person aboard; a device approved by the commission. Source: RCW 79A.60.190(1)
Section 79A.60.190(3) closes the water to personal watercraft at one time of day. When?Answer: During darkness. Source: RCW 79A.60.190(3)
To whom do Washington's personal watercraft rules in section 79A.60.190 not apply?Answer: A performer in a professional exhibition, or a participant in an authorized regatta or race. Source: RCW 79A.60.190(7)
Which act does section 79A.60.190(5) list as operating a personal watercraft in a reckless manner?Answer: Recklessly swerving at the last possible moment to avoid collision. Source: RCW 79A.60.190(5)
Accidents and law enforcement 11
A Washington operator stops to help after a collision. Can that help be used as evidence that the operator was liable?Answer: No; under no circumstances may it be evidence of liability. Source: RCW 79A.60.200
Chapter 79A.60 and a federal regulation are inconsistent. Which controls, under section 79A.60.100?Answer: The federal laws and regulations. Source: RCW 79A.60.100
How far does the duty to render assistance go for a vessel operator in a Washington collision?Answer: To the extent it can be done without serious danger to the operator's own vessel or persons aboard. Source: RCW 79A.60.200
How may a Washington law enforcement officer signal a vessel to stop, under section 79A.60.090?Answer: By hand, voice, emergency light or siren. Source: RCW 79A.60.090
May a casualty report made to the commission be used in a trial arising from the accident in Washington?Answer: No, except a certified statement of whether a report was made. Source: RCW 79A.60.210
Section 79A.60.200(2) shields a volunteer who lends a hand after a casualty on the water. What standard must the volunteer's conduct meet?Answer: That of any reasonably prudent person in the same or similar circumstances. Source: RCW 79A.60.200
To whom must a Washington operator give all pertinent accident information after a collision or other casualty?Answer: The law enforcement agency having jurisdiction. Source: RCW 79A.60.200
What does section 79A.60.120 forbid an operator or owner to do with a vessel's lights or signals?Answer: Endanger the vessel or those aboard by masking, altering or removing a light, or showing a false one. Source: RCW 79A.60.120
What may a law enforcement officer do with any vessel to enforce chapter 79A.60?Answer: Stop and board it and direct it to a suitable pier or anchorage. Source: RCW 79A.60.100
What must be true of the officer and vessel that give the stop signal in section 79A.60.090?Answer: The officer is in uniform and the vessel is marked as an official law enforcement vessel. Source: RCW 79A.60.090
Which part of Washington's boating accident reports is made public?Answer: Statistical information. Source: RCW 79A.60.210
Mufflers, loading and rented vessels 13
A borrowed Washington vessel lacks required safety equipment. Who may be cited?Answer: Either the owner or the operator, or both. Source: RCW 79A.60.150
A Washington officer has reason to believe a vessel is too loud. What may the officer direct?Answer: An on-site test of the noise level, with the officer on board if the officer chooses. Source: RCW 79A.60.130
An officer judges that an overloaded Washington vessel creates an especially hazardous condition. What may the officer direct?Answer: That the operator return to shore or a mooring and remain there until the hazard is corrected. Source: RCW 79A.60.180
For engines manufactured on or after January 1, 1994, what is Washington's stationary noise level?Answer: Eighty-eight decibels. Source: RCW 79A.60.130
Renters in Washington plan to water ski. With what must the rental business equip the vessel?Answer: A skier-down flag. Source: RCW 79A.60.710
Section 79A.60.130(3) limits a vessel's noise as measured from the shoreline. What is the figure?Answer: Seventy-five decibels. Source: RCW 79A.60.130
Section 79A.60.130(4) lets some loud boats run without meeting the decibel figures. Which ones?Answer: Those tuning up for or taking part in a sanctioned race under a permit. Source: RCW 79A.60.130
What must a person take into account before loading a Washington vessel with passengers or cargo?Answer: Weather and other existing operating conditions. Source: RCW 79A.60.180
What paper must be kept aboard a registered vessel during a rental in Washington?Answer: A copy of the rental agreement. Source: RCW 79A.60.710
What sound level may the muffler of a Washington vessel's engine made before 1994 not exceed in the stationary test?Answer: Ninety decibels. Source: RCW 79A.60.130
When is overloading or overpowering a Washington vessel not an infraction?Answer: When it is reasonably advisable to effect a rescue or for a similar emergency. Source: RCW 79A.60.180
Which decal must a rented motor-driven vessel that is not a personal watercraft display in Washington?Answer: A carbon monoxide decal. Source: RCW 79A.60.710
Which trip is not carrying passengers for hire under chapter 79A.60?Answer: One where expenses for food, transportation or incidentals are shared on an even basis. Source: RCW 79A.60.010
How this list was compiled: Written only from the Revised Code of Washington, chapter 79A.60, Regulation of Recreational Vessels (sections 79A.60.010, 79A.60.020, 79A.60.030, 79A.60.080, 79A.60.090, 79A.60.100, 79A.60.120, 79A.60.130, 79A.60.140, 79A.60.150, 79A.60.160, 79A.60.170, 79A.60.180, 79A.60.190, 79A.60.200, 79A.60.210, 79A.60.630, 79A.60.640, 79A.60.660 and 79A.60.710), read on the Legislature's site, https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=79A.60, on 2026-10-02. Each question names its section and links to it. That an examination exists is section 79A.60.630: a boater education card follows an accredited boating safety education course that is taken and passed, or an equivalency exam. The chapter gives no number of questions and no pass mark, so none is stored here. The Washington Administrative Code was not read and nothing is asked from it. Licence: Own work. Questions, answer choices and explanations were written for this site from the statute text; nothing is copied from a boater handbook, a boating course, a course provider's study guide or another practice test.
How it works
This unofficial Washington State boaters license study guide practices one thing, the state's own law: chapter 79A.60 of the Revised Code of Washington, cited under each answer. Washington issues a boater education card, not a license. Read October 2026.
Read the full guide
Fifteen horsepower, age twelve, nineteen feet
Section 79A.60.640 asks the operator of a boat of fifteen horsepower or more to be at least twelve and to carry a boater education card, unless born before January 1, 1955, or otherwise exempt. Children twelve and under wear a life jacket underway on vessels under nineteen feet (79A.60.160). Personal watercraft start at fourteen and stop at darkness (79A.60.190).
The course and exam in the statute
Section 79A.60.630 gives the card for passing an accredited course or an equivalency exam, and has the program teach about aquatic invasive species and whale watching. It states no question count or pass mark.
A skier-down flag is at least twelve inches square, on a pole of at least twenty-four inches.
Questions and answers
Who needs a boater education card in Washington?
Anyone operating a motor-driven boat of fifteen horsepower or more, who must also be at least twelve. Section 79A.60.640 exempts people born before January 1, 1955, and buyers within sixty days of purchase, among others.
How many questions are on the Washington boater education card exam, and what is the pass mark?
Chapter 79A.60 gives neither number. It requires an accredited course that is taken and passed, or an equivalency exam. Exam mode on this page is 25 questions long only because this site picked that number; there is no pass line.
How old do you have to be to drive a boat in Washington State?
Twelve, for a boat of fifteen horsepower or more (79A.60.640). A personal watercraft takes an operator of fourteen and cannot be rented to anyone under sixteen (79A.60.190).
Does a visitor need a Washington boater card?
Not for the first sixty consecutive days of operating, and not at all with a current card from home that is equivalent to the commission's rules (79A.60.640).
Is this study guide from Washington State Parks?
No. This page is unofficial and is not a government website, and the State Parks and Recreation Commission has reviewed none of it. Each answer names a section of chapter 79A.60 that you can read on the Legislature's site.