N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 270-D:1 – Definitions

In this chapter:

I. "Boat" means every description of watercraft other than seaplanes, capable of being used or used as a means of transportation on the water and which is primarily used for noncommercial purposes, or leased, rented, loaned or chartered to another for such use.
II. "Commercial vessel" means any vessel carrying passengers for hire as a common carrier of passengers or property.
III. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the department of safety.
IV. "Director" means the director of the division of state police, department of safety.
V. "Division" means the division of state police, department of safety.
VI. "Headway speed" means the slowest speed that a boat can be operated and maintain steerage way.
VI-a. "Inflatable tube" means an inflatable device manufactured and designed for the specific purpose of towing persons behind a motorboat. Such device shall be manufactured with a point of attachment for a tow line in addition to any safety handles, ropes, or lines, for each person being towed.
VII. "Motorboat" means any vessel being propelled by machinery, whether or not such machinery is the principal source of propulsion.
VIII. "No wake area" means an area where a boat is to be operated only at headway speed.
IX. "PFD" means a personal flotation device of a type approved by the United States Coast Guard.
X. "Person" means person as defined in RSA 21:9.
XI. "Vessel" means any type of watercraft used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water, except a seaplane.
XII. "Wake" means any disturbance created on the surface of the water as a result of combined vessel motion and hull displacement.
XII-a. "Wake surfing" means a person using a surfboard, wakeboard, or similar device to ride on or in the wake directly behind a vessel that is underway. Wake surfing shall not include a person who is water skiing.
XIII. "Water skiing" means a person being towed behind a moving motorboat on skis or on aquatic equipment designed for towing an aquaplane or any other device, including bare feet of a person, but excluding a person being towed on an inflatable tube or in another boat or motorboat.

Source. 1990, 171:1. 1995, 273:2, eff. July 1, 1995. 2011, 224:268, eff. July 1, 2011. 2012, 168:2, 3, eff. June 7, 2012. 2019, 96:1, eff. Aug. 20, 2019. 2021, 129:1, eff. Sept. 21, 2021.