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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>60710</law_id><section_number>29.1-700</section_number><catch_line>Definitions</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>2.2-4002</reference><reference>29.1-205</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="29.1">Wildlife, Inland Fisheries and Boating</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="7">Boating Laws</unit><unit label="article" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="1">Boat Registration and Identification</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly requires a different meaning:
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Motorboat</span>&#x201D; means any <span class="dictionary">vessel</span> propelled by machinery whether or not the machinery is the principal source of propulsion.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">No wake</span>&#x201D; means operation of a <span class="dictionary">motorboat</span> at the slowest possible speed required to maintain steerage and headway.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Operate</span>&#x201D; means to navigate or otherwise control the movement of a <span class="dictionary">motorboat</span> or a <span class="dictionary">vessel</span>.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Owner</span>&#x201D; means a person, other than a <span class="dictionary">lien</span> holder, having the property in or title to a <span class="dictionary">motorboat</span>. The term includes a person entitled to the use or <span class="dictionary">possession</span> of a <span class="dictionary">motorboat</span> subject to an interest in another person, reserved or created by agreement and securing payment of performance of an obligation, but the term excludes a lessee under a lease not intended as security.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Personal watercraft</span>&#x201D; means a <span class="dictionary">motorboat</span> less than sixteen feet in length which uses an inboard motor powering a jet pump, as its primary motive power and which is designed to be operated by a person sitting, standing, or kneeling on, rather than in the conventional manner of sitting or standing inside, the <span class="dictionary">vessel</span>.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Vessel</span>&#x201D; means every description of watercraft, other than a seaplane on the water, used or capable of being used as a means of <span class="dictionary">transportation</span> on water.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Waters of the Commonwealth</span>&#x201D; means any public waters within the territorial limits of the Commonwealth, the adjacent marginal sea and the high seas when navigated as a part of a journey or ride to or from the Virginia shore.</p></section></text><history>Code 1960, c. 500, &#xA7; 62-174.2; 1962, c. 626; 1968, c. 659, &#xA7; 62.1-167; 1972, c. 412; 1987, c. 488; 1998, cc. 84, 443, 512, 514, 515, 533, 537, 563.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
