These rules all have exceptions. Channels, dredging, commercial fishing, etc. EVERY boater has the responsibility to boat accordingly to avoid a collision.
*note see USNavy in the news

it's actually simpler than stated above.

if you see the green light on a boat's Starboard side, you have the green light to stand on.

If you see the red light on a boat's Port side, you are the give way vessel and must "stop" or rather yield.

***Same rules apply during daylight hours. Just remember your Port/SB and which color light is on each side.
Green: Go.
Red: Stop

This is exactly how I was told to boat and how we do it in this area.

Wow, FB is an outlet for idiots, cannot believe some of the ignorant comments on there.

Jet Skies don't have lights - and it's kinda hard to pick out what color a bow light is during the day at speed. Much simpler to to say that everything on my right has the right of way.

Glad everyone is ok and good heads up on the captain's part making the turn and not running over someone.

I may be alone on this given the nature of this forum as the performance forum....but I think that the captain of the high speed boat is accountable and should take extra precautions above the written rules and laws to ensure the safety of everyone else out there enjoying themselves on the lake. I just picture my kids out there having a normal day on a ski and some guys fires up one of his brain cells and decides he's gonna go run across a lake in the middle of the day at 180 and endanger everyone's lives out there....for the sake of a test for a sanctioned event. It doesn't matter what direction the opposing boat is coming from, a boat at those speeds does not have the ability to make a safe and legal maneuver to adhere to the right of way rules regardless of where the opposing craft is coming from. Most people out there don't even know that boats can go that fast, let alone what is looks like when one approaches them at that speed.

I think lakes that have frequent high speed runs like this should setup a lake association that holds designated test times. First light to 10am before the crowds get out there. Block off a section of the lake just like the events and have it known that this is idle zone on this day at this time. If this isn't done, you are going to start seeing speed limits on lakes with all these accidents....guaranteed.

I agree the jet skis are a tough deal. A lot of them are rentals. The problem is nearly as bad with boaters. Go sit on a boat ramp for an afternoon and watch how f'n stupid 80% of the people are. Its full of entertainment. As a high speed boater you have to recognize that we share the water with these people....and hell half of them are drunk.

I know about the "rights" of jet skis, we discuss them all the time. Around here it's like a game of chicken to see who will yield first, and I am not talking about right of way in the maritime sense when the vessel on the right is the stand on vessel. I always obey and use this rule without a second thought. However most jet skiers are young and don't care about boating rules, etiquette or even good boating sense. They just want to go fast and jump wakes so I get used to these collision course antics all the time as they hope to get my wake just behind the boat. In this case was it a "collision course" to try to get the wake just behind the Skater that he miscalculated causing the Skater to wreck? It should be illegal for jet skis to chase boat wakes in this fashion which at the very least puts the go fast owner (with a larger more expensive boat and usually a lot more to lose) on high alert to avoid these thrill seeking scumbags trying to jump wakes at our expense.

So you insult him with lack of brain cells comment and estimate his speed at 180? You sound like one of the idiots on FB. Pretty sure this guy isnt your average weekend warrior.

Nobody died, a couple very recoverable injuries, pretty minor in the big picture. We will see what the investigation brings, but does not look like any major charges could come of it anyway.

I knew it would be a popular post. I wasn't calling him stupid, I was questioning the logic in general of deciding to make high speed runs in a non-sanctioned area with innocent bystanders around. That boat is in no position to make a legal maneuver.

I wonder if when they are picking up bodies out of the water from all these crashes we are seeing all the time if the rescue workers find their "I'm not a weekend warrior" membership card in their wallet and everyone involved is like....oh ****....its ok guys...no need to be concerned. This guy is special....no weekend warrior here. It was definitely no fault of his! LOL!!

amen to that . . . . pretty much why i never post there its like dealing with high school kids lol

I'm glad that everyone is going to be ok, and the driver made the right call to do whatever was necessary to save the life (lives) of the jetskier(s) - even at the risk of endangering himself and his passengers. We could all be reading a very different storyline had he not done what he did. I wish guys would quit discussing these accidents as if they know the facts of what happened. Though both sides of the arguments that have arisen have valid points, without being there, how does anyone know who was right and who was wrong? All we do know is that a large boat at a high rate of speed avoided an accident with a jet ski, with no fatalities and just a few minor injuries. Let's all just be thankful for that!