A teen girl dies on personal watercraft in Lauderdale. What does Florida law say?

Miami Herald

16 hours ago

The teenage girl who crashed the personal watercraft she was operating into a concrete dock in Fort Lauderdale's Intracoastal Waterway on Tuesday — which killed her younger sister — was legally permitted to operate it under Florida law.
To operate a personal watercraft, a person must be at least 14 years old, but 18 years old to rent the vessel, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the state law-enforcement agency investigating the crash. It is a second-degree misdemeanor to knowingly allow a person under 14 to operate a personal watercraft. Completing an education course is also required.
Aviva Bracha Nisanov, who was steering the watercraft, was 16. Her younger sister, 13-year-old Rachel Aliza Nisanov, was riding in tandem behind her and killed in the accident. The girls were on a family vacation to celebrate Rachel's eighth-grade graduation. The family was staying at the Marriott in Fort Lauderdale and decided to take a guided personal watercraft tour.
The parents of the girls are Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov and Rebbitzin Ora Nisanov, who are prominent in Queens, New York's Bukharian Jewish community.
READ MORE: New York rabbi tries to save daughters in Lauderdale watercraft crash. One dies
Aviva was particularly excited to ride the watercraft (known as Jet Skis) and had taken a course prior, said her older brother Yonah Nisanov, 30. As the operator of the watercraft, Aviva would have had to have a boating education ID card and a photo identification card with her.
Esteban Granados, the owner of Prime Watersports based in Fort Lauderdale, told Local 10 that his company had rented out the watercraft to the family on Tuesday.
He added that the girls had completed an online boater safety course hosted on his company's website. The website links back to a Florida Boating Temporary Certificate—valid for up to 90 days with a $9.99 price tag.
'It was their first time,' Granados told the station. 'That's why I was stressing all the safety instructions to them.'
Granados declined comment to the Herald when reached on Thursday.
The online exam consists of 25 questions and 19 or more of the 25 questions must be answered correctly to pass the exam, according to the FWC. The study guides and courses can consist of short videos and infographics—though some experts say that this is not enough training.
'Absolutely positively—those videos—any video is not enough,' said Jack Hickey, a veteran Miami maritime trial attorney. 'It is good to watch those videos. It's informational, but in order to train somebody you have to go through certain things right first.'
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the FWC said three personal watercraft were operating in the Intracoastal Waterway on Tuesday afternoon in Fort Lauderdale 'as part of a guided tour. ' One of the watercraft, occupied by the two sisters, 'jumped the wake of a passing vessel, lost control, and collided with a concrete dock.'
READ MORE: Sisters in Fort Lauderdale personal watercraft crash were on a guided tour: FWC
Hickey gave three reasons as to why personal watercraft can be 'very dangerous.'
They're really fast.
'Their acceleration is like an electric car,' Hickey said.
The speed of a watercraft depends on the model and its engines, with entry-level craft reaching 40 to 50 mph and mid-range models averaging from 50 to 70 mph, according to Riva Motorsports Miami, a personal watercraft dealer. High-performance models can reach up to 80 mph.
They don't have brakes.
' People don't understand that and they have to be trained,' Hickey said. 'You have to be trained repeatedly.'
They won't turn without throttle.
This is counterintuitive, said Hickey. If you're heading toward something, your natural instinct is to let off the gas and turn — but with personal watercraft, that doesn't work, he said.
They have no rudder; steering depends entirely on jet propulsion, Hickey explained. If you cut the throttle, you lose steering. To turn away from an obstacle, you must keep some power on.
'The rental company is legally obligated to train the operator,' Hickey said. 'It takes five minutes to train somebody on how to start it and how to go, but it takes an hour or more to train them on how to slow down, how to stop…'
'Absolutely, the tour rental company—under Florida law—if they did not properly train and instruct .... they absolutely can be held liable,' Hickey said.
According to Broward County court records, neither Prime Watersports, nor its owner, Esteban Grenados has been sued. The Florida Division of Corporations shows Prime Watersports began operations in October 2023.
The business did file a petition for limitation for liability in federal court related to a Sept. 11, 2024, crash involving one of its rental pontoon boats, which hit another vessel near New River in Fort Lauderdale, records show.
In that case, which was filed in May and is pending, Prime Watersports' attorneys are seeking to limit the monetary damages from the crash to $10,400, which they say was the value of the pontoon boat at the time of the crash.
Such petitions are common in maritime law after boat accidents.
Each person operating, riding, or being towed behind a personal watercraft must wear an approved 'non-inflatable wearable personal flotation device,' according to the FWC.
These are inherently buoyant vests—most typically filled with foam—that provide flotation as soon as they're worn. No inflation is required. Inflatable ones are prohibited for personal watercraft use.
Normally, the person operating a watercraft is given a chord attached to the engine cutoff switch, which the operator must attach to their clothing or their vest, according to the FWC.
Yonah Nisanov, standing outside of Broward Medical Center Wednesday where Aviva remained in critical condition in the ICU, said that his father was riding on a seperate vessel with the girls' mother. He jumped into the water to try and rescue his daughters.
Yonah described how the girls were floating unconscious in the water, their life jackets keeping them afloat, as their father—who does not know how to swim—scraped up his hands, feet and back trying to save them.
'Maneuvering a personal watercraft by weaving through congested vessel traffic, jumping the wake of another vessel unreasonably close or when visibility around the vessel is obstructed, or swerving at the last possible moment to avoid collision is classified as reckless operation of a vessel,' according to the FWC. It is a first-degree misdemeanor to do so.
Personal watercraft cannot be operated from a half hour after sunset to a half hour before sunrise, even with navigation lights.
'This is yet another tragedy on the water due to your lack of instruction and training,' Hickey said.