On Saturday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone signed into law legislation that requires boats used for instructing minors to be equipped with propeller guards.
The law is known as “Ryan’s Law” and is named after Ryan Weiss, who at age 12 died last year during a boating accident in a sailing class.
Weiss was participating in a controlled capsizing lesson at the Centerport Yacht Club on July 28, 2017. After being taken from the water in a Zodiac inflatable, Weiss fell overboard when the boat accelerated and the propeller fatally struck him, according to an article on the Newsday newspaper website.
The Suffolk County Legislature approved Ryan’s Law in June and states that any vessel on Suffolk County waterways used to teach people under age 18 about marine navigation and safety in a formal setting such as an instructional course must be equipped with a propeller guard.
