eFoil regulations & spots in Barbados

Barbados has no eFoil-specific rule. Motorised watersports are regulated as "speedboat" activity - a category that expressly includes jet-skiing - under the Shipping (Watersports) Regulations 2004, administered by the Maritime Affairs section of the ministry responsible for international transport with the Barbados Coast Guard; the regulations succeeded the Barbados Port Authority (Water-Sports) Regulations 1990 (Cap. 285B), whose text sets out the same framework. An eFoil is treated in practice as a small speedboat or personal watercraft.

Every speedboat or jet ski must be registered (BBD $100 private, $200 commercial) and insured against third-party risks; the 1990 text fixes the minimum cover at $250,000. Drivers need a speedboat driver's licence (three-month learner permit, written and practical tests at Coast Guard headquarters, $40 fee), and nobody under 16 may drive. The 1990 regulations allow a person to hire and drive a speedboat of 3 m or less without a licence after instruction by a licensed driver - the basis on which tourists ride rental jet skis. Life jackets must be worn by everyone on a jet ski (fine $500 or three months), craft of 3 m or under need a kill switch, and commercial operators need a Permit to Ply for Hire ($100), restricted to Barbadian citizens, residents and companies. Only locally registered craft may be used; a yacht's PWC can be registered locally if arranged in advance.

Speed is capped at 5 knots within 75 m of the shore, and craft must run 200 m seaward before starting any activity. Buoyed bathing areas (orange buoys within 60 m of shore) are closed to all craft, and no speedboat may enter the Carlisle Bay stretch between the Hilton pier and the Willoughby Fort pier except at 5 knots to anchor or refuel. Boats must keep 50 m from dive flags, watersports for hire may only take place in areas prescribed by order, and craft under 3 m may not operate between sunset and sunrise. Rental operators repeat these as "stay 200 m offshore" and "enter and exit the start point at no more than 5 mph".

Contraventions of the bathing-area and nuisance rules carry a general penalty of $500 or three months' imprisonment; reckless driving and failing to report an accident are separate offences. The rules are national, but the west and south coasts, where the resort swim areas are concentrated, see the most enforcement. Visitors cannot legally ride an unregistered foreign board, so ride with a licensed operator or contact Maritime Affairs about registering and insuring a private eFoil before shipping one in.