In article , Donny's
Dilemma wrote:

On Tue, 09 Dec 2003 11:51:02 +1100, Peter Wiley
wrote:

And Navvie thinks this is a good idea! Soon you won't be able to sail
without approved instruction and the right pieces of paper.

Peter Wiley

Hmmm think of it this way.
Your car is inspected to make sure it's safe and that you are capable
of driving it

Actually in Tasmania cars aren't inspected annually and I don't think
the accident rate is much/any higher than NSW. Registration/insurance
is also *half* of NSW costs for the same vehicle. All my vehicles are
registered here. Handy having addresses in 2 different states.

Besides you overlook the fact that anyone can drive anything they want
without licence or inspection as long as they do it on private
property. All my kids can drive the tractors, bikes etc up the farm.

this has cut road deaths and trauma.
Your ship is inspected to ensure its safe and that the captain and
crew are competant
this has vastly reduced shipping accidents and losses of life.
Aircraft are inspected and the pilot licenced to fly it
this has ensured that loss of life iskept down.
Powerboat drivers are licenced ..... it's debateable whether thai has
achieved anything....

OK.....I'll back out now....cap in hand....

Question of potential damage capability IMO. Cars on public roads -
shared restricted space and possibility of injury to other
people/property. Big ships & planes ditto. Even a small plane makes a
mess if it falls out of the sky and you're underneath it.

Sailboats - where's the percieved benefit to other people? Seems to me
the object is to license to protect people from *themselves* and
secondarily to reduce the expense of rescues. As I've said, I don't
have a problem with simply not rescuing people who commit acts of gross
negligence/stupidity and the best way of doing that is to not know that
they need rescuing. Some hikers in Tasmania have triggered EPIRB's
simply because they were uncomfortable not because they were in a
life-threatening situation. Instead of licensing people we should
restrict rescue signalling devices or impose heavy penalties for
trivial use.

Peter Wiley