Well Played! Making a living on the water can suck the big wazoo sometimes
and the time from home can be tough and you never look at navigation the
same way you once did when sailing or boating was just a passion. I started
out working a bait boat out of Miami and then went Coast Guard and now run
commercial dive boats in the GOM. I have a 34 foot sloop and it takes me a
few days on a trip to get used to the impulsive, short-sighted lack of
rudimental knowledge and rambunctious way the private boating community
makes their way. I got in on this in the middle of the conversation, but I
would like to see anybody who owns a boat have to sit for the uninspected
operator's ticket (US) it has an inferred sailing endorsement --- maybe then
all this who is the true Captain would go away -- and I believe a lot of the
really dumb Captains would go away too! PeAcE.



"Sail4Mail" wrote in message
...
Kneel,

I really don't remember what my scores where, it wasn't very important to
me. I do remember I did rather well, was out of the exam room in short
order,
and had no problems. I'm sure you got a higher score than I, perhaps
higher
than many others. So what? It proves only that you had more idle time to
spend memorizing the Q&A's. It says nothing about your practical
knowledge
or real abilities. In fact getting a license is so easy that even that
other
fool Boobie could get one! Why I think it would be an ideal challenge to
Boobie to show this newsgroup that even he can get a Master's license!
Now
Boobie, with that challenge, if you have any guts: Go out and get your
license
too! BOOBIE, GO FOR IT !!

No, getting the license is not the objective. For people to have enough
trust
to hire you so that you can use your ticket, that is the real objective.
This
shows you have more than just the ability to read and memorize rules and
books,
but the capacity to use what you have read, and then start to learn
something.
Of course even more important, you have the know how to drive boats, all
different kinds of boats, in all different kinds of situations. It is not
book
knowledge that makes you a "Master," rather it is SKILL !

PS: A "YACHTIE" is an amateur. Someone who mostly plays with boats,
rather
than a professional who gained their expertise by making a living on the
water.

CRW