Ok..

In article .com,
wrote:
You're really a pill. I tried to give you a compliment and as typical
for an idiot, you took it for an insult. You said "we non-stupid ones
have campaigned...." I suppose you aren't included in that
group. Silly me.

I have to admit you lost me there. I re-read your previous post and
mine, and can't find where you
tried to give me a compliment ("that's really nice to know"?), OR why

Ok... well, I was *trying*, but not hard enough. See my post to
Scotty.

(I dunno, if you want to talk about my IQ, SAT"s, Mensa membership, my
twenty-year career as a software developer/architect
or anything else to back up my being non-stupid, that's a separate
discussion, hopefully
you'll just take my word for it and we can keep talking about boating
issues.)

I will as long as you don't tell me your a member of Mensa. :-)

I don't think it's necessarily the best
place to start. All boaters should have to take some sort of safety
class, but the licensing part of it I'm not sure adds that much to it.

Here's where I can help you, or clarify what I was talking about
before. The heart of NY state's pwc "licensing" requirement is that
you have to take an eight-hour basic boating safety course (it's
not a license per se that you get, but a boating safety certificate
that shows you passed the test at the end of the course -
demonstrating that you have been exposed to, and demonstrated at
least a minimal retention and understanding of,
the basics of boating safety). So I think we're actually in agreement
here, right? You agree

I agree with the boating safety part. So, I guess, yes.

with me (and the pwc industry and community at large, for what it's
worth), precisely that,
as you say, "All boaters should have to take some safety class," that
is exactly my position.

Kewl.

As far as the "licensing part" and what it "adds to it," I think I'm
just looking to make someone
take a test to demonstrate that they actually did take the class, and
absorb the material satisfactorily.
If we're going to mandate that all boaters take a safety class (and I"m
really pleased to hear that you agree with
me that we should), I think you'd agree that we need some way of
verifying that they have, and paid some
attention to the information.

I think the latter part is a tough road to travel. People take driving
tests and pass, but they're still terrible drivers and don't
necessarily remember the rules for longer than it takes to get from
the exam to their car. I think that the best one can do is to have
people take the class. After they take and pass the class (which would
be a pretty low standard, unfortunately), that's probably all you can
do.

I'd be happy to hear a suggestion about how to actually confirm that
they got it or that they continue to get it. Are you suggesting that
they have to do this on some regular basis? Not being too serious, I'd
like to see a driving test before you can operate a boat.

I'm glad we've slogged through the rougher parts of this chat, I think
we've found a lot of common ground
and I appreciate your softened, eminently reasonable and flameless tone
in the post below as well.

Well, I screwed up. Don't hold it against me.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com