A rigorous boating safety/practical skills course, followed by an exam,
should be mandatory for anyone who wants to operate a boat.

Indeed - and certainly not one of those quickie one day courses some
organizations give, but the real thing like United States Power
Squadron's 8 week Boating course.

I still don't get it. To drive a car here in New York (and most places)
one must go through a hefty licensing procedure including classroom
training, on road training, a written test and a road test.

Wow! Seriously? Not to be dense, but in PA and WV you just have to
pass the written test (to get your learner's permit) and pass the road
test. Maybe that doesn't happen for some without a class, but I never
took a class and neither of my children took a class before getting
their licenses. Both kids studied the little state driving manual
before taking the written test (which any goof could pass) and I
certainly spent a lot of time with them in the car teaching them how
to drive before they took the road test, but that wasn't required and
certainly no classes were required. Both kids later took driver's ed
at their high school in order to get the insurance deduction from
State Farm, but it seemed silly since they had been driving a year
before taking it.

Dave Hall