On Nov 30, 7:35�pm, Larry wrote:
Chuck Gould wrote in news:0b23b105-
:
Then there's the old "it's my life, I'll risk it" BS.
Unfortunately,
society doesn't work that way.
It does or we'd bust anyone's ass that was caught with beer or
wine or other booze not sealed away in the trunk.....just like we
do to CARS.
We'd **** on the boat dealers' feet by making them all take a
competency boat DRIVERS LICENSE test BEFORE we allowed them to
drive off in a 55 ton Hatteras with 1500 HP diesels. �Just having
money isn't a competency test, but that's all we got now.
At least SOME of the drivers on the road don't do the really
stupid things boaters do, like driving drunk on booze, for fear
of losing that LICENSE TO DRIVE. �I know lots of boaters who
drink and wouldn't do so if they lost that Boat Driver's License,
or stood a chance of losing it...
Of course, if we really cared, we'd say:
NO PFD....NO BOATING
But, a thousand yachties will come to that aid.
Larry
--
Isn't it ironic that the same ISPs that are telling you
you're downloads threaten their networks......
....are testing 100Gbps TV to sell on the SAME systems?http://tinyurl.com/27qx3v
In my state, as in most others (over 40 states now) you are required
to pass a basic boating knowledge test. The requirement applies to
everybody by age group, and over the next few years the bracket
expands to include everybody born after 1955. We old geezers literally
get "grandfathered" in. :-)
A new boat buyer has 90 days, by law, to complete the education
course. Yes, one could argue "But look at all the damage that guy
could do in 90 days!"
The tests are probably so simple that they are almost meaningless.
You can take one "on-line", and I can't imagine what would prevent you
from simply swtiching back and forth between the test page and some
page with answers on it, or looking everything up in Chapman's as you
go. The downside of that is that Boobus Americanus and his two
brothers may decide, "Well, that's all we will ever have to know about
boating safety. We met all the qualifications. Didn't take two long,
either. What do you say we take the runabout and a couple of cases of
beer out to that island in the middle of the lake?"
The biggest controlling factor discouraging unqualified operators
isn't actually a law at all. It's the free enterprise system. Most
people purchasing a large boat like you use in your example will
either be financing a portion of it (which will require insurance), or
if they have been smart, thrifty, and lucky enough to arrange their
personal finanaces to allow them to pay cash they are likely to have
other and substantial assets that they will want to protect by
insuring the boat.
Can't say about where you live, but around here the insurance
companies get pretty restrictive with first time operators buying a
big boat, or even a case where somebody steps up from a 22-footer to a
48.
The insurance companies typically issue only a temporary, conditional
binder that can be converted to a permanent policy only *after* the
new owner gets professional instruction from a licensed master and (if
he or she has never done so) completes a USCGA or USPS class. The
neophyte who buys that 50-foot yacht will need to have a licensed
captain aboard for his first few cruises, at least if he expects to
have insurance in place.