gmar wrote:

Hello all,

I was hoping that soneone could answer a question for me. In the near
future I will be in the market for a boat that I can take out onto the
ocean. my plan is to travel from NY to FL along the eastren us. I do
not have any experience driving a boat.

Uh, before you attempt that sort of voyage, you probably ought to get a
few years of experience in boat handling in your local waters, and not
out of sight of land, at least not the first year.

You also ought to take a USCG boating safety course and some more
advanced courses, too. For anything other than the initial course, I'd
look to the commercial schools.


That being said, I am looking for information on any license that may
be needed. I have been told that a open water pilot license is
required. Is this true ? If so how do I go about getting one. If
not is there someplace that offers training ?

No captain's license is necessary to drive your own pleasure boat down
the eastern seaboard, unless you are carrying passengers for hire. Some
states are now requiring you take and pass a simple boating course and
test, but that's not the same thing.


I would like to have a good idea of what I am doing before I make any
purchase.


You're not really going to learn how to pilot a boat safely in the ocean
if you don't have a boat to pilot. You can learn some in classes, but
without some years on the open ocean, you cannot learn to read it.


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