T&T: COLREGS, licensing, education, etc.

[AllenAmes]

I THOUGHT that I'd open up a can of worms when I re-introduced the subject
of mandatory boating education after "lurking" here for a couple of years.
Here are MY last words on the subject, for what they're worth.

With all due respect, saying that cars have accidents and that leads to the
logical conclusion that mandatory education and certification/licensing is
worthless is patently ridiculous!

People murder each other fairly regularly.  Should we eliminate all laws
against all crimes because crimes still happen, or are we intelligent enough
to realize that laws may have a significant impact on various forms of human
behavior!

When they put stop signs, traffic lights, and white lines down the middle of
the channel on the water, I will BEGIN to agree with those who think boats
and cars are the same. (Isn't it people with this belief who cause most
boating accidents?) It would also be nice to figure out how to put brakes on
boats so that we might be able to avoid hitting the stupid SOB who either
doesn't know or doesn't care about the basic rules-of-the-road. Until then,
OF COURSE they are different!  To say nothing of the fact that TOTAL chaos
would exist on the roadways if we didn't have a basic understanding of which
side of the road we would travel on, who has the right-of-way at an
intersection, etc..

Why are seemingly intelligent people afraid of mandatory boater EDUCATION?

Toronto, my home state of Connecticut, the US and Canadian Coast Guards and
many other venues have statistics which prove that educated boaters have
significantly fewer accidents than those with no education.

I'm not wedded to the idea of a license.  I come from one of the first
states to institute mandatory education and one-time "certification",
Connecticut.  Going a step further and making it a renewable "license" could
add the power to revoke said license for egregious violation of boating law.
It might also add a bit of renewable income to support boating safety.
[That's another problem: The minute one mentions a "license", the nay-sayers
immediately change the discussion to taxes and fees, pretending that this is
the only reason anyone would have any interest in promoting boating safety!]

In the best of all possible worlds, all boaters should be fully educated in
the particular type of boat and the specific area of boating in which they
participate.  They should also be subject to a major on-the-water "driving
test".

Unfortunately, this is NOT the best of all possible worlds and we must make
do with the best we can get local, state, and federal governments to give
us.  At this point, that seems to be the dreadfully watered down NASBLA -
approved courses as taught by USCG Auxiliary, USPS, and various other
organizations, including a number of US states and the Canadian government.

By the way, I am the author of the present NASBLA - approved Connecticut
State Boating Safety Course and served as the Connecticut Boating Safety
Education Coordinator for 5 years.  In that position, I consulted closely
with Canada and many US states in the formation of their own courses.  I
have been a "professional educator" (certified teacher) for about 45 years.
I have taught sailing to children and adults for most of my life.
(Absolutely NONE of this makes me an EXPERT in how to handle boating
safety!) I readily admit that I felt like a complete sell-out at first when
I created a 10-hour course with a proctored written examination which would
allow anyone who passed it to obtain a Boating Safety Certificate which
would let them operate a motor vessel in the State of Connecticut legally --
UNTIL I FULLY UNDERSTOOD THE ALTERNATIVE: Allowing anyone to operate any
size vessel at any time anywhere with no restrictions whatsoever!

I agree that the NASBLA course requirements are extremely inadequate.
However, in my humble opinion, it is far better to require SOME education
than to require none at all.  Our own instructors (many of whom also taught
USCG or USPS courses) were required to make it VERY clear that their
students were NOT getting an education which would make them safe and
knowledgeable boaters.  Both in classes and on our web site, we stated very
clearly that private lessons, mentoring, advanced classes with the USCG
Auxiliary and/or the USPS and many years of experience are the only way to
become truly safer boaters.  In no way should the recipients of a
Connecticut (or any other NASBLA -approved course) consider themselves
"competent to operate a boat" because of their minimal boating safety
education and NASBLA should require that all instructors state this VERY
clearly. New boaters who telephoned or checked our website were encouraged
to take the USCG Auxiliary or USPS long courses.

To repeat myself, isn't it better to require a really watered down education
which still includes some basic safety rules and the basic rules-of-the-road
than to require nothing? 

I, for one, hope that the "other guy" knows the rules-of-the-road when we
have converging or intersecting courses at sea, but I am always prepared to
yield to the idiots who are ignorant, uncaring, or stupid.  Unfortunately,
this seems to be the great majority in many (most?)of the waterways on the
east coast of the US and Canada!  (I have little or no experience
elsewhere.)

Allen Ames
Aboard SESAME
blog: http://camano130.blogspot.com/
photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/allen_ames/