Naval Architect Not Qualified to Drive Boat!

Thought I'd heard it all until a couple days ago!

Our State govt has introduced compulsory boat operator licensing to bring us in line with other states in the Nation who already have such!

If you have owned a boat for 5 years or more - then you are exempted from the practcal test and need only sit a quick multiple choice theory test.

So imagine the amusement when everyone you know (clients you've designed boats for over a long and industrious career) is getting a letter from the marine safety authorities saying that they are exempt from the practical test, and if they like to send back the completed theory test, their license will issue any day now...and you don' get such a letter!

Now you've owned boats all your life, and still own boats - you have a naval architecture degree, have sailed a few Sydney Hobarts yacht races and designed boats at international level for the likes of Greg Norman etc etc...even for the govt agencies itself doing the new licensing..

So you enquire to find out why not?

You are told - that - because all the boats you owned were registered in your companys name, you personally are not 'deemed' experienced enough!

So, you must attend a practical test where you operate a dingy with a 6 hp outboard to the satisfaction of some snot nosed peon from the public service who likely couldn't float his rubber duck in the bath on his own, without guidance and a helping hand from his mommy!?

I truly think our worlds gone stark raving bloody mad and the lunatics are definitely running the assylum!

Can you imagine how many company directors etc with 40, 50 & 60 ft flying bridge cruisers registered in the name of their company will not qualify to operate their own boat under the way the new laws are being interpreted / administered?

I can see a lot of angry boaters telling this govt to stick their boat license where the sun don't shine frankly!

Cheers!

[marshmat]

Sounds like the bureaucracy needs to do a bit of tweaking on this one!

Canada's had mandatory licences for boaters for some time now; the program's being phased in over 10 years and will be fully implemented by '08-'09 or therabouts. Essentially you have to pass a multiple-choice test that takes about 20-30 minutes and proves that you know how to read channel markers, that you know COLREGS, etc.
Younger boaters and those driving smaller boats such as PWCs had to have licences first; the Coast Guard presumes that if you know how to get a bigger boat out of its slip, you're probably experienced enough to be given a few more years before you need the card.
I haven't seen any statistics yet, they won't be out for a while- but just watching the water, there are definitely a lot fewer dumb decisions being made by PWC and runabout pilots alike. The PWCs in particular are a lot more courteous now than they used to be.
Anyone who knows what they're doing can pass the test with ease, and it's good for life. It certainly seems to have smartened up a lot of boaters and I think the COLREGS are much better followed now than they used to be.

[daedong]

This is one of the best stuff ups I have heard.

Here in South Australia to driver a hire houseboat you only need a drivers licence, but if you own a houseboat you must have a boat licence. Dumb

[solrac]

may sound a little curious, but know here a similar case, (in my country also it's mandatory the license) one guy on the crew of the Uruguay Natural, a W60, who rounded the world on the last Whitbread Race, was forced to repeat the theorical exam as he answered wrongly more questions than admitted by the bureaucrat of the day.... belive or not....