Mitch Cronin Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 I ticked off my son and a few of his friends yesterday when they wanted to get a couple boating licences online... including one for the friend's Dad! Did you know you can do that now? I just found that out the the week before when one of his friends did it here also... (somewhat legitimately) "Has he read the book?" I asked... (meaning the fellow's dad) "He hasn't got time" said the friend... "Well then I don't think you should be getting him a licence!" said I.... "Oh come on!" they said, "he's been driving a boat at the cottage for 40 years!" "The ability to drive a boat, and understanding all the rules, aren't at all necessarily mutually inclusive." I said (or words probably not so thoughtfully put together that meant the same)... "There's a reason they're making people get licences nowadays and I don't want you cheating on that for anyone!" said I.... they left in a huff. How stupid is it that they've made it so ridiculously easy for people to cheat their way to a licence!? ....totally defeats the purpose, if you ask me.... ....of course, no one did ask me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rattler Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Is this what you are talking about or is there something unique to Ontario? http://safety.eas.ualberta.ca/node/63 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Cronin Posted August 14, 2009 Author Share Posted August 14, 2009 I confess to not having delved too deeply into it Rattler (since I sold my boat some time ago and have no desire to get another anytime soon), but I believe that's what they were after.... My son continues to argue that I'm being stupid because his friend's dad knows all about driving a boat. I told him there are lots of people that know alot about operating an airplane, who don't have a pilot licence, and I don't think they should be flying either! Knowing how to operate the machine doesn't mean you know the flippin' rules! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebean Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 The watercraft license is an utter joke. I see the proof thereof every single day out my window as the ding dongs across the lake rent out 150 hp Seadoos to anyone with $100 and a heartbeat. I have no idea how they get around the regulations. Meanwhile, the speed demons keep killing themselves. http://www.canada.com/cowichanvalleycitize...eb-6bec5ebafc30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmikes@imap.cc Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 I'm sorry to say that the Pleasure Craft Operator Card is just another example of our Government making the minimum effort just so they can say they have done something. I've been operating boats since I was in diapers, I did not think I should be grandfathered so I took the test seriously. I bought the manual, read it and challenged the test online. What a joke! The test is designed so that anyone smart enough to put on a pair of pants will pass. I am just going to have to be more vigilant while boating to make sure I don't get taken out by the other guy. I can tell you one thing for sure, boater etiquette is almost non existent. Be careful out there. West Coast sailor and sports fisher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Canada's new boating licence a national joke Aug 13, 2009 04:30 AM Bob Hepburn OPINION I admit I was seriously tempted this week to cheat on an exam. It occurred late at night while I was taking an online test for my new boating licence. Like the 7-8 million other boaters in this country, I need the licence because, starting Sept. 15, any operator caught without one will be subject to a minimum $250 fine. Despite my urge to cheat, I passed the test. I am now the proud holder of a Pleasure Craft Operator Card, which verifies that I am qualified – for life – to operate a power boat or jet ski anywhere in Canada. But the truth is I'm hardly qualified to hold a "lifetime" licence. That's because I have never driven a jet ski and I operate a boat for only a few days each summer when I am renting a cottage on a small, isolated lake near Algonquin Park. To be blunt, my new federal boating licence is an embarrassment. Sadly, that's what many angry boaters have concluded about the licence and the test you need to pass in order to get it. Indeed, for some, the boating licence rivals the federal gun registry in sparking outrage. And while the controversy over the licence isn't news in big cities such as Toronto, it sure is making waves in Cottage Country. Last week, for instance, Pamela Steel of Port Sydney wrote in a letter to the Huntsville Forester newspaper about how she and her son, 12, took the test at a festival in Bracebridge. Like me, they both passed without studying. She was shocked. Her son "has never been behind the wheel or spent a moment reading about boating regulations," Steele wrote. "The whole thing seems fishy to me," she concluded. She's right. What good is a boating licence that doesn't require you to prove you know how to drive a boat? It's like getting a licence to drive a car without taking a driver's test. When it was launched in 1999, the goal of the program was to improve recreational boating safety and reduce boating accidents, which account for about 33 per cent of water-related deaths in Canada. But the system has been heavily criticized since it was conceived because boaters are being charged up to $60 for taking the test, which they can take over and over until they finally pass, and because many of its questions, such as identifying huge open-water buoys, have little to do with how and where most of us use boats. Ralph Cox, a friend who lives in North Bay, said he laughed at one exam question about what to do when you come upon a certain type of buoy. "A better question for me would be, `What do you do when come upon a Javex bottle?' That's all the `navigational devices' we've got on our lake." At the same time, the system is riddled with cheaters who take the test online. A woman who lives in the Riverdale section of Toronto giggled when she told me recently she has her boating licence, but someone else took the test for her. Then there are the reports of people registering their cats as their "proctor," which is required for anyone taking the exam online. Fewer than 2 million boaters had licences by early 2009. There's been a dramatic surge in people taking the test this summer, but millions still don't have one. Ottawa insists it has moved to plug the leaks in the system and is keeping a close watch on the private companies that conduct the exams and issue the cards. It has suspended four course providers. Despite overseeing the program, Ottawa gets no money from it. Private firms that give the tests, issue the licences and collect the money, will get a total of $350 million if every boater takes the exam. Not bad, eh? Is the program working? Hard to tell. While the rate of boating deaths has fallen in the past decade, the trend started before the program was introduced. Clearly, taking a legitimate boating course with hands-on training is a good idea. And there are numerous such courses available. But a program that is open to rampant cheating, ridicule and doesn't require you to know anything about how to actually operate a boat or jet ski, is a joke. Full article here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AME Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blues deville Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 Have you driven a Ford lately (into a lake)? Forget the boating licence. Someone might want to check the driver's licence of the skilled individual behind the wheel of that nice white F150. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Cronin Posted August 15, 2009 Author Share Posted August 15, 2009 What's the truck doing on the lake side of the boat anyway????? Maybe that's how they launch the boat in Newfieland? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canus Chinookus Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 What's the truck doing on the lake side of the boat anyway????? Maybe that's how they launch the boat in Newfieland? Don't insult the Newfies. That guy is clearly from TO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handyman Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 It's not an easy thing swimming upstream alone. Often, it's hardly worth it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.O. Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 Don't insult the Newfies. That guy is clearly from TO! 'Fraid not. Take a close look at the boat, it says "Sheriff" on the side. The guy's from down south. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AME Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 The guy's from down south. That parts a given... Us Canadians all know the boat goes in first! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.O. Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 Matter of fact, I know where that picture was taken! That's Marina del Rey between LAX and Venice Beach! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innuendo Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 C&C said: I'm sorry to say that the Pleasure Craft Operator Card is just another example of our Government making the minimum effort just so they can say they have done something. I have to agree with you as it is not a lot different from my having to jump through hoops to register an old double barrel hammer shotgun that is an antique, to comply with the gun registry. If you are going to have a program to verify the public's ability to properly operate equipment that can cause damage and injury then do it correctly and put the onus for insurance on the individual. No insurance, you cause injury or suffering you are liable. That might make people think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Hudson Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 Innuendo, JO - the other side of putting the truck in the water - the case for protecting the public from oneself or oneself from oneself: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeker Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 ....put the onus for insurance on the individual. No insurance, you cause injury or suffering you are liable. That might make people think. Isn't that the way it is now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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