Safe Speed Forums

They'll put speed bumps on boating lakes next

Daily Mail, 5 June 2007, Page 17

IT was only a matter of time. The Government is bringing in the breathalyser for boaters. Anyone found over the limit could face a fine of £2,000 and two years in prison.

But riders of jet skis, just about the worst menace on the water since Del Boy's Uncle Albert, will be exempt because they're not classed as ships.

Just wait until the Mad Mullah hears about the new rules. There'll be speed cameras at the side of every waterway in North Wales and flotillas of river police conducting random breath tests.

No doubt some loony council is already working on a way to put humps in boating lakes.
.

I'd love to know who's going to enforce it. The only authority with the power to stop you at sea is Customs and I'm sure they have better things to do.

Bringing in some form of mandetory training would be a start as currently any fool with enough money can go out and buy a boat and with no training go out to sea.

_________________
Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Which reminds me of the apparently true story reported by the coastguard. They received a Mayday call from what sounded like a weekend yachtsman, who'd managed to get lost in the Solent.

When they asked him what his position was, he replied:

"I'm the CEO of a major plastics manufacturer, why do you ask?"

Speaking as someone who moved from cars to boats as a hobby, I'd be very sad to see that! I'm still very fond of cars but was completely blown away about 15 years ago when I found out how gloriously unencumbered by nannying legislation sailing was. I could do just as you said - buy a boat, put to sea. Just like that. No training, tax, insurance, MOT, type approval - Nothing, nada, nowt, zippo! (except a radio operator's licence)

Now I didn't, of course. I sat my "Day Skipper" ticket. Why? Because I didn't want to die!

The Royal Yachting Association have long had the slogan "Educate, don't Legislate" on this issue and I couldn't agree more. France has compulsory testing for pleasure boat sailors and they loose more than we do. OK, it's a slightly dodgy statistic to rely on but we're certainly no worse!

I was really attracted to the sailing life because I just got such a sense of freedom. OK, within harbour limits there are nearly always by-laws and if you go into marinas third party insurance is compulsory but in general, you get my drift...

Better still, unlike my car where I'd be lucky to fit a pair of furry dice and still get insurance, I could wake up tomorrow and decide that my boat needs a bigger engine / different sail plan / cutting in half and adding another three feet...

...without anyone turning a hair. BLISS!

OK the EU are changing that (bless them!) and new boats need type approval (very similar to cars) and this throws up all sorts of anomalies and probably doesn't make things any safer but overall, it's still much less restricted than cars.

I agree that there are a minority of idiots in boats who will give the rest a bad name but as soon as you make some sort of test mandatory, you kind of imply that anyone who passes it is fit to go out and sail. Now we've all seen what that leads to on the roads. In a boat too, I think it's a lot better to try and educate people so that they go out voluntarily and seek a level of training appropriate to the kind of sailing that they do.

Mole. I hear exactly what you're saying and I really don't want to see the government get involved with leasure boating on ANY level, but you only have to sit off the training bank in Poole on a sunny weekend to see the sheer amount of incompetence out there.

You don't even need a radio licence if you don't use the equipment.

There's a hell of alot can go wrong in a very short space of time whilst boating - I'm glad we have a RIB because there've been several times where we would have sunk otherwise...

I don't know what the answer is, because as I've said I DON'T want any kind of government intervention. There are plenty of skippers out there who've learned all they know through years of experience, and that's far better than taking a 2 day course (like driving really).

The point I was trying to make is that they should start at point 1 with training rather than point 5 with unenforcable restrictions.

_________________
Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Aye, it's a tough one. We used to see (and get irritated by) all manner of incompetent muppets with speedboats when we on Windermere. They'd sit there forever taking up space on the slipway while they got their engines to run and then sat working out how the power tilt and trim worked. I got the impression that I wouldn't want to put to sea with one of them!

Then there's the accquaintance of ours who is flagged down (yes, FLAGGED DOWN!) by some lads in a RIB in the middle of the Irish sea who then asked him if (a) he can lend them some petrol and (b) which way the Isle of Man was!

Of course, now the speed limit on Windermere has killed all that off and I guess they've been forced on to the tidal estuaries of the North West coast - which I think is a much worse place to try and learn!

I wouldn't mind leaving things as they are to be honest. YES, I admit that without some form of mandatory basic training, some lives might be lost. I know it's deeply unfashionable but I'm very reluctant to jump on the "something must be done" band waggon! WHY? Why "MUST" something be done? Why not do nothing? OK, because you might save a life or two. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind betting that compulsory training might also COST a life or two as well - from people who will have passed their test and will now regard themselves as "competent" to go up to (say) 10 miles off shore by day or night in any conditions (or whatever their course entitles them to do).

Dunno, maybe that's a separate thread for the Brianstoring board - one that looks at all the non-driving activities (e.g. climbing) and examines the effect a regulatory vs non-regulatory position has shaped that activity and any accidents arising from it?

The easiest way to regulate the whole business would be to make insurance compulsory, then the insurance companies would insist on a reasonable degree of competency.

I once had to go and recover a boat from Windermere, and the body of the owners dog. It wasn't a fast boat - just a small day boat with an outboard, but it was lucky for the family that it was only the dog that died.

White Cross Bay Caravan Park used to insist on 3rd party insurance before you were allowed on the slipway after that incident.

_________________
Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

I think just about all marinas insist on it but in the 15 years or so I've been sailing I don't think I've ever had an insurance company insist on a particular level of qualification before quoting. I must say, this does surprise me. Some have asked if I have any boating qualifications so maybe they wouldn't have taken the risk if I'd said that I hadn't.

Insurance isn't mandetory although as you both say, some slips and marinas insist if your launching there. Note if you're LAUNCHING there. You could quite happily come into the marina from off shore and they probably won't ask.

Likewise insurance companies don't insist on training.

_________________
Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.