How about this for a licensing scenario? Being in charge of anything on the water with an engine in it requires a boat license (multiple choice exam, eyesight test, small fee). No motor - no license required. PWC riders need to pass the same test, and correctly answer a bunch of other questions also... but wait there's more.
The boat license is issued by the roads authority and liked to your car driver's license. If you get caught DUI by the water police, you'll not only get fined but lose your driver's license as well. Anyone too young to have a drivers license can get a restricted one by passing the test, but must be supervised by someone they can throw the book at if the kid plays up.
In Canada if you get caught DUI on the water you loose your drivers licence for a year in Ontario for your first offense. A second offense gets you jail time and 3 year suspension. It also costs you a few bucks. But we have the same problem lack of enforcement. Licencing does nothing, it's just a tax grab.
I dare say that there are as many idiots out there under sail as under motor but the difference is usually one of speed and/or size. No matter how you look at it 40' of power at 30 knots is more of a potential danger than 40' of sail at 5 knots.
Interestingly enough I notice that as racing yachts become ever fatser they are also acting far more obnoxiously as if the simple act of travelling at 20 knots gives them some god given right over a poor pleb at 5kn.
BTW in Australia all boats above a certain length plus all of those rotten jet ski sh_theaps are required to be registered. Any craft capable of greater than 10 knots must be piloted by a licenced operator. Jet Skis require a different licence. DUI laws apply and random breath testing is practiced.
What I fail to understand is why noise abatement legislation does not apply to boats. If I drove a car that made as much engine/exhaust noise as the average power boat I'd be arrested.
__________________
Greatness is not where we stand, but in what direction we are moving....we must sail, sometimes with the wind, sometimes against it, but sail we must, and not drift nor lie at anchor.- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Well , being that we are SAILnetters we could be prujudiced, think outside the box and say that licensing and inspections should only apply to boats that have or exceed a certain horsepower to weight ratio for example any watercraft that exceeds 12hp per 1000 pounds I don't know of any sailboats that would exceed that and even your dinghy would not be affected because it probably has fewer than 12 horsepower
Is this fair ? Not to powerboaters and I don't care !
Unfortunatley most of our elected officials/legislators are more likely to be included in the booze guzzling beer gut powerboater category
__________________
Who cares what psychiatrists write on walls !
UMMMM.... Most dinghies are so light that they'd need licensing and inspection... a 150 lb dinghy with a 3 hp outboard is .02 hp/lb. 12 hp/1000 lbs = .012 hp/lb... so you might want to rethink your idea.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thedudeistoocool
Well , being that we are SAILnetters we could be prujudiced, think outside the box and say that licensing and inspections should only apply to boats that have or exceed a certain horsepower to weight ratio for example any watercraft that exceeds 12hp per 1000 pounds I don't know of any sailboats that would exceed that and even your dinghy would not be affected because it probably has fewer than 12 horsepower
__________________
Sailingdog Telstar 28
New England
You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.
—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)
If you're new to the Sailnet Forums... please read this POST.
Seeing that I am licensed already, 1600 ton Master/2nd Mate unlimited, and have to renew it every five years with a in depth physical along with a radar recertification, each time for me because I have had a heart episode awhile back. It still costs me $145 each time I renew.
But some states do require a short boater's education of only a few short hours, such as Oregon does. I've looked at this course and was amazed on how simple it was. Very simple, anyone who attends that course still could not pass the tests that I have taken from the USCG. But it does give an inkling of the responsibility required when operating a boat. Which is better than nothing.
2) Two days later, in Sidney, B.C. I was tying up my well-worn Catalina 30 in the marina, when the couple in the next slip, also in a nice 28-foot or so trawler, started coiling their dock lines "since they had a sailboat next to them, and had to be more seaman-like"
So, it makes me wonder, do the power-boaters think we're snobs?
Some people associate sailboats with big money. And there are a lot of weathy people who are snobs. Kind of like the guy who takes his murcielago out to grab a gallon of milk. Could be the nicest guy in the world, but someone will think he's a real d*ck, just b/c of what he drives.
Some people are really dumb. With fuel prices as high as they were this season and last, don't you think operating a large power boat would cost significantly more than a large sailboat. Sailboats, even under power, tend to be far more fuel efficient than most power boats. In total, I've spent less than $100 in fuel for both this season and last, and I've still got at least six gallons left at the moment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zz4gta
Some people associate sailboats with big money. And there are a lot of weathy people who are snobs. Kind of like the guy who takes his murcielago out to grab a gallon of milk. Could be the nicest guy in the world, but someone will think he's a real d*ck, just b/c of what he drives.
__________________
Sailingdog Telstar 28
New England
You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.
—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)
If you're new to the Sailnet Forums... please read this POST.
Some people are really dumb. With fuel prices as high as they were this season and last, don't you think operating a large power boat would cost significantly more than a large sailboat. Sailboats, even under power, tend to be far more fuel efficient than most power boats. In total, I've spent less than $100 in fuel for both this season and last, and I've still got at least six gallons left at the moment.
I didn't say I agreed with these people. Even the initial cost of buy a sailboat compared to a motorboat of the same size seems to be a lot cheaper.
I don't know of any sailboats that would exceed that and even your 
Linear Mode
