Re: Should Boater Education be Required to Buy?
To answer the question directly, no, I don't feel there should be a license. But then again, I don't really support licensing for anything. I think people tend to feel superior about launching a boat. Once you get good at it, it's fun to look at a guy doing it for the first time and snicker.
What's interesting to me is the reasoning behind this thread. It's not, "I think people should have to get a boating license to prevent injuries and deaths in boating accidents." This thread is about "I think people should get boating licenses because I'm tired of waiting in line that think everyone should be as good at backing up a trailer as I am."
I went to the river yesterday. Usually on a weekday at around noon, it's unlikely that I'll have to share the ramp with anyone. But yesterday there was a guy there with an older boat. He was smack in the middle of the 2 place ramp and he was getting ready to back down. Rather than get annoyed that he was taking up the whole ramp, I assumed he was new to launching and got out to ask if he could use help. The older gentleman, who was in a wheelchair and missing his right arm and leg, explained that it was the younger guys first try at launching and apologized for tying up the ramp. He politely declined my help and told me I could launch ahead of them if I could fit. It was tight, but I managed. As I was backing down, I watched the younger guy lift the old man out of his wheel chair and up over the gunwale of the boat, where the flopped back on a chair. It was an awkward maneuver, but I had to give him credit for not giving up on boating.
I spent a few hours on the water, and when I came back to dock, they were still docked there. The hood was up. They explained that they couldn't get their boat running. I asked if they would like help getting the boat out of the water. Again, the old man politely declined and said he likes the water and would like to float there a while on the dock. I gave them some advice about trouble shooting their problem and hauled my boat out and was on my way. Maybe I should have yelled at them for tying up one spot on the public dock for so long, but I wasn't in that kind of mood I guess.
My point is, not everyone who takes a little longer to launch is rude, or ignorant or stupid. Or uneducated for that matter. Sometimes people are just new to boating, or dealing with some other issue you may not be aware of. Boating is for everyone to enjoy, and some people will always be slower than others at things. It's not worth the stress of getting mad about having to wait at the launch. If it becomes a problem, launch at a different time when not as many people are there. Should we also make people get a license to buy things just because I'm tired of waiting for the little old lady to pay for her loaf of bread with pennies?
Take a deep breath, Relax. Boating is about unwinding. It's ok to giggle at the guy with the shiny new boat who can't back up the trailer. It's ok to giggle because people giggled at you when you were new. It's a rite of passage. Politely offer to help. Maybe the state doesn't educate boaters well enough, but what better way to combat that than by making it your goal to help al those you can learn a bit. If every experienced boater helped just one newbie boater at the ramp once, more people would be good at it and you'd have less of a wait at the ramp.
