Captains license?

[Wes]

I agree with you completely. Here in CT you have to get an operators license but the only way to learn how to dock a boat is by doing it, over and over and over. There are too many people who just come down on the weekend, take the boat out and then try to dock it. It really takes a lot of practice and then when you think you have it down cold, old mother nature throws you a curve.

[rossjo]

rossjo-"Wow - sounds like a great Navy"- I don't know it sounds more like the Village People "In the Navy"

Ha! - The Indian or the Construction Worker?

Chum - Where's your Avatar?

[foofer b]

I am the last person to want more government or more regulation, but I agree with guglielmo6160; that with the proliferation of clueless boat owners who are ignorant of even the most basic rules of boating, mandatory licensing should be enacted. At least that way when you yelled at some idiot to "Watch your wake dumb---" he'd at least know what you meant as he continued by plowing a three foot wake!!!!

[lobsterman28]

The TWIC card is just a superseded merchant mariner card which is a background check which was ALWAYS required for a captains license. When you got your OUPV (6-pack) license, when they fingerprinted you and took your picture and wanted a list of all violations- that was it. There was an April 15 deadline to have a completed application in to avoid payment of the TWIC

[JuiceClark]

I hate the government demanding a license and, consequently, a fee for everything. Boating is one of the last facets of human life that contribute to natural selection. If someone blows up because of improper maintenence or slams a piling while drunk in the middle of the night, we should just be glad they can no longer reproduce and demand the beaurocrats keep their distance.

Gov't regulation never helped anyone but the government.