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From: Roger Bingham (no email)
Date: Thu Feb 02 2006 - 05:52:39 EST
Hi All
My plan was to buy a boat in N America and cruise from Alaska, through
Panama and back to Canada. This would take several years. I therefore began
my research to establish the requirements for visas, marine qualifications,
ship's radio, statutory safety equipment etc etc.
Without going into details you can imagine the difficulties I had of
establishing which government department has responsibilities for the above.
Immigration matters alone seem to be spread over several departments
(Homeland Security seems to be at the top of every tree). Websites have vast
amounts of information available but it never seems to include the specific
bit you are looking for. I never found what I was looking for.
Back to Licensing.
My qualifications are based on the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Motor
Cruising Scheme. These include Coastal Skipper (Yachtmaster Offshore),
Powerboat Advanced, International Certificate of Competence (including
European Inland Waterways) and DSC / VHF Certificate of Competence. Only the
first is a voluntary course, the others are required by law.
Hundreds of thousands of leisure boaters take training courses every year in
UK and nearly all are on a voluntary basis. The RYA opposes statutory
training and licensing requirements as they oppose the statutory
registration of leisure craft. (It will come).
We continually argue, discuss and debate these issues just as you do in USA.
There is no easy answer. Arild (as always) raises points which have to be
tackled if licensing is to be accepted as fair. My qualifications have a
"tidal" endorsement. Users on lakes, rivers and non-tidal waters (eg
Mediterranean and Baltic Seas) are endorsed "non-tidal".
Training and licensing need not be compulsory. If the insurance companies
acknowledge the benefits of training then an appropriate discount on
premiums may encourage a larger take-up of training courses.
BTW - I understand that the world's merchant marine officers are mostly
trained, experienced and qualified and yet we have another tanker (chemical
this time, which was presumably under the command of one of these officers)
polluting the English Channel. Go figure!
>We assume that it won't
>work, that people will ignore it, that they'll figure out a way to get
>around it, and that boating safety won't be improved.
C. Marin Faure
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