Recent Articles about the
Mandatory Boaters Education for Non-motorized vessels (canoes, kayaks,
sailboats)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP)
- A boating
advisory council may soon recommend that operators of kayaks and other
non-motorized vessels must pass a safety course before they are
allowed on the water.
The Florida Boating Advisory Council will consider the proposal for
non-motorized vessels at its meeting Tuesday in
Key Largo.
The proposed safety course would be required for vessels such as
canoes, kayaks, row boats and sailboats.
- The 18-member
council which advises the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission <
recommended earlier this year that motorboat operators of all ages
have to pass a safety course.
- Current
Florida law requires the course for anyone 21 years of age or younger
operating a motorboat of 10 horsepower or more.
The Florida Legislature would need to give final approval before
regulations become law. Maj. Paul Oulette, leader of the commissionąs
boating and waterways section, said the Legislature would likely
consider the plans at
its upcoming 2007 session.
Twenty-two states either require motorboat operators of all ages to
pass a safety course or are phasing in such requirements, according to
the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators. Under
the current proposal in Florida, the plan would be phased in over a
three-to-five year window.
- Officials say
boating-related deaths show the need for increased education.
- Of 81 boating
deaths in 2005, a dozen involved non-motorized vessels, though none
involved kayaks, according to the Fish and Wildlife Commission.
- The statistic
shows there isnąt a need for kayaks to be regulated in such a way,
said Brack Barker, owner of Wild Florida Adventures in Williston.
- Barker said
the course would discourage out-of-state tourists from kayaking.
Information from: The Gainesville Sun,
http://www.gainesvillesun.com
Paddlers may need to pass safety course
By news-press.com
Originally posted on December 04, 2006
Hurricane season's over, but there's another kind of storm brewing.
It's over a proposal to make users of non-motorized watercraft pass a safety
course. Although just in a very-early talking stage, if it became state law,
all of us might have to take a test before dipping a paddle into the water.
Given Southwest Florida's emphasis on water-based eco-tourism, the initial
response from paddling guides and canoe and kayak liveries is
understandable.
"It's crazy," said Connie Langmann, of Gaea Guides, Fort Myers.
"It would be a disaster," said Wendy Erler, general manager for Tarpon Bay
Explorers, Sanibel.
"Ludicrous," said D.T. Minich, director for Lee County Visitor & Convention
Bureau, taking time out from vacation to call.
In case you missed the report in Sunday1s editions of The News-Press:
The Florida Boating Advisory Council will consider the boater-education
proposal today at its meeting in
Key Largo.
The proposed safety course would be required for such vessels as canoes,
kayaks, row boats and sailboats.
The 18-member council, which advises the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Commission, recommended earlier this year that motorboat operators of all
ages have to pass a safety course. Current
Florida
law requires the course for anyone 21 years of age or younger operating a
motorboat of 10 horsepower or more.
On the proposal to educate kayakers, etc., I haven't yet found any details
such as course content, who'd be eligible to teach it or the costs.
I did have a quick phone chat with Maj. Paul Ouellette of the Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He clarified a few things,
specifically:
• The FWC staff did not come up with this idea, nor is the staff promoting
it. The proposal arose from a subcommittee to the advisory council.
• The advisory council is expected to weigh in on the idea today. Currently,
it is not on the agenda for a vote by Fish and Wildlife commissioners.
• Even if the full advisory council and fish and wildlife commission gave
the
idea a thumb's up, it would take a favorable vote by the Florida Legislature
to become law.
Even with all of those caveats, Becky Bragg at the Canoe Outpost in Arcadia
is alarmed. Through an e-mail she said that she's been urging her peers to
look into the matter since September.
"I believe it will close down the youth group paddling market or hinder it
tremendously," Bragg said.
"Kids will be required to take the test too, anyone who touches a paddle
including any out-of-state paddlers."
Bragg thinks proponents would use a test similar to that required for users
of personal watercraft. She continued in her e-mail: "Young kids can't pass
the (personal watercraft) test, which is probably a good thing, but to hold
a paddle?
"Larger outfitters handle hundreds of people a day and will have to require
everyone have to sit down and take a test. Can you imagine the paperwork
nightmare? Try 50,000 people a year, just through my gates.
"As I try to sort out the idea, I keep going back to the licensed
driver-unlicensed bicyclist analogy.
"An ignorant kayaker or canoeist can endanger themselves and others. Same
goes for a bicyclist.
"It's also conceivable either sport practitioner somehow, might be at fault
in an injurious encounter with a responsible, educated operator of a
motorized mode of transportation.
"Surely, though, speed of travel makes a difference. So, until it's state
law that motorized watercraft users of all ages must be educated and
certified, I can't even begin to support it for paddlers.
"Feel free to shoot an e-mail to me if you agree or disagree."
naplesnews.com
- Some boaters hope this plan sinks
-
- Boating council
to mull proposal requiring people to pass a safety course before
operating non-motorized crafts
- Monday, December
4, 2006
-
- Canoe and kayak
enthusiasts are less than enthused about a new regulation that could
require them to pass a safety course before hitting the water.
-
- The Florida
Boating Advisory Council will meet Tuesday to consider the proposal,
which would require people wanting to use canoes, kayaks, row boats and
sailboats to pass a safety course.
-
- Philadelphia
resident Scott Downs said he likes to kayak when he visits his parents
in Naples. If the new regulation is passed, Downs, 32, said he may have
to pass on the pastime.
-
- "I wouldn't be
able to go out right now," said
Downs,
just before setting off in a kayak in Isles of Capri.
-
- "I could see it
on motorized vehicles, because people are getting killed, but not on
kayaks."
-
- Of 81 boating
deaths in 2005, 12 involved non-motorized vessels. None involved kayaks,
according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.
-
- Kayakers Nancy
and Jim McDermott said they don't like the idea of having to take safety
courses before embarking.
-
- "It would be a
deterrent, especially for someone who has done it before," Nancy
McDermott, 56, said. "It's not like we're going out, and being reckless.
-
- "It all comes
back to personal responsibility. People just need to be responsible for
themselves."
-
- Purveyors of
non-motorized boats expect they would see a dip in business if safety
courses are required.
-
- "I don't see how
it could be feasible, unless they let us do (the courses) here," said
Halle Wienges, who rents out kayaks for Saltwater Sports at Capri Fish
House in Isles of Capri.
-
- "A lot of people
don't like to get involved in licensing."
-
- If approved, the
Florida Boating Advisory Council will present its proposal to the Fish
and Wildlife Commission for approval. The final approval would go to the
Florida Legislature.
-
- If approved, the
plan would be phased in over a three-to-five year period.
-
- In the meantime,
Halle said he will keep giving instruction to those who ask for it, and
let those who know their way around the water go it alone.
-
- "Kayaks really
aren't trouble for anyone," he said. "They're pretty simple to figure
out."
-
©
2006 Naples Daily News and NDN Productions. Published in Naples,
Florida, USA by the E.W. Scripps Co.
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0 of 0 people
found this comment useful.
Posted by
rtsspeaks (anonymous)
at 7:24 a.m. on December 4, 2006 (Suggest
removal)
They will
also have an expensive license for passengers on boats if they could!
Licensing is a stupid thing that will send people elsewhere to enjoy
themselves. Are Florida politicians so stupid that they will find a way to
tax everything??
0 of 1 people
found this comment useful.
Posted by
alancodi (anonymous)
at 8:23 a.m. on December 4, 2006 (Suggest
removal)
Statistics
speak for themselves. Don't fix it if it ain't broken. No accidental
kayaking deaths means none - zip - nada! leave kayakers alone to enjoy their
quiet, safe and healthy sport. Concentrate your effort where it's needed:
Install speed governors on waverunners and watch the death toll fall to half
of what it is now.
0 of 0 people
found this comment useful.
Posted by
stevepk (anonymous)
at 8:28 a.m. on December 4, 2006 (Suggest
removal)
Don't
people realize that it is the responsibility of government to take whatever
steps are necessary to protect citizens from every conceivable danger. Risk
must be eliminated. We are all children and are incapable of weighing
potiental dangers and deciding for ourselves whether to procede or not.
Plus,
everything must be taxed.
1 of 1 people
found this comment useful.
Posted by
artrules (anonymous)
at 8:58 a.m. on December 4, 2006 (Suggest
removal)
If Florida
is going to pass an idiotic regulation such as this one, they should first
target the group of people who are the most dangerous to everyone on the
water! They should require the people who come down here and rent power
boats for a day to pass a safety test! They are usually the ones involved in
the accidents, get lost, run aground, have no idea how to operate a radio or
read a chart or turn on a GPS! Kayakers, canoers and sailors are usually the
safest people on the water and the most responsible! But yet anyone with a
driver's license can rent a power boat and they would go unregulated!
0 of 0 people
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Posted by
Anonymous (anonymous)
at 9:03 a.m. on December 4, 2006 (Suggest
removal)
You don't
even need a saftey coarse for a motorized boat if your over 21, this is the
dumbest crap I have ever heard of.
0 of 1 people
found this comment useful.
Posted by
aj (anonymous)
at 11:10 a.m. on December 4, 2006 (Suggest
removal)
Yeah! Let's
require that all people in bathtubs have a safty course also! Power boaters
can just jump in and turn the key. Waverunners can just hop on and start
screaming across the water making all kinds of noise and ruining a nice
peaceful day. Putting mufflers on waveruners....now that's a great idea!
0 of 0 people
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Posted by
nongeriatric (anonymous)
at 11:36 a.m. on December 4, 2006 (Suggest
removal)
go ahead
and fine me
1 of 1 people
found this comment useful.
Posted by
ToddMunch (anonymous)
at 1:43 p.m. on December 4, 2006 (Suggest
removal)
waverunners
have mufflers, and most of the new models are 4 strokes , they are quieter
than your car now
0 of 0 people
found this comment useful.
Posted by
honeybee (anonymous)
at 1:48 p.m. on December 4, 2006 (Suggest
removal)
We should
be rewarding the environmentally conscious and true enthusiasts who use
canoes, kayaks, sailboats and the like...not penalizing them. This is about
the dumbest thing I have ever heard! I agree with all of you...powered water
vehicles are far more likely to be mishandled and cause damage to others!
0 of 0 people
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Posted by
artrules (anonymous)
at 2:32 p.m. on December 4, 2006 (Suggest
removal)
I totally
agree with honeybee! Florida is no.2 in the country with owners of power
boats, Michigan is no. 1. But you never hear of regulations for power
boating. Seems as if the sailors, canoers and kayakers are easier to pick
on. Government is afraid to regulate the majority? Don't want to make those
power boaters mad? Afraid to lose votes?
1 of 1 people
found this comment useful.
Posted by
northernlight (anonymous)
at 6:39 p.m. on December 4, 2006 (Suggest
removal)
No question
about it, all boaters should be safety certified. As a power boater in
Michigan and Florida, I have seen some awful stunts by both power and non
power boats. While I respect the environmental initiative by Kayakers and
baggers, I often see them with no knowledge of the "rules of the road"
particulary when they crowd or cut-off larger power boats that can't turn on
a dime and must watch out for shallows. Of course it would be looked at like
it was the larger boat's fault if there were an accident. How can we look
out for the safety of boaters when the state can't even get the slow drivers
out of the passing lanes on the highways.
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