Boating Safety..

[BayviewRick]

This past Friday night I was invited to be a guest speaker at the united States Sail and Power Squadrons annual meeting (Green Bay Chapter). I was nervous going into it, but it was a great meeting! Learned a lot and met some new friends, boaters, and a few good contacts for the business. Not to sound like a "Public Service Announcement" but these are great courses, covering boating safety, rules of the waterways, weather,maintenance, etc. I'd recommend if you never attended a class, to give it a try. You may meet some great new people, and you never know what you may learn! I actually ended up being a sponsor for the Green Bay Courses this comming winter! Watch for the U.S. Power Squadron courses in your area! Take Care! Rick http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

www.Bayviewmarinecenter.com (http://www.Bayviewmarinecenter.com)

[Chris]

Rick, up here in Ontario, they have started program where everyone will have to have a boat license by 2009.

The only thing that ticks me off about the power and sail squandron, is everytime I contacted them about the courses they were cancelled. They also had websites that hadn't been updated for sometimes years. And this is where we are supposed to go, for the license. http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif

Very frustrating....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

[BayviewRick]

http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif Thats ugly! Wonder what happend, It could be the local chapter, organization or lack of participation. I'd suggest we do the licensing.. but our classes might not meet government guidelines.. classes like "How to do a controlled fly Bye" by Bill or "Fastboats" course on how to handle life after 70 (mph?) might not fit the criteria. Seriously though, it's to bad everythings coming down to licensing, etc. I don't know if it will help, but I'll check with my local chapter and see if anything can be done to help in your area. Rick

www.Bayviewmarinecenter.com (http://www.Bayviewmarinecenter.com)

[Chris]

Check out this site.

Richmond Hill Squandron (http://rhill.cps-ecp.org/courses.htm)


This is the local chapter for my area. They have a link to this site from their main website. Someone should have been able to do something about it by now....it has been three frickin' years.

When I emailed a person in this chapter about a year ago....the email bounced and came back as invalid.

Geez, maybe now that it's posted here, someone might just do something about it. http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

[Bill]

I am all for boating safety and for the most part I think all authorities that I have come in contact with do a respectable job, but now things are getting OUT OF HAND!!!! It was just announced on the news tonight here in eastern IA that ALL boater MUST wear life jackets on the Mississippi while boating.To me, this is getting a little rediculous! Are these people going to be able to pull everyone over to check to make sure the vest is rated for the speeds that their boat is capable of doing? NO! What good is one of those stupid little orange or yellow vest in a boat that does 60, 70, 80,+++ MPH. They will do more harm than good if a person goes flying out of the boat and hits the water! On top of it, the fine... One thousand, one hundred dollars per person without a coast guard approved vest. This is not for people under 16, for all people! Check points at the boat ramps were pushing it, This is over the top!!!!!!!!
I HOPE this does not spread to other parts of the country!
Bill--Pissed off in Iowa/Illinois

[Chris]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bill:
I am all for boating safety and for the most part I think all authorities that I have come in contact with do a respectable job, but now things are getting OUT OF HAND!!!! It was just announced on the news tonight here in eastern IA that ALL boater MUST wear life jackets on the Mississippi while boating.To me, this is getting a little rediculous! Are these people going to be able to pull everyone over to check to make sure the vest is rated for the speeds that their boat is capable of doing? NO! What good is one of those stupid little orange or yellow vest in a boat that does 60, 70, 80,+++ MPH. They will do more harm than good if a person goes flying out of the boat and hits the water! On top of it, the fine... One thousand, one hundred dollars per person without a coast guard approved vest. This is not for people under 16, for all people! Check points at the boat ramps were pushing it, This is over the top!!!!!!!!
I HOPE this does not spread to other parts of the country!
Bill--Pissed off in Iowa/Illinois<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Well how do you like this Bill...as of Sept 15 of last year, I can no longer drive my 1969 9.8 Merc on a 12 foot aluminum boat, without one of these frickin' cards. But, I can drive my Checkmate at any speed I like until 2009. Now that makes sense doesn't it. http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

[Chris]

Oh and of course...they recommend I take the course from the power and sail squandron in my area, which hasn't updated their website since 1976.

And I wonder who was behind these recommendations in the first place? No doubt some special interest group like mothers against boating or something and the above mentioned power and sail squadron. http://www.checkmate-boats.com/6/ws/,s,8626072361/Graemlins/sleep.gif

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

[Bill]

This is those damn saleboters, isn't it?!? All joking aside, who in the hell comes up with this stuff. I got my latest edition of powerboat mag. today and they talk about all of the large amount of park banning PWC' because of the noise from the two stroke motors, well what is next for those who are running relieved exhaust outboard or thru-hull exhaust. My little OMC 120hp that I had was loud as hell while not relieved, but jacked a little high and had a beautiful but loud hummm running down the river a 6000 rps! Also mentioned in that article was how New Jersey just mandated a speed limit for the whole state http://www.checkmate-boats.com/6/ws/,s,8626072361/Graemlins/sick.gif http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_redface.gif http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif

[Chris]

The PWC's caused this entire problem to begin with. I wish they would just ban those things. When they piss me off I go out burn around full tilt with a ski rope draggin' behind me so they can't jump my wake. They are forever coming into my bay and doing donuts all afternoon. Of course they all have their little politically correct "I know how to boat safely" cards. http://www.checkmate-boats.com/6/ws/,s,8626072361/Graemlins/sick.gif

So far we've been pretty lucky up here. I think if they try to bring the speed limit garbage in, there will be a major backlash. Everyone who is someone, has a cottage in the Muskoka's and they all have a hot boat. I can't see the politicians bringing in a law, when most of them are burning around in boats all summer. http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Webmaster
Checkmate-Boats.com-The Fanatics Home!

[175checkmate]

While it may be a pain in the butt to take a boating safty coarse. I believe it may help. It will be a little painfull at first, but in the long run it will help. I have taken various coarses over the years. Dad use to teach it. 11 years in the navy navigating the water ways of the world helps also.
Now before jump, here is my thinking on it. Boating is becomming very popular. People that have never been on the water in there life are buying LARGE boats, not to mention PWC. These people don't have a clue on how to operate the boat they just bought. Could the regulations comming it to play today and tommaro may not have been needed if the person was givin a little more instruction other that the 1 time sea trial in there new boat.
And lets face it, there are people out there that should never have a boat of any kind.

Sorry about the long post, you should see how fired up I get talking about licences for RV'S and the 65+ year old people that drive them.

http://www.checkmate-boats.com/6/ws/,s,8626072361/avatars/rooster_3.jpg

1975 Checkmate Tri-mate 2, 2.4 200+

[Bill]

Good news, the local station that brought the news of this law is redoing the news tonight, CORRECTLY. The law is anyone under 13 must wear the life jackets. I spoke to the DNR and the Coast Gaurd today to get this info and have been e-mailing the news station. Now tell me how stuoid this is, this is a federal law that will be enforced by the coast gaurd,but the DNR will not enforce it. At least the Iowa DNR. I agrre with the boating coarses also!