re: How many of y'all are aware of this law?

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Had no clue. not a terrible law. everyone should take one no matter what age. there are some grade A dumb shits out there that make the water dangerous.

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this

I bet lots of people driving boats don't understand channel markers or horn signals and all of that is covered there. There's some good stuff about navigation rules.

It's actually a pretty good little class if you get over the "why the hell do I have to do this" part and take it seriously. There's lots of stuff about sailing vessels and jet skis that people who don't fool with them wouldn't know.

Took that. Cheated. Passed by a point. Never been asked for it.

Been aware of it and broke it the entire time I owned a boat. I've been working on completing the online class for like 2 years . I always wore an auto-inflate jacket when underway in may flats boat. Everything else was kept in good shape and legal. I only ever saw WLF agents pulling over boats that they looked like they were going to find something. I would say I passed agents 15-20 times in PAC and Cocodrie and all I got was a wave as I passed and they would stop the boat behind me every once and a while. I guess I looked trustworthy

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How dumb is it that the year stays the same as time passes, by the way?

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so that one day just like hunter safety - everyone will have to take it.

I don't know one single boating rule.

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1966
I learned by doing

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Same!

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Boudreaux35

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you work football too?

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Yes, I think it is BS law. If a kid is taught how to run a boat at a young age by someone that knows the rules of the water way, they shouldn't have to go thru that BS. Hell, I was running a little skiff when I was around 11 years old all by myself.

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What's the difference between drivers license for cars and certification for operating a boat? Do you think kids should have to go through drivers education at 15? I was running boats at that age as well, and like I said earlier, I still learned a few things from the class.

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The problem is not young kids, it's guys that are in the 20's- 30's that buy these high power boats and never own a boat before.

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The problem has nothing to do with the age of the person or the speed of their boat. I've seen plenty of guys in their 40s-50s in their bayliners trying to pull their kids/grandkids down the diversion canal on a tube on a Saturday which is just as dangerous. The boating class doesn't teach you common sense.

It teaches you how to navigate channel markers, who has the right-of-way in certain situations, what you should do if you approach a boat from head on, from the side. It teaches you how to tell which direction a boat is traveling at night by looking at the color of the bow lights...that sail boats "sailing" have the right-of-way before motorboats. That's not shite everybody learns by jumping in your daddy's skiff at 11 years old and running down bayou manchac to check your trotlines.

Does anyone remember the accident on blind river from 2008 where 5 people were killed? It was pretty big news at the time.

LINK

The two vessels were coming around a curve and approaching each other head on, a situation where if both vessel operators would have been familiar with what was learned in this class, would have known that the correct maneuver would be for both vessels to steer to the right and pass each other.

Instead, the owner of the powerboat made the correct maneuver to the right, and the smaller boat with the young guys maneuvered to their left, causing the boats to collide head-on.

The class has value to it, but I guess since you've been in a boat since you were 11, that automatically makes you know everything there is to know.

I had some pretty salty boat training in my younger days - I learned a few things listening to my son take the test.


just like sex - just because you do it a lot or have done it a long time doesn't mean you doing it right...