License for Water Scooters. Thin end of the wedge?

[lustyd]

wow what a sweeping generalisation. Almost as pointless as "mobo owners are all rich gin swilling idiots" or "yachties are all blue flag flying pompous commodore wannabes". They're just people that want to be on the water who chose a PWC. Many of them probably also own yachts or mobos!

 

[NotBirdseye]

What is so wrong about needing a license that shows you have passed a test and have some level of competence and knowledge to enable you to operate that vehicle safely and not endanger others. Be it a car or a watercraft of any description. And don't whinge about the money. All boat owners are loaded.

Given the amount of boat yards and boat builders shutting down, we want more people to get involved. Not less.

As for all boat owners being 'loaded'... yeah I wish. Fortunately I don't do things like eating out or grabbing take away coffee or nipping down the pub, I don't drink, I don't smoke. I have caring duties when I'm not working. The point of getting a boat was for some way of getting away from the nonsense and stress because there's very few other outlets. It's actually cheaper for me to holiday in a boat than it is to buy a caravan... which brings to mind another reason I purchased the boat... last holiday was over 15 years ago.

That said it's going to take a while for me to settle into the new finances of being a boat owner as the initial first year cost practically doubled from what it should have been (thank you lockdown...). If I were loaded (with the greatest respect to Khamsin because she's a gorgeous little thing) I would have opted for something a little bigger and much younger (Khamsin is a 1970s design commissioned in 1982).

 

[Clancy Moped]

Is a Water Scooter a Jet Ski?

 

[greeny]

I'll ask again:- What is so wrong about needing a license that shows you have passed a test and have some level of competence and knowledge to enable you to operate that vehicle safely and not endanger others.
Without training and testing how do we ensure that "drivers" have the knowledge and skill to operate their vehicles safely. Nothing to do with boatyards closing or hoop jumping.
The bit about money was my attempt at humour. Maybe I should have put a smiley after it.

 

[lustyd]

OK I'll rephrase mine. Whats so wrong with freedom?

 

[Blue Sunray]

I'll ask again:- What is so wrong about needing a license that shows you have passed a test and have some level of competence and knowledge to enable you to operate that vehicle safely and not endanger others.
Without training and testing how do we ensure that "drivers" have the knowledge and skill to operate their vehicles safely. Nothing to do with boatyards closing or hoop jumping.
The bit about money was my attempt at humour. Maybe I should have put a smiley after it.

...and compulsory re-testing say every three years for those over 65 to ensure that they are still up to it.

 

[NotBirdseye]

I'll ask again:- What is so wrong about needing a license that shows you have passed a test and have some level of competence and knowledge to enable you to operate that vehicle safely and not endanger others.
Without training and testing how do we ensure that "drivers" have the knowledge and skill to operate their vehicles safely. Nothing to do with boatyards closing or hoop jumping.
The bit about money was my attempt at humour. Maybe I should have put a smiley after it.

The fact that it stops and puts people off getting into boating therefore leads to boatyards closing due to lack of demand. This is the point the RYA have been banging on about for years (credit given where credit is due).

 

[Pye_End]

Antisocial hobby. Needs looking at as it affects so many other people. Enough of them don't care about speed limits, swimming zones etc., And then there is the noise..... With freedom comes responsibility.

 

[greeny]

The fact that it stops and puts people off getting into boating therefore leads to boatyards closing due to lack of demand. This is the point the RYA have been banging on about for years (credit given where credit is due).

Put that to one side. May be or may not be a consequence.
Tell me why you don't want to increase the competence and knowledge of people to enable them to operate their vehicles more safely and not endanger others.

 

[FlyingGoose]

Put that to one side. May be or may not be a consequence.
Tell me why you don't want to increase the competence and knowledge of people to enable them to operate their vehicles more safely and not endanger others.

Because the UK is an island nation with deep roots and heritage to the sea, as everything else needs to be licensed we who love the sea has seen much work by the RYA to not allow restrictions and paper work not to infect the sailing community
The impact of this would affect all levels of the sport and recreational value of being on the water
I have no numbers on the number of craft on the water, from surfers to large cruisers , but using that figure and comparing it to deaths, major accidents, rescues , it is extremely low, so it shows the the majority of sea goers in all forms respect the sea and the rules and decency to do the right thing
To think in any walk of life, in all sectors of humanity we do not have baboons is a narrow view of the world.
The small but irrational jetskiers who like to race about , can also be linked to large MOBo s screaming past my yacht ,
Let us not seek out a problem when one does not exist

 

[NotBirdseye]

Put that to one side. May be or may not be a consequence.
Tell me why you don't want to increase the competence and knowledge of people to enable them to operate their vehicles more safely and not endanger others.

Not saying I don't... but we don't need mandatory licensing for something like that. We could instead, say that it would be looked on unfavorably if it's your fault and/or you committed an existing crime in the process.... and there are plenty of existing crimes. You could even require as part of the rehabilitation scheme, that people have to undertake professional training within a set period and attain a qualification.

I'd even wager if the coastguard see people doing daft things that they could require such training and issue them with a ticket if they are behaving without due care for others, their vessel or their crew or themselves (in that order).

But there should not be a bar for the vast majority of decent law abiding folk to get on the water as it simply adds to the financial problems.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

A quick google tells me that licences are needed in the USA for craft with over 10hp. It also tells me that they have 40-50 jet ski deaths and 600-700 injuries each year.

We, with one fifth of the population, managed 6 deaths between 2009 and 2019.

 

[NotBirdseye]

A quick google tells me that licences are needed in the USA for craft with over 10hp. It also tells me that they have 40-50 jet ski deaths and 600-700 injuries each year.

We, with one fifth of the population managed 6 deaths between 2009 and 2019.

6 over 10 years (technically 11)....

 

[Tomaret]

Hansard. Enjoy the vellum.

Can you be more specific? An extract from 1909 makes it clear that the granting of a licence required no evidence of competence and that attempts to introduce a driving test were rebuffed on the basis that there was no evidence of correlation between accidents and driver incomptence!

 

[Clancy Moped]

They are a carbuncle on sea......bugger off.

 

[chrishscorp]

They are a carbuncle on sea......bugger off.

No let the RN use them as moving target practice

 

[Daydream believer]

Because the UK is an island nation with deep roots and heritage to the sea,

Unfortunately your analogy breaks down in the modern age. In the past era communities were close knit & seafarers learned from the community around them. As a result they acted in the way their fore bearers taught them. They learned the skills of the community developed over centuries. Generally they learned to show the respect that the community demanded. Otherwise the community dealt with it in a way that generally worked for the good of the community.
In modern times one can jump in one's vehicle in Romford, be on the water in under an hour & have no contact with those around one. Unfortunately in many cases there will be none of the close attachment to that community & no sense of responsibility to it. Hence it will be a case of " jump on the jet ski for an hour, roar around caring about no one". then pack up and go home to tell all those in the pub at Gallows corner about the great time one has had & how they should try it some time.
Add to that the tendency to "avoid the rules" where possible ,along with a bit of "coke sniffing etc." & you have a generation of undesireables wandering about with total disregard for the law or, their fellow man. Our "diverse" communities are no longer structured in a way that this can be countered successfully without fear & intimidation.

 

[Stemar]

Licencing will make no difference to the idiots, any more than it does to the idiots on motorbikes. However, I would argue for compulsory insurance and penalties to include confiscation of the jetski - or fast RIB - for the most egregious offences of dangerous driving. I'd have no argument with insurance being compulsory for all boats, tenders being included in the mothership's insurance.

"But my lad in his Mirror doesn't go fast enough to hurt anything" Maybe, until he misses a tack in a channel and that fancy Sirius mentioned elsewhere ends up on the rocks trying to avoid running him down.

 

[ip485]

I suppose the acid test is whether it is an issue. Of course there will be those who have had one bad experience, who will say it is. Of course they will. Honestly, I have seen the very odd inconsiderate jetskier, but that is about it. I have also seen the odd inconsiderate speed boat driver, as well. You can imagine there are a few other categories as well. Are they any worse than the rest - I dont believe so. Are they an unreasonable danger. Well, as someone else said, I personally suspect there are far more people driving with eye sight that would fall below the standard required, and perhaps we should enforce eye sight tests? The reality is society should need to percieve a risk being significant enough before introducing regulations, and I honestly believe the reality is this is a case of some equally selfish people who feel they should disapprove of jetskis and peope enjoying themselves on the water, without any good reason.

 

[Hallberg-Rassy]

In 1930, before the introduction of driving licenses and with roughly 1m cars in use, 7,805 people were killed on UK roads.

Causation or correlation? Speedometers only became compulsory in 1937, so perhaps that didn't help?


Clearly, if we need licenses for a sea scooter, we also need licenses for ... women running underwater with BIG rocks too.

"This is clearly a dangerous hobby. It's only a matter of time before someone gets killed. Think of the children!

I have no idea what a sea scooter is either. But vote for me. Something needs to be done about it!"

Has anyone died yet

Amazing, I finally searched on the internet for something and couldn't manage to find an example of one with a woman in a bikini on it. What's the world coming too?