Same old, same old

[gandy]

The reference to hang gliding is interesting, although it could be misleading to compare the two dissimilar sports.

You won't find any current pilot recommending that you fly a HG without formal training. However that training does not magically make experienced and wise airmen - that can only be gained with experience. Unfortunately the correspondent here, who gained his HG "ticket" then crashed and gave up, is not alone, but that does not mean that there was no point in his initial training.

Hang gliding, as a sport has succeeded in fighting off compulsory training and government licences by operating a form of voluntary closed shop - without a qualification nobody would sell you a glider, or let you fly from their site.

Tony S

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[Woodpile]

Compulsory training for skippers won't make any difference to your entertainment at the quay. Bodged berthing manouvres are always the crew's fault, aren't they?

On a serious note, the best form of training is practical experience, and at least the bodgers are having a go. A bit of friendly hands-on assistance or a word of encouragement is far better than a sneer from the sidelines. Not all of them had the advantage of growing up in and around boats as others have, and we should give them credit for taking to the water in the first place.

I've noticed that harbour masters and the like tend to have a more cheerfully pragmatic approach to novices causing havoc than most established amateurs. Partly, I put this is down to the special kind of snobbery endemic to pleasure-boaters of all kinds. It's self-perpetuating, as we feel the stares and unkind jibes when we start out and make mistakes for ourselves, and then relish the first opportunity to get our own back with a sneer at some other poor sod. It's sad, because attitudes like this exclude novices and discourage them from asking for the help and advice they really need.

We should all remember our own mistakes before lobbing brickbats. And make sure the insurance is up to date.

Getting back to the point, a quick spin around the M25 is all that's required to prove that licences don't discourage idiocy and anyway, Blair, Brown and Blunkett surely don't need yet more ways of keeping tabs on us? In my opinion compulsory regulation is a bad idea and should be resisted.

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[smee]

Have you noticed that every car driver has to be licensed and yet there is an almightly large number of idiots in charge of cars!!!! Perhaps this should be warning enough that expensive legislation on the boat owner will not actually make them better sailers!!

As I have all the RYA Theories and have an ICC certificate, it would not worry me to be licensed, but I'd rather like to see proof that pushing more expense the way of the boat owner is actually going to do any good!

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