Search and rescue

[bigmart]

The point of my comments really distills down to this.

If there were no stifling regulations & no Coastguards/Regulators I would still go sailing/boating.

Carry on with these ludicrous regulation & there will be no Coastguards & no Boaters.

I know which I prefer.

Martin

 

[Ohdrat]

quote..All of the other emergency services are used by people throughout the UK. This cannot be said for HM Coastguard. errrr yes they do.. every time they buy goods that have been carried by sea or use a passenger ferry on a trip over to the continent...

This argument is completely void as I have never used the Fire Service but I still pay willingly for it..

Anybody who travel by ferry is coverd (whilst in UK waters) by HMCG ...

 

[bigmart]

The other things you won't hear in any of these arguments are:

a) How will who pays what be determined? From a 114 ft Swan to a Lilo

b) Who will finance the completely new strata of beaurocrat required to collect it.? I think I know the answer to that one.

c) How will it be policed? This one has been touched upon.

d) What is the cost effectiveness of all this? Its a fair bet it would be cheaper to leave well alone.

remeber we are already paying for this service through the various taxation methods currently imposed.

But there again if we don't go for it, there will be, no opportunity for the polticians to hide a tax rise & push it through by the back door & there would be no jobs for the boys created.

I must be getting paranoid but George Orwell certainly did have a point.

Like they say "Just because I'm paranoid it doesn't mean that they arn't out to get me."

Regards

Martin

 

[Observer]

Ever heard of preventive maintenance?

as opposed to "stick your head in the sand and hope"

 

[Observer]

Exactly my point - thank you

I wasn't aware of the system you described but I'm glad to hear it exists. Another poster makes the point that there is/are voluntarily funded mountain rescue organisation(s). If I engaged in mountain climbing, I think I would feel a moral obligation to subscribe or contribute in the same way as I felt an obligation to join the RNLI.

There seems no reason why the same shouldn't apply to ocean racing where participants are outside the reach of organisations like the RNLI. As I said before, it doesn't have to follow that the entire cost of SAR is funded by such means and I haven't suggested an insurance scheme per se. Just a mechanism to allow direct contributions to the costs of providing the service.

(By the way, although I'm replying to your post, I'm not aiming these comments at you. I suspect, if you'll excuse the presumption, you agree with my general argument.)

 

[bigmart]

Re: Exactly my point - thank you

I still say your being too reasonable.

The instances you cite, where voluntry contributions are made, all involve voluntry/chartitable institutions.

Start talking about cotributions towards Government funded organisations, which you must be, considering the size/cost of the equipment required, and you allow the beaurocrats/politicians the opportunity to hijack it for their own purposes.

Don't say you havn't been warned.

Martin

 

[Observer]

Re: Cough up!

I agree that voluntary funding is to be preferred if for no other reason than it is more efficient. More of the money gets to where it will do some good.

But, there can be an element of compulsion as well. For example, members of a dinghy racing club pay a subscription or race entry fee, part of which funds the provision of a safety boat. If you don't pay, you don't race.

 

[Observer]

NIMBYism

Martin,

Not necessarily aimed at you but:

I've read other posts today - people screaming "make the polluters pay" and "more regulation of commercial shipping" (esp. oil tankers).

We can't have it both ways. If we want/accept effective regulation of some, we should accept that we may also become regulated. Of course lines need to be drawn and there are clearly differing views about that. The best way of ensuring that the lines are drawn in places which least impinge on our freedom is to act responsibly in small things and set an example to others. One way of doing that (amongst many others) is to seek to ensure that the pursuit of our preferred activities does not draw disproportionately from common resources.

I know this sounds awfully pious but the logic seems inescapable, to me anyway.

By the way, I thought you were a bit hard on the coastguard chap. As you're a professionally qualified seaman (I'm not), I should think you would know better than most about the sorts of idiocy they run across.

 

[bigmart]

Re: NIMBYism

You must remember that, there are already mechanisms in place, to deal with coimmercial shipping, & that society has a right to expect legislation to protect it from being poisoned by carriers of dangerous cargo. That is far removed from financing recue operations. I don't expect anyone complained about the costs of rescuing the crew of the Prestige & nor should they.

Equally I am sure that the might of the law would reign down on an incompetent yachtsman who caused havoc through his own stupidity.

None of this should detract from the fact that rescue should be available without any kind of qualification either legislated or implied.

I don't think thats Nimbyism do you.

My comments regarding my qualifications were not meant to raise my stature to that of an expert, because I am not.

I don't want to raise the point here but, if you search back to posts earlier in the year, you will find that my experience of our so called profesional Government bodies leaves me less than confident about the quality of some of their personel.

Regards

Martin

 

[Opinionated]

Well, surely, the payment will be appropriate to the risk, as in all insurance.

That means that the premium for the guy on the lilo will be £1234.56, and for the Swan, £22.30.



(I don't have to agree with YOUR opinions, but I'll defend your right to express them).

 

[bigmart]

I see that youve grasped my argument and come to the logical conclusion.

Of course the guy on the Lilo should pay more. He hasn't got a Marina owner to support. He can afford it.

Martin

 

[peterb]

Driving tests

One of the best drivers I have known was my father. In 55 years of motoring he never had an accident; we used to rally together (I navigated) and I still have a shelf full of his pots. He learnt to drive pre-war (the 1914-18 one) and was never required to take a test. And incidentally, he was taught by my grandfather; no motoring schools in those days!