Fishing season opened this past weekend. I noticed a few early season anglers out trying their luck. Most of them were in small aluminum boats equipped with a little outboard motor, usually just under ten horsepower. These are the kind of basic boats you find on most lakes, used for fishing or traveling back and forth to the cottage. They're not high powered cruisers or ski boats, just your basic work-horse model that has been used and enjoyed by outdoors people for years.
I came across an interesting story on line from Iowa. The Iowa House has approved a drunken boating proposal that excludes boaters who use small motors. Under the bill, impaired boaters with low-powered motors less than 10 horsepower would not be subject to criminal charges. Critics of this bill say the law is ridiculous and drunk driving should be treated the same way whether in a boat or a car.
In Canada if you're caught driving anything under the influence you can be charged. That includes all boats. We also have a relatively new requirement where everyone who drives a powered boat of any size is now required to have a special boaters license. It's called an Operator Competency Card. It doesn't matter your age or how long you've been around boats, if it has a motor you need a license to drive it. This includes everything from the biggest yacht to a little aluminum boat with a 4 horsepower on the stern.
This law came about a few years ago because of problems with personal watercraft, also known as jet-skis. People got on these high powered things and drove like maniacs. After they started cutting canoes in half and killing people the government stepped in. Requiring all boaters to know the rules of safe boating and pass a test is not a bad thing. But it seems they've used a blanket law to really target a specific problem. Personal watercraft and high powered boats that travel at high speed on small lakes could be a problem. If the operator is reckless or ignorant of the rules, these craft are dangerous. But the 60 year old angler who knows the lake and has trolled around in his little aluminum boat for the last 40 years is not going to be a threat to himself or anyone else.
Boats without motors don't need an operator competency card. I don't need to pass a test proving that I know the rules of safe boating to paddle my sea kayak. And yet I need to know a lot of this stuff when I'm paddling in ocean water like the Bay of Fundy where knowlege of tides and current is critical. Where's the common sense in all this?
Back to the drunken Iowa boaters where again common sense should prevail. That fisherman in his under ten horsepower aluminum boat enjoying a beer while he's casting is not going to be a danger to himself or others. If he's pissed up and chasing windsurfers he should be busted. I've known people who have been drinking all night and then decide to go for a paddle in the kayak. Bad idea and dangerous. A friend of mine almost drowned doing that. So I guess it's back to common sense and one important rule that I think should be mandatory for all boaters in all size of craft, powered or not. Wear a life jacket at all times. It's not good enough to have one for each person on board if they're not actually wearing them. Accidents can happen, even in tiny aluminum boats and a life jacket can save your life.
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