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let's face it ... damn few folk, even those who can afford to ... buy these craft.
between acquisition, maintenance, docking/moorage, operating costs, insurance ... it's not likely to find somebody with "no experience" buying and operating one and doing really stupid stuff with it.
this is really a "straw man" issue ...
it's more likely that a boneheaded operator would buy a 150 mph car and do stuff with that than buy a "180 mph" boat. When you're in that stratosphere of performance, just how many folk buy Ferrari's, (high end) Porsche's, Lambo's, or top-of-the-line Corvettes?
I don't know about that I think we have all heard stories or even know someone who "bit of more than he could chew" when it comes to cars. I was just talking to a guy the other day who bought a land rover or was it a Range Rover? I can't remember but he used it to bring his boat to the water and backed the rig up so much that water came into the back seat. He said he had seen commercials of those trucks slogging through mud and fording streams so he thought the water couldn't hurt it. He found out the hard way that the electronics for the truck were under the back seat and he fried the whole system.
That is an example of too much money and not enough smarts.
How about the guys that buy a new Vette or Viper back in the day and proceed to wreck it on the way home. It happens.
I think the biggest problem with boats are the first timers that buy say an 18' boat and have no clue except where the gas goes and how to start the engine.
I used to spend a lot of time on a lake before I moved, fishing and wakeboarding etc.. and it was the clowns with the jet skis that were the most dangerous. They used to like to jump wakes even if the boat was pulling a skier. We had one idiot collide with a boat, go over the handle bars and land on a kid inside seriously injuring him and himself. After that there was a movement to outright ban the PWC.
Take several thousand dollars add in testosterone and beer, remove common sense and it is recipe for a wreck on the road or water.
I don't know about that I think we have all heard stories or even know someone who "bit of more than he could chew" when it comes to cars. I was just talking to a guy the other day who bought a land rover or was it a Range Rover? I can't remember but he used it to bring his boat to the water and backed the rig up so much that water came into the back seat. He said he had seen commercials of those trucks slogging through mud and fording streams so he thought the water couldn't hurt it. He found out the hard way that the electronics for the truck were under the back seat and he fried the whole system.
That is an example of too much money and not enough smarts.
That was my point that you're agreeing to.
How about the guys that buy a new Vette or Viper back in the day and proceed to wreck it on the way home. It happens.
And it still happens now.
I think the biggest problem with boats are the first timers that buy say an 18' boat and have no clue except where the gas goes and how to start the engine.
Spot on. Many more of these folk than those who buy a "60 footer" or a "180 mph speedboat".
I used to spend a lot of time on a lake before I moved, fishing and wakeboarding etc.. and it was the clowns with the jet skis that were the most dangerous. They used to like to jump wakes even if the boat was pulling a skier. We had one idiot collide with a boat, go over the handle bars and land on a kid inside seriously injuring him and himself. After that there was a movement to outright ban the PWC.
Take several thousand dollars add in testosterone and beer, remove common sense and it is recipe for a wreck on the road or water.
I've seen more boneheaded behavior on the water that was purely stupidity ... didn't even need to be fueled by alcohol.
In my view, the problem with the premise of this thread remains that nobody has come up with a correlation between boating safety classes and curbing of stupid (and dangerous) behavior on the water.
Much in the same way that a driver's license has yet to curtail many stupid folk in cars on the road ... nor seem to have much effect upon those who choose to operate their vehicles under the influence.
let's face it ... damn few folk, even those who can afford to ... buy these craft.
between acquisition, maintenance, docking/moorage, operating costs, insurance ... it's not likely to find somebody with "no experience" buying and operating one and doing really stupid stuff with it.
this is really a "straw man" issue ...
it's more likely that a boneheaded operator would buy a 150 mph car and do stuff with that than buy a "180 mph" boat. When you're in that stratosphere of performance, just how many folk buy Ferrari's, (high end) Porsche's, Lambo's, or top-of-the-line Corvettes?
I understand your thinking, but here in Michigan on Lake St. Clair there are at least 100 100mph + go fast boats. And plenty of large cruisers. Sure , i would like to think every one of those operators had experience and have common scense but that isn't always the case. Even myself, in the 90's bought a go fast and never drove a boat before , sure it wasn't fast (60mph) but within a year I changed the motor and had it running in the 80's. Pretty stupid , but my experience with race cars , snowmobiles , and dirt bikes provided me with just enough respect that i didn't kill myself or anyone else, and i still had several close calls.
Strawman all you want but i've seen it. We had a bonehead here a few years ago run his year old 38 Cigarette aground at 80+, made it 100' into one of the metro parks. Sure, most people that can afford these boats take performance boating classes on their own. Not all though.
I've seen more boneheaded behavior on the water that was purely stupidity ... didn't even need to be fueled by alcohol.
In my view, the problem with the premise of this thread remains that nobody has come up with a correlation between boating safety classes and curbing of stupid (and dangerous) behavior on the water.
Much in the same way that a driver's license has yet to curtail many stupid folk in cars on the road ... nor seem to have much effect upon those who choose to operate their vehicles under the influence.
My boating is somewhat different than the stories here. I generally boat off the west coast in deep water with relatively long hauls. You virtually always go 25 miles or more in open ocean water. And I have a few dozen trips past 1000 miles up and down the left coast.
I would observe that we seldom have troubles with go fasts. Most of the time it is too rough. Even my 30 foot rear cabin would be able to move out only half the time. Sailboats are fine at well under ten knots but the faster boats take a beating much of the time. And end up in the mid teens.
One can get a good idea of the seamanship achieved by simply sitting in a Catalina Island mooring for a few days. Particularly on a busy weekend. Now there are a whole lot of people there who know just what they are doing...but it is amazing to see some try and pick up a mooring. Now these are pretty friendly places and most of the time a couple of neighbors will use their dinghies or the harbor master will come along and put the poor people on a mooring. But there is no way people with that level of skill should be in the open ocean.
Favorite is the guy who bought a 48 foot sloop in LA. Got a half hours instruction and took itk out off Palo Verde. Lost the engine and demasted the boat in a couple of hours. Required a full scale rescue and had injuries among the crew. The sad thing is that if he had known a little more he cvould probably have killed a few people
So I would hold the demonstrating at least a moderate level of skill should be required to pilot a boat of any reasonable size.
Not that it does good all the time. Like the old salt in Bahia mAgdalena with 8 55v gallon drums of gas on the forward deck of a 40 year old Chris Craft and a heart about to take him out for good. And he knew better.
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