Captains Licence-Government Conspiracy

[CSY Man]

Book Learned Captains are just that.......nothing more nothing less.

The difference is in the QUALITY not QUANTITY of their sea time. IMHO

You ought to complain to the Coast Guard, perhaps they can demand a better quality of sea-time and all your problems would be solved...?

[Pblais]

You ought to complain to the Coast Guard, perhaps they can demand a better quality of sea-time and all your problems would be solved...?

Government license = minimal level of competency.

The whole idea is to prove you are not dangerous to the general public. After that you are on your own. In another career I had a license. 5 years of college and 2 years experience before you could even take the test that took 2 days. I flunked 1 part of 4 and then got the message. The second time I got one of the highest scores. Bottom Line: It don't mean much. It's how you look at it. It's why I failed and why I got a high score. You really don't have to be that good to be better than most.

[Chief Engineer]

It is nicer to be fully quoted.

The original point of this post was humor.

I was making an observation that a paper licence does not in and of itself indicate competency.

The theads got hijacked into some legal what ifs'....what coulds' etc.

Then it appears that I offended some. Sorry, that was not my intent.

To have a ticket, to have "bragging" rights, is a lot of Bravo Sierra.

There is a heckuva lot more to being a Captain than cellusose and ink.

Arghhhh, Wed, September 19, 2007...International Talk Like a Pyrate Day

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by Chief Engineer

The original point of this post was humor.

Never mind that! I want someone to point me to the regulations that say my Naval commission gives me a license to kill

[David M]

A license is an indicator that someone passed a test and met minimum standards for sea time. It's not proof that someone is competent. On the other hand, its not necessarily an indication that someone with a new license is incompetent. That is what bugged me...someones assumption that a person who is newly licensed is incompetent...and it was not you who implied this Chief Engineer.

No hard feelings

[Wannafish]

"Hey...new captains have to start somewhere. Some start with a 6-pack and some with a..."

Keg?

[Thermal]

Originally Posted by Pblais

Government license = minimal level of competency.

The whole idea is to prove you are not dangerous to the general public.

That gets pretty shaky if you start talking about drivers licenses
I suppose that could be expained by the difference between an idea and reality.

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by Thermal

That gets pretty shaky if you start talking about drivers licenses
I suppose that could be expained by the difference between an idea and reality.

And what about a motorcylcle license?!?!

I got one in the State of New Hampshire many years ago. The "competency test" was a 5 or 10MPH wandering around cones set up in the parking lot of the Division of Motor Vehicles. You never got out of first gear, but you had to gracefully pirouette around the cones without touching a foot down. Absurd. It was like testing out one's ballet skills to see if they were a good moguls skiier. No test of how well you could handle the bike, if you knew how to avoid crashes (sand, oil, wet surfaces, steel, passing on the right, watching behind you, etc... etc...).

And get this: The test could be taken on a MOPED!!!

That's what my friend did to pass very easily. I used a Kawasaki ZX-7. Ouch. The guys on the Harleys had an even harder time than me.

Made no sense at all.

[Thermal]

Yes, that is silly, but the hazard you pose to the cage driving general public is not that great. We do seem to have an epedemic of laws to protect you from yourself, but a motorcycle license isn't one of them. I did the same ballet around the cones over thirty years ago on a Honda 80, and am still riding around with all my bodyparts intact (knock on wood), but that certainly as nothing to do with the license.

[scallywag]

Is taking a motorcycle test akin to taking a boat operations test in a dink? Could you imagine the cost of taking an government official out on your vessel? I wonder what kind of test the vessel would have to pass just so you could take a boat operaors test? Just think of all the fun we'd miss at the boat ramp watching the captains ( use the word lightly) retrieve their boats. How about docking at the dock?

[ssullivan]

Scallywag makes some good points. I'm very ANTI licensing. I suppose it's too late to join any political movement against these licenses though, huh?

They just aren't working.

[forsailbyowner]

not as much against licenses as mandatory insurances. Thats what drove me out of my construction business. Was paying more for insurance than I ever made and never used it.

[Lancerbye]

I'm ready to join any anti boat licensing lobby out there. Over the many years I have been involved with boats I have had to shell out the seemingly small amount of money for a host of different licensing. When one looks at the overall picture most of the programs out there are nothing more than money grabs. Like the boater education cards that you can aquire and are mandated to have in many states for $39.95 or what ever, could be passed by the average landlubber that has never seen a boat. The only real purpose for the card is the fee. Talk about piracy. Our buracrats have this down to a fine art.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by ssullivan

I suppose it's too late to join any political movement against these licenses though, huh?

There are many groups out there you can join. Or you can start your own. But you need a license to run one...

[ssullivan]

Mistake:

I confused this thread with the state licensing thread. I'm not against professional licenses issued at the federal level. I'm against the state level licenses. Just thought I'd mention that.