Captain's license: online or in person?

[Cherise]

You really need to research the steps/hurdles necessary after you pass (the easiest part btw) in order to be approved (medical may deny you simply by a type of medication you take). Of course these businesses selling you $$$ classes don't go over all of this.

I agree with that legal opinion.
Of course you are held to a higher standard.

Ex, .003% alcohol vs .008% will get you a BUI if you are a capt.

I am not a lawyer. However, I believe you are more of a target for a lawsuit if you are licensed.
I know of an instance. I have a friend who went through this. A gal is injured at the dock, he was on the boat (as crew and it wasn't his boat) he was named in the lawsuit just because he had his ticket.



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[Chas.7]

Hello,I've held a unlimited inland masters license and first class pilot any gross. If you have a license the Coast Guard can take action against you. If you have a federal pilots license and a state pilots license and at the time of the accident you were operating under the state license the Coast Guard will not take action against. That doesn't mean your not going to get sued.
Your health is very important. What medications your on. At my company a deckhand can have a alcohol level of .04 , keep his jobs and enter a program. Captains and Chiefs have to blow 0.00. Any levels above and your fired and may lose your license. We had people on prescribed medication get suspended from work.
Good luck




Consider the danger

[Chas.7]

Hello,Download a copy of Proceedings from the USCG
Good luck

[Pete O Static]

I agree that there isn't a defense for being an idiot but anytime a license is involved, the playing field changes. Look at what happens on the road. The cyclist vs the driver. Which one gets charged for running a red light? And which one freely runs a red light on a regular basis? Same goes on the water, no license required to be there, just like the cyclist yet who do you think breaks most of the rules and gets away with it most of the time? At least on the water, a guy sailing for pure recreation does something stupid and happens to be licensed, he/she will likely need to defend that license. The unlicensed guy may get a fine or warning but in the absence of litigation, how is he sanctioned?

[denverd0n]

And once again I will repeat...

I have searched and searched and have NEVER found a case where a person with a license was held to a higher standard than a person without a license, in a case where the licensed person was out for recreational boating and was NOT actually operating under the auspices of their license. NEVER!

All I ever hear are stories about how someone is sure that this happened to a friend of their's once. No one can ever point me to any original source that would confirm the story. No one. EVER!

I simply do not believe it. If it is happening, then there must be some documentation of it SOMEWHERE. But there isn't. At least none that I have ever been able to find, and none that anyone has ever been able to point me to.

Provide me some real evidence and I will apologize and grovel at your feet. Until then, to everyone who crows about licensed captains being held to a higher standard (again, when they are NOT operating under their license) I can only say: BULL!

[CSY Man]

Agree, never seen an actual case either.
I leave my ticket at home when I go pleasure boating and I try not to
Do stupid things whether I get paid for being on the water or not.
Is not that hard to not be stupid.

a guy sailing for pure recreation does something stupid and happens to be licensed, he/she will likely need to defend that license.

[WindwardPrinces]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Provide me some real evidence and I will apologize and grovel at your feet. Until then, to everyone who crows about licensed captains being held to a higher standard (again, when they are NOT operating under their license) I can only say: BULL!

Anybody in any profession is held to a higher standard if they're trained and licensed.

I don't think it's a good reason not to get training or a license, as the training will more likely keep you out of harm's way, but awareness of the laws can and will be held against you.

It's true in every profession, not just boating.

[Pete O Static]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

And once again I will repeat...

I have searched and searched and have NEVER found a case where a person with a license was held to a higher standard than a person without a license, in a case where the licensed person was out for recreational boating and was NOT actually operating under the auspices of their license. NEVER!

I agree with you.

However, if you broaden the spectrum a bit, by merely having a License and requiring to meet a medical and criminal background check, are you not already being held to a higher standard?

How about the fact that if you get a DUI on the road, your CG License will now be revoked. Is that not being held to a higher standard?

Failure to make an accurate declaration at Customs when coming home from a family trip in Mexico? Yup, CG License in jeopardy.

Coming at it from a different angle than you for sure, because like you, I don't personally know of any documented incident where a recreational boater was "penalized" heavier because he was licensed. However, I still argue that having a license requires you to defend it and your actions. Not everything is black and white.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by WindwardPrinces

Anybody in any profession is held to a higher standard if they're trained and licensed.

Fine. If that's true, there has to be some evidence somewhere that would prove it. Find it. Show it to me. This should be really easy.

(But it won't be. The evidence doesn't exist. You may think this makes sense, but sense or not it simply is not true.)

[crabcake]

IMHO you retain so much more from taking a class. I would use the analogy that reading a textbook your retention is better than what you get from a lecture.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Pete O Static

Coming at it from a different angle than you for sure...

I don't "get" what angle you're coming at this from.

The question is simple: If a person who has a Coast Guard captain's license is involved in recreational boating--nothing requiring or related to their license--and gets into an accident of some sort, will they be held to be more responsible for the accident, more liable for the results, than any other recreational boater would be, because of having the license? If the answer is "yes," then it should be a simple matter to point to a few court cases, or Coast Guard findings, where this "higher standard" was applied. If you can't find such cases then I think it is highly irrational to believe that the answer is "yes."

The standard you are held to in order to get, or keep, your license is a whole different matter, and irrelevant to this question. I don't see any "angle" where that has anything to do with the question we are discussing here.

[crabcake]

Originally Posted by Brunet27

And to become an ADMIRAL?

Quickest way I know to become an Admiral

[WindwardPrinces]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Fine. If that's true, there has to be some evidence somewhere that would prove it. Find it. Show it to me. This should be really easy.

(But it won't be. The evidence doesn't exist. You may think this makes sense, but sense or not it simply is not true.)

People with licenses get sued all the time. Captains get sued all the time. What are you asking? For me to find someone who has a license who got sued?

The question of whether someone with a license is deemed "more responsible" by a jury or judge because they have a license is a nuance that's difficult to prove or disprove. It's not generally called out specifically. It's generally more the case that they had to have a license to hold that position of responsibility.

[admiralslater]

Originally Posted by crabcake

Quickest way I know to become an Admiral

We bought a bigger boat so I made myself an Admiral ,what the hell I have a fleet ( 2 cats ,2dingys 2kayaks).
Now my wife She is a Sea Lord
I have no opinion about the legal arguments presented but I did take the RYA Day skipper course online and that was fine .However when I took Yachtmaster the next year I found that the stuff I was learning about tides and plotting courses was very difficult for me . I would have benefited from having an instructor there. I did qualify eventually and I learned a ton

[jbinbi]

good topic. I would like to get my 6 pack. I have taken all the power squadron classes through celestial nav, so pretty good on the nav part.

My choices are an in class 2 week 'blitz' class, 4 hours Thu/Fri night and full Sat/Sun on consecutive weekends or I just found marinerslearningsystems.com, which is about 1/3 the price. This is an online system, but they provide materials, and give their approved test several x a year all through the US.

I am not sure if the OP when referring to online meant do it all yourself online, or online from a company.

Interested in what people feel can be done.