Tuesday, June 30, 2009
New law targets young boaters first
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
Recent columns
Some Virginia personal watercraft drivers may find themselves in need of a summer school cram session in the coming weeks.
Those under 20 years old are the first ones who'll need to comply with the state's mandatory boater education requirement, which begins Wednesday.
The program, mandated recently by the General Assembly and managed by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, is being phased in.
That first group is relatively small, and many likely already have met the requirements.
"A lot of people in that under 20 category have already taken a class," DGIF State Boating Law Administrator Charlie Sledd said.
Sledd pointed out that some will have taken the course to comply with a rule that's been in place for several years that requires 14- and 15-year-olds to have completed a boater education course before they were allowed to operate personal watercraft.
During the next several years, the list of those required to complete a boating education course will grow. All motorboat operators will have to meet the requirement by July 1, 2016.
In planning its program, Virginia looked at boating education systems in other states, borrowing ideas that worked and avoiding ideas that didn't.
Sledd noted that one state simply implemented a date five years distant by which time all of its boaters had to be qualified.
"You can guess what happened," Sledd said.
Virginia officials didn't want to deal with a half-million boaters rushing to get qualified as a deadline approached, so implementing the requirement gradually will help the program manage the huge number of boaters who must eventually get through the system.
Sledd said Virginia has about 250,000 registered boats, most with multiple operators. The total number of boaters could reach 750,000, Sledd said.
About 5,000 Virginia boaters annually have been voluntarily completing a boater education course.
Sledd said he expects the years leading up to July 1, 2012 and July 1, 2013 to be particularly busy.
That first date is the deadline for all personal watercraft operators, and for boaters 30 years old and under. The next year is for boaters 40 and under.
The law applies to operators of craft with engines having at least 10 horsepower.
Most boating education courses are taught by volunteers, from groups such as the Coast Guard Auxiliary and Sail and Power squadrons.
The number of available classes is expected to increase substantially to handle the additional students.
Boaters can also meet the requirements by taking an approved course over the Internet.
Sledd said the DGIF offers links to four approved Web-based course providers.
Those online courses have some meat to them.
Until recently, some allowed participants to skip straight to the final test. But no more.
Now the courses require students to work through the lessons, with short tests at the end of each module.
"They should take about six hours," Sledd said of the Internet courses.
There won't be a universal boater education card or license issued under the new program. The card or certificate from the completed course will serve as proof of completion.
For boaters who want a specific card, the DGIF will offer an optional card for $10. The agency will be ready to start issuing those cards in the next couple of weeks, said Sledd, who added that it had already received requests -- and payments -- for several cards.
The DGIF's Web site (www.dgif.virginia.gov) includes additional details on the boater education law, as well as links to the Web-based courses and lists of classroom boater education sessions.
Malat to host surf fishing school
The vast Atlantic can be intimidating for inland anglers hoping to get in on good surf fishing action.
Joe Malat knows this.
A veteran surf angler, Malat hosts a couple of surf fishing schools on North Carolina's Outer Banks each year.
He already had one in May this year, with another one set for Oct. 1-4 -- just at the start of the exciting fall surf angling season.
The school will be at Comfort Inn in Nags Head, with a combination of classroom instruction and sessions on the beach.
The fee is $295, which also covers a goodie bag of equipment and a copy of Malat's book, Surf Fishing: Catching Fish from the Beach.
The fee does not cover lodging, which is available at the Comfort Inn and other nearby motels.
For more information, call Malat at (252) 441-4767 or visit joemalat.com.
