Thu, 28th February 2008, Fishing Boat Harbour, Fremantle, Western Australia
Well, this evening Vera completed the practical assessment for her RST, and passed with flying colours. Last week she finished 3 evenings of theory with 100% in the theory test.
The Recreational Skippers Ticket (RST) was introduced by the West Australian government a couple of years ago in an attempt to regulate the operation of recreational craft within Western Australia. Previously it wasnt required to hold a license, and a lot of people would go out and buy a boat (power or sail), never having owned a boat before, and not have any idea about the Rules of the Sea, how to maintain the boat, basic understanding of boating, and using waterway (both inshore and offshore). Ultimately the would have accidents hurting themselves or others. The RST was set-up hopefully to make life safer on the water by educating people.
I'm afraid it is a bit of a money raising exercise by the government, as well as the numerous 'so-called' qualified instructors and assessors.
Anyway Vera did hers wtih the Fremantle Volunteer Sea Rescue Group, and she said they were great.
I did mine a few years ago through Royal Perth Yacht Club, and because I had owned boats before, I just had to sit the theory test - easy.....
Congratulations Babes.....well done.....
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Comments [2]
Well, I am hardly one to give the government a break, however they aren't making any money at all out of this. In fact they are spending a fortune on it. they are spending money that they have received from boat registrations over the years and finally it is being put back into making boating safer. I will agree with you about so-called instructors. Many are just assessors satisfying the minimum standard required to be an assessor. There are only a few of us , like Perth Boat School, with true experience and proven capacity and qualifications to properly train skippers. That said, I am glad the Ticket is here, its a shame more isn't taught to people as there certainly could be some improvement on the way people act on the water. But then again - the roads aren't much better, are they?
I agree, I suppose I was just being sarcastic as I believe more should be done in training skippers. Just the same as we train kids to drive. But, it is a step in the right direction. I just wish there was more policing of the water-ways. Especially as a yacht skipper, when you get power boats speeding through the bridges when our masts are lowered, it gets pretty dangerous. I hope the training guys spend a bit of time on this.
I know everytime I have an incident where I believe another boat (especially powerboats) dont take care of other users, I put in a DPI Incident Report. Not sure what happens with these, as I have never gotten anything in return.
Thanks for the comment, and I appreciate what you guys do.....
