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peristaltorWell, let me be clear; I still love boats. I would still love to be driving boats, especially for a living.
What I do not love is Bush's bureaucracy running rampant over anyone's ability to operate boats without an enormous degree of bullshit. I mean, really, requiring background checks on mule drivers?!?
. . .at least an extra $100 on top of fees for Coast Guard credentials. . . . I'll bet you're wondering what those might be? Well, speaking from experience, captain's credentials run a few hundred bucks for the initial testing and paperwork background check, not including the costs of required Red Cross First Aid and CPR training (two separate courses, one for the bandages, one for the chest compressions), FCC maritime radio license (which may have been discontinued, I'm not sure), physical, and NIDA drug test. That's before you get licensed. (If you're curious, here's a linky.) If you pass the exam (extra money required for retesting if you fail, something I didn't have to worry about), you get to pay more for license issuance, about $50 (IIRC). The initial license and all subsequent renewals last 5 years.
If you work on the license, racking up at least 360 eight-hour days (sometimes they fudge and let applicants get away with only a six hour per day average) of sea time in that five year period, you can renew without the knowledge testing -- after taking the physical, drug test, 1st Aid and CPR, and background check.
Oh, and if your professional position takes you out of the US boundary, you also get to seek International Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping certification. Minimum cost runs about $5,000 every 5 years for the gamut of firefighting training, lifeboat practical testing, radar operator certification and a review of everything an Able Seaman needs to know (as determined by the USCG). If you're really lucky, your employer will cover the cost. If you're only moderately lucky, your employer will give you the time off to recert without docking your pay. (That I didn't have to do, thankfully.)
Now that I've ranted a bit, let's reexamine that whole "biometric" crap in the cited and quoted article. It turns out this bit of law was passed after 9/11 to prevent the wrong people from getting into "sensitive" areas on boats, planes, air traffic control centers and the like. Here's a snippet I grabbed from this site:
I wonder where on the mule one would put the biometric lock. Jesting aside, I know right where such locks should go on just about all boats -- overboard! I have been in critical situations where immediate access to, for example, the engine room saved lives. That's why we on the small boats didn't bother locking the engine room with the padlock. Yes, some punk kids might wander down there, but probably couldn't do it unnoticed; open those doors and the full noise from the engines blast the passenger areas. Was it "unsecure" if not locked? Probably; but again, that insecurity was a small price to pay for knowing the machinery spaces were available instantly.
Oh, and who out there has ever dealt with electronic equipment that failed to function? Everyone, I know. Now consider that the prototype locks that were supposed to identify someone deckhand's individual bad breath or whatever failed because of the smoke pouring out of the engine room, and that's why the boat and all her passengers were lost. It makes me sick just thinking about it.
So, for everyone wondering why boats don't play a larger role in the US economy, just read the above once again. A life on the sea (or lake, or bay, or river, or canal or sound) is rewarding.
The required paperwork no longer is.
What I do not love is Bush's bureaucracy running rampant over anyone's ability to operate boats without an enormous degree of bullshit. I mean, really, requiring background checks on mule drivers?!?
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal anti-terror law that requires longshoremen, truckers and others to submit to criminal background checks has ensnared another class of transportation worker -- mule drivers.
Yes, so-called mule skinners -- in this case, seasonal workers who dress in colonial garb at a historical park in Easton, Pa. -- must apply for biometric Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWIC), according to the Transportation Security Administration, which says it is bound by federal law.
The requirement has officials of the Hugh Moore Historical Park perplexed.
"We have one boat. It's pulled by two mules. On a good day they might go 2 miles per hour," said Sarah B. Hays, the park's director of operations.
The park's two-mile canal does not pass any military bases, nuclear power plants or other sensitive facilities. And, park officials say, the mules could be considered weapons of mass destruction only if they were aimed at something resembling food. . . .
The man holding this mule must be
licensed by the coast guard.
I wish I were kidding.
Park officials say four or five park employees typically have Coast Guard credentials to operate the canal boat, and the extra expense of a TWIC card, which is at least an extra $100 on top of fees for Coast Guard credentials, is unwelcome.(Emphasis mine.)
. . .at least an extra $100 on top of fees for Coast Guard credentials. . . . I'll bet you're wondering what those might be? Well, speaking from experience, captain's credentials run a few hundred bucks for the initial testing and paperwork background check, not including the costs of required Red Cross First Aid and CPR training (two separate courses, one for the bandages, one for the chest compressions), FCC maritime radio license (which may have been discontinued, I'm not sure), physical, and NIDA drug test. That's before you get licensed. (If you're curious, here's a linky.) If you pass the exam (extra money required for retesting if you fail, something I didn't have to worry about), you get to pay more for license issuance, about $50 (IIRC). The initial license and all subsequent renewals last 5 years.
If you work on the license, racking up at least 360 eight-hour days (sometimes they fudge and let applicants get away with only a six hour per day average) of sea time in that five year period, you can renew without the knowledge testing -- after taking the physical, drug test, 1st Aid and CPR, and background check.
Oh, and if your professional position takes you out of the US boundary, you also get to seek International Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping certification. Minimum cost runs about $5,000 every 5 years for the gamut of firefighting training, lifeboat practical testing, radar operator certification and a review of everything an Able Seaman needs to know (as determined by the USCG). If you're really lucky, your employer will cover the cost. If you're only moderately lucky, your employer will give you the time off to recert without docking your pay. (That I didn't have to do, thankfully.)
Now that I've ranted a bit, let's reexamine that whole "biometric" crap in the cited and quoted article. It turns out this bit of law was passed after 9/11 to prevent the wrong people from getting into "sensitive" areas on boats, planes, air traffic control centers and the like. Here's a snippet I grabbed from this site:
A biometric access control system consists of technology that determines an individual’s identity by detecting and matching unique physical or behavioral characteristics, such as fingerprint or voice patterns, as a means of verifying personal identity.
I wonder where on the mule one would put the biometric lock. Jesting aside, I know right where such locks should go on just about all boats -- overboard! I have been in critical situations where immediate access to, for example, the engine room saved lives. That's why we on the small boats didn't bother locking the engine room with the padlock. Yes, some punk kids might wander down there, but probably couldn't do it unnoticed; open those doors and the full noise from the engines blast the passenger areas. Was it "unsecure" if not locked? Probably; but again, that insecurity was a small price to pay for knowing the machinery spaces were available instantly.
Oh, and who out there has ever dealt with electronic equipment that failed to function? Everyone, I know. Now consider that the prototype locks that were supposed to identify someone deckhand's individual bad breath or whatever failed because of the smoke pouring out of the engine room, and that's why the boat and all her passengers were lost. It makes me sick just thinking about it.
So, for everyone wondering why boats don't play a larger role in the US economy, just read the above once again. A life on the sea (or lake, or bay, or river, or canal or sound) is rewarding.
The required paperwork no longer is.
