Safety rules to cover more boaters
A time bomb is ticking for a huge swath of the boating public — the generation that ranges 35 and younger — that will be required, starting Jan. 1, to have a California Boaters Card before operating a boat.
Over the weekend at Shasta Lake, California’s No. 1 recreation lake, sheriffs on boat patrols were handing out a safety booklet with the test in the back, provided free from the Division of Boating and Waterways.
“Families are very receptive and take the books,” said Rob Sandbloom, the sheriff in charge of the boating patrol unit at Shasta Lake.
On the other hand, boaters in the key 25to35 age range often have the attitude, “If I don’t have to do it now, I’m not gonna do it,” according to several sheriffs on boat patrols. Hence the time bomb, because come 2020, the law says, “You’re gonna have to do it.”
For this year, boaters 25 or younger are required to take the safety course and get the card. The full impact, implementation and enforcement of the law is expected next year.
The law is taking aim at the high percentage of accidents caused by those with lack of boater education, according to the DBW.
A free homestudy course for the California Boaters Card test is available at www. californiaboatercard.com. After sending in the results, qualifying boaters can purchase the card for $10, and it is good for life.
I’ve ridden on several boat patrols in the delta, where I observed that sheriffs could have written tickets and instead chose education.
On the delta and at the big lakes, you often see a lack of knowledge among boaters. Those 12 and younger must wear a life jacket at all times while aboard, for instance, and violations of that rule are seen often. Wakeboarders and those with personal watercraft often “hit the coves” at high speed, plow the shoreline and ruin the fishing, paddle sports and swimming; at most locations, the speed limit is 5 mph in coves.
They play dumb when stopped, sheriffs say. Truth is, they just don’t have the education. That’s all about to change.