Skippers Licence

Blu32

New member
I'm not really a big fisher(wo)man but my poor mom & brother had a HUGE problem this last weekend. On a holiday to a Parks Board camp on the North Coast they took their boats & were all revved up in anticipation of getting some R&R on the river. Except it didn't go according to plan when they were told (by the local ski boat club) that they couldn't lauch since they don't have their skippers. Both of them really only go out on the bay in Dbn Harbour where before it was not necessary.

However after a number of phone calls the next morning, they managed to find a very nice man who helped them. But what I'm shocked at is that this is not made public knowledge, especially since I believe it's now going to be law that you do need a skippers- even for the bay. While this was all going on, the various people from my mom's boat club that she called, didn't even know about it, although they go regularly to the SADSAA meetings. Also, I surfed the web for about 5 hours and couldn't find any definitive info on the subject. Some people knew that it was being discussed, but few knew that it was now law. Even a man I called from NSRI couldn't help!!

Can anyone clear this up?
 

MickJack

Senior Member
Interesting note....

If you have a SA Sailing Skippers Ticket

it is valid for powerboats too!

(But not vice-versa)
 

Old Sea Dog

New member
Your mom and brother's problem is due to relatively new legislation that has actually been around for a while, but that only started being enforced since the beginning of last year (2006). From what I undestand, at first SAMSA wanted ALL boaters to pass the offshore skipper's exam, but they eventually relented and agreed to a scaled down exam (called a COC - Certificate of Competency) for bay, river and estuary skippers. I believe that Alan Posthumus runs a course quite regularly to cater specifically for the people affected by this at the Fynnlands club which is on the silt canal in the harbour. You can get most of the information that you will need on http://www.safeboating.org.za/.

 

 
 

Blu32

New member
Thanx for all the replies. My mom & bro do have the CoC etc. and their boats comply with all the regulations etc. Obviously after this, however, they will all be doing the skippers as soon as possible tho, to prevent further... complications!!  :?

 
 
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