help settle an argument. licence required for boating ?

green123

i think i am legally allowed to buy a boat tomorrow and go try sail it without actually knowing how.

is a licence required for a private powerboat / cruiser at sea ?
is a licence required for the river ?

im fairly sure it isnt but just to get it confirmed

metalscrubber

Green123

Irish law has no licencing requirement when you sail / power boat for pleasure, off shore, costal or river.

If you take on fee paying passengers or freight you need licences.

And to use a marine radio you need a licence.

There are new rules on life jackets.

One of the main reasons there are no licences required is because sailors / boaters - on the whole - are a sensible bunch and very self regulating so do us all a favour and know what you are doing before you slip your berth

Metal

green123

thanks for confirming it.
i knew that for fee paying passengers it was a requirement, thats why i said private in op.
i have no intention of doing it, it was just for arguments sake that i could.
in fact from what i have found on the isa site a 12 year old could.
up to 12 years old you are restricted to 5hp

Alkers

There is another restriction regarding speed boats, jet ski's and the likes. I can't remember exactly what it was but iirc you have to be 16 to be in control of a vessel capable of a certain speed.

Pigeon Reaper

"One of the main reasons there are no licences required is because sailors / boaters - on the whole - are a sensible bunch and very self regulating so do us all a favour and know what you are doing before you slip your berth"

I wish! I'm in a rescue organisation and there has been a marked change in standards for the worse over the past three/four years. Very basic skills are missing and unfortunately it's resulting in some bad accidents and incidents. People in clubs are generally fine but some are just buying boats without any experience or training. At this point I'm getting one shout a week due to pure stupidity. Sorry for the rant....

suimhneas

hi sorry for jumping on your thread but im looking for a sail maker in ireland and i have googled and checked the golden pages and i cant seem to fine anyone. Any ideas where i might get one? thanks

mcgratheoin

suimhneas wrote:

hi sorry for jumping on your thread but im looking for a sail maker in ireland and i have googled and checked the golden pages and i cant seem to fine anyone. Any ideas where i might get one? thanks

Try the clubs - I think that there's one out in Howth but I'm not 100% sure on it.

JamesM

suimhneas wrote:

hi sorry for jumping on your thread but im looking for a sail maker in ireland and i have googled and checked the golden pages and i cant seem to fine anyone. Any ideas where i might get one? thanks

http://www.sail.ie/sailmakers.htm

Jim.

metalscrubber

Green123 - no worries - I was just rereading my answer post and it sounds preachy to me - didn't mean to - apologies if I sounded so.

Pigeon Reaper - yea the rules are breaking down - can't offer the solution other than take away all the silly money.

Cheers,

Metal

humaxf1

I'm involved with DBSC (Dublin Bay Sailing Club) and anyone who drives their RIBs, must have a Powerboat Level 2 cert and a reasonably amount of experience. You have to be 16 and over to do this course.

Its a bit crazy that anyone can buy a powerboat in the morning and go for a burn without any boating experience what so ever, probably no VHF and safety equipment including bouyancy aids or lifejackets...then again, who's gonna stop you!

mcgratheoin

humaxf1 wrote:

Its a bit crazy that anyone can buy a powerboat in the morning and go for a burn without any boating experience what so ever, probably no VHF and safety equipment including bouyancy aids or lifejackets...then again, who's gonna stop you!

There are some lifejacket regulations now, as you say, the only question is who's going to enforce them.

astraboy

I worked on a boat rental dock for a summer in California, and one thing that struck me was how well enforced the water regulations were. We would often have people come back in with warnings from either the water police or the life guard from breaking speed limits in the marina or outside of the speed zone. If you were towing a skier/tube, you needed an observer facing backwards on the boat and to hold up an orange flag if the skier wiped out. Several times people renting jetskis from the docks were given speeding tickets, and had to do an online water safety course taking about half an hour instead of getting a fine! It was really really well policed. Granted it was a busy bay, but if there were laws and rules they were enforced. Also, there was always plenty of law enforcement on the water, lifeguards, police, even homeland security in their super fast RIBS!:eek:

JohnCleary

astraboy wrote:

I worked on a boat rental dock for a summer in California, and one thing that struck me was how well enforced the water regulations were. We would often have people come back in with warnings from either the water police or the life guard from breaking speed limits in the marina or outside of the speed zone. If you were towing a skier/tube, you needed an observer facing backwards on the boat and to hold up an orange flag if the skier wiped out. Several times people renting jetskis from the docks were given speeding tickets, and had to do an online water safety course taking about half an hour instead of getting a fine! It was really really well policed. Granted it was a busy bay, but if there were laws and rules they were enforced. Also, there was always plenty of law enforcement on the water, lifeguards, police, even homeland security in their super fast RIBS!:eek:

Yeah but how many boats are there in the US compared to Ireland? A hel of a lot more! Not enough demand in Ireland to enforce it that heavily

astraboy

Ya true, the waters in California are full of boaters. I just thought how well organized it was, I suppose with so many inlets and bays around Ireland it would be hard to police them all!

ambro25

That California setup is to be contrasted with 'exotic' holiday destinations (e.g. Caribbean), at which if you wave the right amount of greenbacks, they'll let you out of the harbour for the day on hire, unsupervised, with just about anything.

I remember hiring a 16 footer with a 250 bhp outboard for $100 + petrol for the day some years back in the Caribbean. I tried it on with the hirer (doubling as Harbourmaster), never expecting to get anywhere as I didn't have my license with me at the time - sure enough, another $10 and the box was conveniently ticked alright :rolleyes:

Lucky I knew what I was doing. More so when I ended up having to assist a 35 sail footer back to the harbour as she was sinking on its crew - and guess what? Of course, no-one in the marina/harbour office monitoring the guard freq :eek: so here's me bringing the hire back an hour early, complete with a barely-above-the water-line sailing yacht in tow

I suppose that situation corresponds to what has recently been happening in Ireland (too much money, not enough sense, and the "me-me-me-now-now-now" mindset )