The poor attendance could be due to the "lack of knowledge" of the instructors!
On Lake Murray, we have 4 county sheriff departments, as well as the Coast Guard Auxiliary and sometimes the Coast Guard actually will patrol.
Our Coast Guard Auxiliary has won awards for being most reliable on VHF 16! Kuddos!
Interestingly, the "Authorities" will approach sailing vessels at night to blurt out that "A 235 degree light forward is required" to which all my sailing buddies, and I, will simply turn the light on, to avoid the conflict, and to avoid attempting to educate the "Authorities" while sailing.
I keep two copies of the SC Boater's Safety Handbook of which if it comes to a real situation, I will offer it to the authority, and ask him/her to read "Night Navigation" on page 11, 3rd paragraph, final sentence. (Page 10 in some printouts)
As for Tonnage Rules statement, it is an over simplification of the rules. A large vessel needs much more time to turn, sometimes up to 3 miles ahead of time. They are basically "Constrained by draft".
The power boaters on Lake Murray believe the sailor has right away, enough so that when they are parked, just drifting, not underway, and they THINK we are heading toward them, they will crank up to move! Makes me feel guilty when this happens, so I try to stay well away from what may be perceived as a possible collision!
Oh, we have one at least boat on our waters, with their red/green lights on the wrong sides! That's confusing, so you have to look for their white light also, steaming or stern!
In the 6-Pack course, we were told that 99% of the boaters are unaware of the rules of the road, but 100% are still responsible for knowing the rules of the road! Words to live by!
As for the Bass Boaters, they only scare me at dawn, when my anchor lite is a "star" so I leave another light on in the cabin to light the windows, or other additional lighting.
Deaths on Lake Murray happen every year, at the same location, just outside of two marinas, and there is a debate on if the lights were on or not. The "No Wake" markers should be relocated to outside of this death area.
Unmarked Hazards such as overhead power lines are a big concern on our waters! A sailor cannot see these at dusk, and they are not marked, nor are they required to be marked in US waters! Private citizens have attempted to create a map containing the known locations, but there is limited distribution of course.
To end, boating safety is with the captain, and the captain is determined by who paid for the boat! Not the classes taken, experience, or other more important factors! I remember being care free with my first boat purchase, thinking "what harm can I do at 6 knots to anyone?" I was wrong, and so were the missing attendants to this training!
Mac
